A long time ago there were a king and queen who said every day, “Ah, if only we had a child,” but they never had one.

But it happened that once when the queen was bathing, a frog crept out of the water on to the land, and said to her, “Your wish shall be fulfilled, before a year has gone by, you shall have a daughter.”

What the frog had said came true, and the queen had a little girl who was so pretty that the king could not contain himself for joy, and ordered a great feast. He invited not only his kindred, friends and acquaintances, but also the wise women, in order that they might be kind and well-disposed towards the child. There were thirteen of them in his kingdom, but, as he had only twelve golden plates for them to eat out of, one of them had to be left at home.
Continue reading Tale: Dornröschen →

Hans had served his master for seven years, so he said to him,
master, my time is up, now I should be glad to go back home to my
mother, give me my wages. The master answered, you have served me
faithfully and honestly, as the service was so shall the reward be.
And he gave Hans a piece of gold as big as his head. Hans pulled his
handkerchief out of his pocket, wrapped up the lump in it, put it on
his shoulder, and set out on the way home.

Continue reading Tale: Hans im Glück – Lucky Hans →

There was once a man who had seven sons, and still he had
no daughter, however much he wished for one. At length his
wife again gave him hope of a child, and when it came into
the world it was a girl. The joy was great, but the child was
sickly and small, and had to be privately baptized on account of
its weakness. The father sent one of the boys in haste to the
spring to fetch water for the baptism. The other six went with
him, and as each of them wanted to be first to fill it, the jug
fell into the well. There they stood and did not know what to do,
and none of them dared to go home. As they still did not return,
the father grew impatient, and said, they have certainly forgotten
it while playing some game, the wicked boys. He became afraid that
the girl would have to die without being baptized, and in his
anger cried, I wish the boys were all turned into ravens. Hardly
was the word spoken before he heard a whirring of wings over his
head, looked up and saw seven coal-black ravens flying away.

Continue reading Tale: Die sieben Raben →

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

Once upon a time in the middle of winter, when the flakes of
snow were falling like feathers from the sky, a queen sat at
a window sewing, and the frame of the window was made of black
ebony. And whilst she was sewing and looking out of the window
at the snow, she pricked her finger with the needle, and three
drops of blood fell upon the snow. And the red looked pretty
upon the white snow, and she thought to herself, would that I had
a child as white as snow, as red as blood, and as black as the
wood of the window-frame.

Continue reading Tale: Schneewittchen →