Grimm's Household Tales

A certain miller had gradually fallen into poverty and had nothing left but his mill and a large apple tree behind it. Once, when he had gone into the forest to fetch wood, an old man whom he had never seen before stepped up to him and said, “Why do you trouble yourself with cutting wood? I will make you rich if you will promise me what is standing behind your mill.” “What can that be but my apple tree?” thought the miller. He said, “Yes,” and gave the stranger a written promise. The stranger, however, laughed mockingly and said, “When three years have passed, I will come and carry away what belongs to me.” Then he left. When the miller got home, his wife came to meet him and said, “Tell me, miller, where has this sudden wealth in our house come from? All at once every box and chest was filled. No one brought it in, and I do not know how it happened.” He answered, “It comes from a stranger who met me in the forest and promised me great treasure. In return, I have promised him what stands behind the mill. We can very well give him the big apple tree for it.” “Ah, husband,” said the terrified wife, “that must have been the devil! He did not mean the apple tree, but our daughter, who was standing behind the mill sweeping the yard.”

The miller’s daughter was a beautiful, pious girl, and she lived through the three years in the fear of God and without sin. So when the time was over and the day came when the Evil One was to fetch her, she washed herself clean and drew a circle around herself with chalk. The devil appeared quite early, but he could not come near her. Angrily he said to the miller, “Take all water away from her, so that she can no longer wash herself, for otherwise I have no power over her.” The miller was afraid and did so. The next morning the devil came again, but she had wept on her hands, and they were quite clean. Again he could not get near her, and he said furiously to the miller, “Cut her hands off, or else I cannot get the better of her.” The miller was shocked and answered, “How could I cut off my own child’s hands?” Then the Evil One threatened him and said, “If you do not do it, you are mine, and I will take you yourself.” The father became alarmed and promised to obey him. So he went to the girl and said, “My child, if I do not cut off both your hands, the devil will carry me away, and in my terror I have promised to do it. Help me in my need, and forgive me for the harm I do you.” She replied, “Dear father, do with me what you will. I am your child.” Then she laid down both her hands and let them be cut off. The devil came for the third time, but she had wept so long and so much on the stumps that, after all, they were quite clean. Then he had to give in, and he had lost all right over her.

The miller said to her, “Because of you I have received such great wealth that I will keep you most comfortably as long as you live.” But she replied, “I cannot stay here. I will go forth, and compassionate people will give me as much as I need.” Then she had her maimed arms bound to her back, and by sunrise she set out on her way. She walked the whole day until night fell. Then she came to a royal garden, and by the shimmering of the moon she saw that trees covered with beautiful fruits grew in it, but she could not enter, because there was much water all around it. Since she had walked the whole day and not eaten one mouthful, and hunger tormented her, she thought, “Ah, if only I were inside, so that I could eat some of the fruit! Otherwise I must die of hunger.” Then she knelt down, called on the Lord God, and prayed. Suddenly an angel came toward her and made a dam in the water, so that the moat became dry and she could walk through it. Now she went into the garden, and the angel went with her. She saw a tree covered with beautiful pears, but they had all been counted. Then she went to the tree and, to still her hunger, ate one pear from it with her mouth, but no more. The gardener was watching, but since the angel was standing by, he was afraid. He thought the maiden was a spirit and kept silent, and he did not dare to cry out or to speak to the spirit. When she had eaten the pear, she was satisfied, and she went and hid herself among the bushes. The King to whom the garden belonged came down to it the next morning, counted the pears, and saw that one was missing. He asked the gardener what had become of it, since it was not lying beneath the tree but was gone. The gardener answered, “Last night a spirit came in who had no hands and ate one of the pears off the tree with its mouth.” The King said, “How did the spirit get over the water, and where did it go after it had eaten the pear?” The gardener answered, “Someone came from heaven in a snow-white garment, made a dam, and held back the water so that the spirit could walk through the moat. Since it must have been an angel, I was afraid, and I asked no questions and did not cry out. When the spirit had eaten the pear, it went back again.” The King said, “If it is as you say, I will keep watch with you tonight.”

When it grew dark, the King came into the garden and brought a priest with him, who was to speak to the spirit. All three seated themselves beneath the tree and watched. At midnight the maiden came creeping out of the thicket, went to the tree, and again ate one pear off it with her mouth, and beside her stood the angel in white garments. Then the priest went out to them and said, “Do you come from heaven or from earth? Are you a spirit or a human being?” She replied, “I am no spirit, but an unhappy mortal deserted by all but God.” The King said, “If you are forsaken by all the world, I will still not forsake you.” He took her with him into his royal palace, and since she was so beautiful and good, he loved her with all his heart, had silver hands made for her, and married her.

