Grimm's Household Tales

Once upon a time there was a man called Frederick and a woman called Catherine, who had married each other and lived together as a young married couple. One day Frederick said, “I will go and plow now, Catherine. When I come back, there must be some roast meat on the table for my hunger and a fresh drink for my thirst.” “Just go, Frederick,” answered Kate, “just go; I will have everything ready for you.” So when dinnertime drew near, she took a sausage out of the chimney, put it in the frying pan, added some butter, and set it on the fire. The sausage began to fry and to hiss, and Catherine stood beside it, held the handle of the pan, and had her own thoughts as she did so. Then it occurred to her, “While the sausage is getting done, you could go into the cellar and draw beer.” So she set the frying pan safely on the fire, took a can, and went down into the cellar to draw beer. The beer ran into the can, and Kate watched it. Then she thought, “Oh, dear! The dog upstairs is not tied up; it might get the sausage out of the pan. Good thing I thought of it.” And in a flash she was up the cellar steps again, but the Spitz already had the sausage in its mouth and was dragging it away along the ground. But Catherine, who was not lazy, set out after it and chased it a long way into the field. The dog, however, was swifter than Catherine and did not give the sausage an easy journey, but skipped over the furrows with it. “What’s gone is gone!” said Kate. She turned around, and since she had run until she was weary, she walked calmly and comfortably and cooled herself off. During this time the beer was still running out of the cask, for Kate had not turned the tap off. And when the can was full and the beer had no other place to go, it ran out into the cellar and did not stop until the whole cask was empty. As soon as Kate was on the steps, she saw the mishap. “Good gracious!” she cried. “What can I do now to keep Frederick from finding out?” She thought for a while, and at last she remembered that up in the attic there was still a sack of the finest wheat flour from the last fair, and that she would fetch it down and strew it over the beer. “Yes,” she said, “he who saves something when he ought to has it afterward when he needs it.” And she climbed up to the attic, carried the sack down, and threw it straight down onto the can of beer, which she knocked over, so that Frederick’s drink swam in the cellar as well. “It is all right,” said Kate. “Where the one is, the other ought to be as well.” And she strewed the flour over the whole cellar. When it was done, she was heartily delighted with her work and said, “How clean and wholesome it looks here!” At midday Frederick came home. “Now, wife, what do you have ready for me?” “Ah, Freddy,” she answered, “I was frying a sausage for you, but while I was drawing the beer to drink with it, the dog took it away out of the pan, and while I was running after the dog, all the beer ran out, and while I was drying up the beer with the flour, I knocked over the can as well. But don’t worry; the cellar is quite dry again.” Frederick said, “Kate, Kate, you should not have done that! You let the sausage be carried off, you let the beer run out of the cask, and on top of that you threw away all our flour!” “Indeed, Frederick, I did not know that; you should have told me.” The man thought, “If my wife is like this, I must look after things more myself.” Now he had gathered together a good number of thalers, which he exchanged for gold, and he said to Catherine, “Look, these are tokens for playing games. I will put them in a pot and bury them in the stable under the cow’s manger, but make sure you keep away from them, or you will be sorry.” She said, “Oh, no, Frederick, I certainly will not go.” And when Frederick was gone, some peddlers came into the village with cheap earthenware bowls and pots and asked the young woman if there was nothing she wanted to bargain with them for. “Oh, dear people,” said Catherine, “I have no money and can buy nothing, but if you have any use for yellow tokens, I will buy from you.” “Yellow tokens? Why not? But just let us see them.” “Then go into the stable and dig under the cow’s manger, and you will find the yellow tokens. I am not allowed to go there.” The rogues went there, dug, and found pure gold. Then they seized it, ran away, and left their pots and bowls behind in the house. Catherine thought she must put her new things to use, and since she already lacked nothing in the kitchen without these, she knocked the bottom out of every pot and set them all as ornaments on the fence that went around the house. When Frederick came and saw the new decorations, he said, “Catherine, what have you been doing?” “I have bought them, Frederick, for the tokens that were under the cow’s manger. I did not go there myself; the peddlers had to dig them out for themselves.” “Ah, wife,” said Frederick, “what have you done? Those were not tokens but pure gold, and all our wealth. You should not have done that.” “Indeed, Frederick,” she said, “I did not know that; you should have forewarned me.”

