Grimm's Household Tales

Once upon a time there was a miller who had a beautiful daughter, and when she was grown up, he wished to see her provided for and well married. He thought, “If a good suitor comes and asks for her, I will give her to him.” Not long afterward a suitor came who appeared to be very rich, and since the miller had no fault to find with him, he promised his daughter to him. The maiden, however, did not like him quite as much as a girl should like the man to whom she is engaged, and she had no confidence in him. Whenever she saw him or thought of him, she felt a secret horror. Once he said to her, “You are my betrothed, and yet you have never once paid me a visit.” The maiden replied, “I do not know where your house is.” Then the bridegroom said, “My house is out there in the dark forest.” She tried to excuse herself and said she could not find the way there. The bridegroom said, “Next Sunday you must come out there to me. I have already invited the guests, and I will strew ashes so that you can find your way through the forest.” When Sunday came and the maiden had to set out, she became very uneasy, though she herself did not know exactly why, and to mark her way she filled both her pockets full of peas and lentils. Ashes were strewn at the entrance of the forest, and she followed these, but at every step she threw a couple of peas on the ground. She walked almost the whole day until she reached the middle of the forest, where it was darkest, and there stood a solitary house, which she did not like, for it looked so dark and dismal. She went inside, but no one was there, and the most complete stillness reigned. Suddenly a voice cried,

“Turn back, turn back, young maiden dear, / It is a murderer’s house you enter here.”

The maiden looked up and saw that the voice came from a bird that was hanging in a cage on the wall. Again it cried,

“Turn back, turn back, young maiden dear, / It is a murderer’s house you enter here.”

Then the young maiden went on farther from one room to another and walked through the whole house, but it was entirely empty, and not one human being was to be found. At last she came to the cellar, and there sat an extremely old woman, whose head shook constantly. “Can you not tell me,” said the maiden, “if my betrothed lives here?”

“Alas, poor child,” replied the old woman, “where have you come to? You are in a murderer’s den. You think you are a bride soon to be married, but you will keep your wedding with death. Look, I have been forced to put a great kettle on there, with water in it, and when they have you in their power, they will cut you to pieces without mercy, cook you, and eat you, for they are eaters of human flesh. If I do not have compassion on you and save you, you are lost.”

Then the old woman led her behind a great barrel, where she could not be seen. “Be as still as a mouse,” she said. “Do not make a sound or move, or all will be over with you. At night, when the robbers are asleep, we will escape. I have long waited for an opportunity.” Hardly was this done when the godless crew came home. They dragged another young girl with them. They were drunk and paid no heed to her screams and lamentations. They gave her wine to drink, three glasses full, one glass of white wine, one of red, and one of yellow, and with this her heart burst in two. Then they tore off her delicate clothing, laid her on a table, cut her beautiful body in pieces, and strewed salt on it. The poor bride behind the cask trembled and shook, for she saw right well what fate the robbers had destined for her. One of them noticed a gold ring on the little finger of the murdered girl, and since it would not come off at once, he took an axe and cut the finger off, but it sprang up in the air, away over the cask, and fell straight into the bride’s bosom. The robber took a candle and wanted to look for it but could not find it. Then another of them said, “Have you looked behind the great barrel?” But the old woman cried, “Come and get something to eat, and leave off looking until the morning. The finger won’t run away from you.”

Then the robbers said, “The old woman is right,” and gave up their search and sat down to eat, and the old woman poured a sleeping drug into their wine, so that they soon lay down in the cellar and slept and snored. When the bride heard that, she came out from behind the barrel and had to step over the sleepers, for they lay in rows on the ground, and her terror was great lest she should wake one of them. But God helped her, and she got safely over. The old woman went up with her, opened the doors, and they hurried out of the murderers’ den with all the speed in their power. The wind had blown away the strewn ashes, but the peas and lentils had sprouted and grown, and they showed the way in the moonlight. They walked the whole night, until in the morning they arrived at the mill, and then the maiden told her father everything exactly as it had happened.

When the day came on which the wedding was to be celebrated, the bridegroom appeared, and the miller had invited all his relatives and friends. As they sat at the table, each was asked to tell something. The bride sat still and said nothing. Then the bridegroom said to the bride, “Come, my darling, do you know nothing? Tell us something like the rest.” She replied, “Then I will tell a dream. I was walking alone through a wood, and at last I came to a house in which there was no living soul, but on the wall there was a bird in a cage, which cried,

“Turn back, turn back, young maiden dear, / It is a murderer’s house you enter here.”

And it cried this once more. My darling, I only dreamed this. Then I went through all the rooms, and they were all empty, and there was something so horrible about them! At last I went down into the cellar, and there sat a very, very old woman, whose head shook. I asked her, ‘Does my bridegroom live in this house?’ She answered, ‘Alas, poor child, you have got into a murderer’s den. Your bridegroom does live here, but he will hack you in pieces and kill you, and then he will cook you and eat you.’ My darling, I only dreamed this. But the old woman hid me behind a great barrel, and I was scarcely hidden when the robbers came home, dragging a maiden with them, to whom they gave three kinds of wine to drink, white, red, and yellow, and with this her heart broke in two. My darling, I only dreamed this. Then they pulled off her pretty clothes and hacked her fair body in pieces on a table and sprinkled the pieces with salt. My darling, I only dreamed this. And one of the robbers saw that there was still a ring on her little finger, and since it was hard to pull off, he took an axe and cut it off, but the finger sprang up in the air, sprang behind the great barrel, and fell into my bosom. And there is the finger with the ring!” With these words she drew it out and showed it to those present.

The robber, who had become as pale as ashes during this story, leapt up and wanted to escape, but the guests held him fast and delivered him over to justice. Then he and his whole troop were executed for their infamous deeds.