After a year the King had to go to war, so he entrusted his young Queen to the care of his mother and said, “When her child is born, take care of her, nurse her well, and tell me of it at once in a letter.” Then she gave birth to a fine boy. So the old mother made haste to write and announce the joyful news to him. But the messenger rested by a brook on the way, and since he was tired from the great distance, he fell asleep. Then the Devil came, who was always seeking to harm the good Queen, and exchanged the letter for another in which it was written that the Queen had brought a monster into the world. When the King read the letter, he was shocked and very troubled, but he wrote in answer that they were to take great care of the Queen and nurse her well until his arrival. The messenger went back with the letter, but he rested at the same place and again fell asleep. Then the Devil came once more and put a different letter in his pocket, in which it was written that they were to put the Queen and her child to death. The old mother was terribly shocked when she received the letter and could not believe it. She wrote back again to the King, but she received no other answer, because each time the Devil substituted a false letter. In the last letter it was also written that she was to preserve the Queen’s tongue and eyes as a token that she had obeyed.

But the old mother wept to think that such innocent blood was to be shed. She had a doe brought in by night, cut out its tongue and eyes, and kept them. Then she said to the Queen, “I cannot have you killed as the King commands, but you may stay here no longer. Go forth into the wide world with your child, and never come here again.” The poor woman tied her child on her back and went away with eyes full of tears. She came into a great wild forest, and there she fell on her knees and prayed to God, and the angel of the Lord appeared to her and led her to a little house with a sign that read, “Here all dwell free.” A snow-white maiden came out of the little house and said, “Welcome, Lady Queen,” and led her inside. Then they unbound the little boy from her back, held him to her breast so that he could feed, and laid him in a beautifully made little bed. Then the poor woman said, “How do you know that I was a queen?” The white maiden answered, “I am an angel sent by God to watch over you and your child.” The Queen stayed seven years in the little house and was well cared for, and by God’s grace, because of her piety, her hands, which had been cut off, grew back.

At last the King came home again from the war, and his first wish was to see his wife and the child. Then his aged mother began to weep and said, “You wicked man, why did you write to me that I was to take those two innocent lives?” She showed him the two letters that the Evil One had forged and then continued, “I did as you told me.” She showed him the tokens, the tongue and eyes. Then the King began to weep for his poor wife and his little son so much more bitterly than she was doing that the aged mother had compassion on him and said, “Be at peace. She still lives. I secretly had a doe killed and took these tokens from it. But I bound the child to your wife’s back and told her to go forth into the wide world, and I made her promise never to come back here again, because you were so angry with her.” Then the King said, “I will go as far as the sky is blue, and I will neither eat nor drink until I have found my dear wife and my child again, if in the meantime they have not been killed or died of hunger.”

Then the King traveled about for seven long years and sought her in every cleft of the rocks and in every cave, but he did not find her, and he thought she had died of want. During the whole of this time he neither ate nor drank, but God sustained him. At length he came into a great forest and found in it the little house whose sign read, “Here all dwell free.” Then the white maiden came out, took him by the hand, led him in, and said, “Welcome, Lord King,” and asked him where he came from. He answered, “Soon I will have traveled about for seven years, and I am seeking my wife and her child, but I cannot find them.” The angel offered him food and drink, but he did not take anything and only wished to rest a little. Then he lay down to sleep and put a handkerchief over his face.

Then the angel went into the chamber where the Queen sat with her son, whom she usually called “Sorrowful,” and said to her, “Go out with your child. Your husband has come.” So she went to the place where he lay, and the handkerchief fell from his face. Then she said, “Sorrowful, pick up your father’s handkerchief and cover his face again.” The child picked it up and put it over his face again. The King heard in his sleep what was going on, and he took pleasure in letting the handkerchief fall once more. But the child grew impatient and said, “Dear mother, how can I cover my father’s face when I have no father in this world? I have learned to say the prayer, ‘Our Father, who art in Heaven.’ You have told me that my father was in Heaven and was the good God, so how can I know a wild man like this? He is not my father.” When the King heard that, he got up and asked who they were. Then she said, “I am your wife, and that is your son, Sorrowful.” And he saw her living hands and said, “My wife had silver hands.” She answered, “The good God has caused my natural hands to grow back.” The angel went into the inner room, brought the silver hands, and showed them to him. Then he knew for certain that it was his dear wife and his dear child, and he kissed them and was glad and said, “A heavy stone has fallen from my heart.” Then the angel of God gave them one meal together, and after that they went home to the King’s aged mother. There were great rejoicings everywhere, and the King and Queen were married again and lived contentedly to their happy end.