Grimm's Household Tales

There was once a wizard who used to take the form of a poor man, go to houses and beg, and catch pretty girls. No one knew where he carried them, for they were never seen again. One day he appeared before the door of a man who had three pretty daughters. He looked like a poor, weak beggar and carried a basket on his back, as if he meant to collect charitable gifts in it. He begged for a little food, and when the eldest daughter came out and was just reaching him a piece of bread, he merely touched her, and she was forced to jump into his basket. Then he hurried away with long strides and carried her into a dark forest to his house, which stood in the middle of it. Everything in the house was magnificent. He gave her whatever she could possibly desire and said, “My darling, you will certainly be happy with me, for you have everything your heart can wish for.” This lasted a few days, and then he said, “I must go on a journey and leave you alone for a short time. Here are the keys of the house; you may go everywhere and look at everything except one room, which this little key here opens. There I forbid you to go on pain of death.” He also gave her an egg and said, “Keep the egg safe for me, and carry it with you at all times, for a great misfortune would arise from losing it.”

She took the keys and the egg and promised to obey him in everything. When he was gone, she went all around the house from the bottom to the top and examined everything. The rooms shone with silver and gold, and she thought she had never seen such great splendor. At length she came to the forbidden door. She wished to pass it by, but curiosity would not let her rest. She examined the key; it looked just like any other. She put it in the keyhole and turned it a little, and the door sprang open. But what did she see when she went in? A great bloody basin stood in the middle of the room, and in it lay human beings, dead and hacked to pieces. Close by was a block of wood, and a gleaming ax lay upon it. She was so terribly alarmed that the egg she held in her hand fell into the basin. She got it out and washed the blood off, but in vain; it appeared again in a moment. She washed and scrubbed, but she could not get it out.

It was not long before the man came back from his journey, and the first things he asked for were the key and the egg. She gave them to him, but she trembled as she did so, and he saw at once by the red spots that she had been in the bloody chamber. “Since you have gone into the room against my will,” he said, “you shall go back into it against your own. Your life is ended.” He threw her down, dragged her there by her hair, cut her head off on the block, and hacked her in pieces so that her blood ran on the ground. Then he threw her into the basin with the rest.

“Now I will fetch myself the second one,” said the wizard, and again he went to the house in the shape of a poor man and begged. Then the second daughter brought him a piece of bread. He caught her as he had caught the first, by simply touching her, and carried her away. She fared no better than her sister. She allowed herself to be led away by her curiosity, opened the door of the bloody chamber, looked in, and had to pay for it with her life when the wizard returned. Then he went and brought the third sister, but she was clever and crafty. When he had given her the keys and the egg and had left her, she first put the egg away with great care, and then she examined the house and at last went into the forbidden room. Alas, what did she behold! Both her sisters lay there in the basin, cruelly murdered and cut in pieces. But she began to gather their limbs together and put them in order: head, body, arms, and legs. And when nothing further was missing, the limbs began to move and join themselves together, and both girls opened their eyes and were alive once more. Then they rejoiced and kissed and caressed each other.

On his arrival, the man at once demanded the keys and the egg, and since he could see no trace of any blood on it, he said, “You have passed the test; you shall be my bride.” He now had no power over her and was forced to do whatever she desired. “Oh, very well,” said she. “First you shall take a basketful of gold to my father and mother, and carry it yourself on your back. In the meantime I will prepare for the wedding.” Then she ran to her sisters, whom she had hidden in a little chamber, and said, “The moment has come when I can save you. The wretch shall carry you home himself, but as soon as you are at home, send help to me.” She put both of them in a basket and covered them completely with gold, so that nothing of them could be seen. Then she called in the wizard and said to him, “Now carry the basket away, but I shall look through my little window and watch to see whether you stop on the way to stand or to rest.”

The wizard raised the basket on his back and went away with it, but it weighed him down so heavily that the perspiration streamed from his face. Then he sat down and wanted to rest for a while, but immediately one of the girls in the basket cried, “I am looking through my little window, and I see that you are resting. Will you go on at once?” He thought it was his bride calling that to him, and he got up on his legs again. Once more he was going to sit down, but instantly she cried, “I am looking through my little window, and I see that you are resting. Will you go on right now?” And whenever he stood still, she cried this, and then he was forced to go onward, until at last, groaning and out of breath, he took the basket with the gold and the two girls into their parents’ house. At home, meanwhile, the bride prepared the wedding feast and sent invitations to the friends of the wizard. Then she took a skull with grinning teeth, put some ornaments on it and a wreath of flowers, carried it upstairs to the attic window, and let it look out from there. When all was ready, she got into a barrel of honey, then cut the feather bed open and rolled herself in it, until she looked like a wondrous bird and no one could recognize her. Then she went out of the house, and on her way she met some of the wedding guests, who asked,

“O Fitcher’s bird, how do you come here?” “I come from Fitcher’s house quite near.” “And what may the young bride be doing?” “From cellar to attic she’s swept all clean, / And now from the window she’s peeping, I ween.”

At last she met the bridegroom, who was coming slowly back. He, like the others, asked,

“O Fitcher’s bird, how do you come here?” “I come from Fitcher’s house quite near.” “And what may the young bride be doing?” “From cellar to attic she’s swept all clean, / And now from the window she’s peeping, I ween.”

The bridegroom looked up, saw the decked-out skull, thought it was his bride, and nodded to her, greeting her kindly. But when he and his guests had all gone into the house, the brothers and kinsmen of the bride, who had been sent to rescue her, arrived. They locked all the doors of the house so that no one could escape, set fire to it, and the wizard and all his crew had to burn.