Catherine stood for a while and thought it over; then she said, “Listen, Frederick, we will soon get the gold back again; we will run after the thieves.” “Come, then,” said Frederick, “we will try it; but take some butter and cheese with you so that we may have something to eat on the way.” “Yes, Frederick, I will take them.” They set out, and as Frederick was the better walker, Catherine followed him. “It is to my advantage,” she thought, “that when we turn back, I shall be a little way ahead.” Then she came to a hill where there were deep ruts on both sides of the road. “There you can see,” said Catherine, “how they have torn and skinned and rubbed raw the poor earth. It will never be whole again as long as it lives,” and in the compassion of her heart she took her butter and smeared the ruts on the right and on the left, so that they would not be so hurt by the wheels. And as she was bending down like this in her charity, one of the cheeses rolled out of her pocket and down the hill. Catherine said, “I have made my way up here once; I will not go down again. Another can run and fetch it back.” So she took another cheese and rolled it down. But the cheeses did not come back, so she let a third run down, thinking, “Perhaps they are waiting for company and do not like to walk alone.” When all three stayed away, she said, “I do not know what that can mean, but perhaps the third has not found the way and has gone wrong. I will just send the fourth to call it.” But the fourth did no better than the third. Then Catherine became angry and threw down the fifth and sixth as well, and these were her last. She remained standing for some time watching for them to come, but when they still did not come, she said, “Oh, you are good folks to send in search of death! You stay a fine long time away! Do you think I will wait any longer for you? I shall go my way; you can run after me. You have younger legs than I.” Catherine went on and found Frederick, who was standing there waiting for her because he wanted something to eat. “Now just give us what you have brought with you,” he said. She gave him the dry bread. “Where are the butter and the cheeses?” asked the man. “Ah, Freddy,” said Catherine, “I smeared the cart ruts with the butter, and the cheeses will come soon. One ran away from me, so I sent the others after it to call it.” Frederick said, “You should not have done that, Catherine—smearing the butter on the road and letting the cheeses run down the hill!” “Really, Frederick, you should have told me.” Then they ate the dry bread together, and Frederick said, “Catherine, did you make the house safe when you left?” “No, Frederick, you should have told me to do it beforehand.” “Then go home again, and make the house safe before we go any farther, and bring something else to eat with you. I will wait here for you.” Catherine went back and thought, “Frederick wants something more to eat; he does not like butter and cheese, so I will take with me a handkerchief full of dried pears and a pitcher of vinegar for him to drink.” Then she bolted the upper half of the door fast, but she took the lower half off its hinges and put it on her back, believing that when she had put the door in safe keeping, the house must be well taken care of. Catherine took her time on the way and thought, “Frederick will rest so much the longer.” When she finally reached him, she said, “Here is the house door for you, Frederick, and now you can take care of the house yourself.” “Oh, heavens,” he said, “what a wise wife I have! She takes the lower half of the door off its hinges so that everything can run in, and bolts the upper half. It is now too late to go back home again, but since you have brought the door here, you will just have to carry it farther.” “I will carry the door, Frederick, but the dried pears and the vinegar jug will be too heavy for me. I will hang them on the door; it can carry them.”

And now they went into the forest and looked for the rogues, but did not find them. At length, as it grew dark, they climbed into a tree and decided to spend the night there. They had scarcely sat down at the top of it when the rascals came there, the kind who carry away with them what does not want to go and who find things before they are lost. They sat down under the very tree in which Frederick and Catherine were sitting, lit a fire, and were about to share their booty. Frederick climbed down on the other side and gathered some stones. Then he climbed up again with them and wanted to throw them at the thieves and kill them. The stones, however, did not hit them, and the scoundrels cried, “It will soon be morning; the wind is shaking down the fir cones.” Catherine still had the door on her back, and as it pressed so heavily on her, she thought it was the fault of the dried pears and said, “Frederick, I must throw the pears down.” “No, Catherine, not now,” he replied, “they might betray us.” “Oh, but, Frederick, I must! They weigh me down far too much.” “Do it, then, and be hanged!” Then the dried pears rolled down between the branches, and the rascals below said, “The leaves are falling.”

A short time afterward, as the door was still heavy, Catherine said, “Ah, Frederick, I must pour out the vinegar.” “No, Catherine, you must not; it might betray us.” “Ah, but, Frederick, I must; it weighs me down far too much.” “Then do it and be hanged!” So she emptied out the vinegar, and it sprinkled down on the robbers. They said among themselves, “The dew is already falling.” At length Catherine thought, “Can it really be the door that weighs me down so?” and said, “Frederick, I must throw the door down.” “No, not now, Catherine, it might give us away.” “Oh, but, Frederick, I must. It weighs me down far too much.” “Oh, no, Catherine, do hold on to it tightly.” “Ah, Frederick, I am letting it fall!” “Let it go, then, in the devil’s name.” Then it fell down with a violent clatter, and the rascals below cried, “The devil is coming down the tree!” and they ran away and left everything behind them. Early next morning, when the two came down, they found all their gold again and carried it home.

When they were home again, Frederick said, “And now, Catherine, you, too, must be industrious and work.” “Yes, Frederick, I will do that soon; I will go into the field and cut the grain.” When Catherine got to the field, she said to herself, “Shall I eat before I cut, or shall I sleep before I cut? Oh, I will eat first.” Then Catherine ate, and eating made her sleepy, and she began to cut, and half in a dream she cut all her clothes to pieces: her apron, her gown, and her chemise. When Catherine woke again after a long sleep, she was standing there half naked, and she said to herself, “Is it I, or is it not I? Alas, it is not I.” In the meantime night came, and Catherine ran into the village, knocked at her husband’s window, and cried, “Frederick!”

“What is the matter?” “I should very much like to know whether Catherine is in.” “Yes, yes,” replied Frederick, “she must be in and asleep.”

She said, “That is well. Then I am certainly at home already,” and ran away.

Outside, Catherine found some vagabonds who were going to steal. Then she went to them and said, “I will help you to steal.” The rascals thought that she knew the layout of the place, and they were willing. Catherine went in front of the houses and cried, “Good folks, do you have anything? We want to steal.” The thieves thought to themselves, “That’s a fine way of doing things,” and wished themselves rid of Catherine once more. Then they said to her, “Outside the village the pastor has some turnips in the field. Go there and pull up some turnips for us.” Catherine went to the field and began to pull them up, but she was so lazy that she did not gather them together. Then a man came by, saw her, stood still, and thought that it was the devil who was rooting among the turnips like that. He ran away into the village to the pastor and said, “Pastor, the devil is in your turnip field, rooting up turnips.” “Ah, heavens,” answered the pastor, “I have a lame foot; I cannot go out and drive him away.” The man said, “Then I will carry you on my back,” and he carried him out on his back. And when they came to the field, Catherine rose and stood up to her full height. “Ah, the devil!” cried the pastor, and both hurried away, and in his great fright the pastor could run better with his lame foot than the man who had carried him on his back could with his sound one.