Cinderella and Other Tales by the Brothers Grimm Complete Text

CINDERELLA

ONCE upon a time, there was a man, a widower, who took for his second wife a very proud woman.

This wife, a widow, had two daughters as proud as herself. Her husband had one daughter, who was gentle and good, as her own mother had been.

The new wife hated her young stepdaughter because her gentle ways and the sweetness of her temper, which was shown in her beautiful face, made the ill manners and frowning faces of her own daughters appear as disagreeable and ugly as they really were. So she set her to do all the meanest work of the house. The young girl swept, baked, and washed for the whole household. She wore only shabby clothes and slept in a bare garret.

NOW IT HAPPENED that the king’s son made up his mind to give a ball, and to invite to it all the people of fashion in that countryside. There was to be dancing for two evenings, and the supper and entertainment were to be of a very splendid kind.

Cinderella’s stepsisters were invited, and very proud and happy they were, as they talked of the smart dresses they would wear and the grand folk they would meet at the palace.

When the great day came, Cinderella was busy from morning till evening, helping her stepsisters to get ready for the ball. She laced their gowns, dressed their hair, arranged their feathers and jewels, and even put on their slippers.

As she did so, they teased her to amuse themselves.

At last the sisters were ready and, with their mother, they drove away to the palace.

When they were gone, Cinderella, left alone, sat down among the cinders and began to cry.

When Cinderella looked up, she saw standing before her an old lady in a red cloak and pointed hat, leaning upon a stick. Cinderella was so much startled that she left off crying. This was Cinderella’s godmother, who was a fairy.

I can guess what you wish, said the fairy godmother. You wish to go to the ball at the palace.

Yes, indeed I do, dear godmother, cried Cinderella.

Run into the garden, said the godmother, and fetch me the largest pumpkin you can find.

Away went Cinderella, and very soon she ran back again, hugging a big green-and-yellow pumpkin.

The fairy godmother scooped out the inside of the pumpkin, leaving nothing but the rind. Then she touched it with her stick, which was really a fairy wand, and at once the pumpkin became a fine coach, shining all over with gold and lined with green.

Now fetch the mousetrap, said she.

Cinderella obeyed quickly. In the mousetrap were six mice. The fairy godmother opened the trap, and as each mouse ran out, she touched it with her wand, and it became a sleek and prancing horse.

There are your coach and horses, said she. Now for the coachman. Bring me the rattrap.

Cinderella brought the rattrap. There were three rats in it. The fairy godmother chose the finest of the three and touched it with her wand. At once the rat became a tall and handsomely dressed coachman. Behind the watering pot are six green lizards, said the fairy godmother. Bring them here.

Cinderella brought the six lizards, and at a touch of the wand, each one was turned into a smart footman in a green uniform. The coachman mounted the box, and the footman climbed to the back of the coach. Now your carriage is ready, said the fairy godmother.

But how can I go to the ball like this? said Cinderella, looking down at her shabby frock.

You shall soon be more beautiful than your coach, replied her godmother, tapping Cinderella lightly with her wand. Then Cinderella’s old clothes were turned into robes of silk and velvet, glittering with jewels. And the fairy godmother gave her a little pair of shining glass slippers, the prettiest that ever were seen.

Remember, said her godmother, you must leave the ball before the clock strikes twelve. If you do not, your coach will again become a pumpkin, your horses will become mice, your coachman will turn into a rat, and your footmen into lizards, while you will find yourself once more in shabby clothes.

As she entered the ball, the musicians ceased playing and the dancers stopped dancing, while all gazed in surprise at the lovely unknown princess.

All the evening, the prince kept at Cinderella’s side, dancing with her and serving her with dainty dishes at suppertime. Indeed, his mind was so taken up with her that he forgot to eat a morsel himself. While Cinderella was talking to her stepsisters, who did not know it was Cinderella, the clock chimed a quarter before twelve. Cinderella rose, and after curtsying to the company, left the palace and drove home in her coach. Then she thanked her godmother for the kindness which had given her so much happiness, and asked leave to go to the ball again on the next evening, when the prince had specially begged her to come. At this moment there was a knock at the door. The fairy godmother and the beautiful clothes vanished as suddenly as they had appeared, and Cinderella drew back the bolt and let her stepmother and stepsisters in.

As she helped them off with their gowns, Cinderella’s stepsisters couldn’t stop talking of the beautiful princess who had been at the ball.

On the next evening, the stepsisters again went to the palace. And Cinderella went, too, in her coach, even more beautifully dressed than before. The prince again kept close beside her and said so many kind things to her that Cinderella in her happiness, forgot how quickly the hours flew past.

She thought it not yet eleven when the clock struck twelve. Then she started in fright and fled from the ballroom as swiftly as a deer. The prince ran after her, but he did not catch her. All he could find of her was a little glass slipper lying upon the staircase.

The next morning, folk were roused by a sound of trumpets; and through the streets of the town came the royal chamberlain, with guards and an attendant carrying the little glass slipper upon a velvet cushion.

Cinderella’s stepsisters were desperate to try on the slipper. But, though they pinched their toes and squeezed their heels, their feet were far too large to fit into it. Then the royal chamberlain enquired whether there were any other young women in the house.

Only Cinderella, said the elder sister. Of course the slipper would not fit her.

Let her be brought here, said the chamberlain.

So Cinderella was sent for, and, after she settled down in the chair, the royal chamberlain put the slipper on her foot.

Then, to the surprise of everyone, Cinderella drew the other little glass slipper from her pocket and put that on also. And at this moment the fairy godmother appeared and, with a touch of her wand, changed Cinderella’s poor garments into robes, more splendid than ever.

And then everyone saw that she was indeed the beautiful princess whom the prince loved.

The stepsisters fell at Cinderella’s feet and begged her forgiveness. And Cinderella freely forgave them and asked them to try to love her.

Then she was taken to the palace, where the prince met her with great joy, and married her.

Soon afterward, Cinderella fetched her stepsisters to live at the palace. They were so much ashamed of their past conduct, and so grateful for her kindness, that they ceased to be proud and unkind. And, as their hearts became good, their faces became beautiful. Then two lords of the court loved and married them, and they, as well as Cinderella, were happy.

RAPUNZEL

THERE were once a man and a woman who had long in vain wished for a child. At length it seemed their wish would be granted. These people had a little window at the back of their house from which a splendid garden could be seen, which was full of the most beautiful flowers and herbs. It was, however, surrounded by a high wall, and no one dared to go into it because it belonged to an enchantress who had great power and was dreaded by all the world.

One day the woman was standing by this window and looking down into the garden when she saw a flowerbed planted with the most beautiful radish plants, called rapunzel. It looked so fresh and green that she longed for it, and had the greatest desire to eat some. This desire increased every day, and as she knew that she could not get any of it, she pined away and looked pale and miserable. Then her husband was alarmed, and asked, What ails you, dear wife?

Ah, she replied, if I can’t get some of the rapunzel, which is in the garden behind our house, to eat, I shall die. The man, who loved her, thought to himself, Sooner than let your wife die, bring her some of the rapunzel yourself, let it cost you what it will.

In the twilight of the evening, he clambered down over the wall into the garden of the enchantress, hastily clutched a handful of rapunzel, and took it to his wife. She at once made herself a salad of it and ate it with much relish. She, however, liked it so very much that the next day she longed for it three times as much as before. If he was to have any rest, her husband must once more descend into the garden. In the gloom of evening, therefore, he let himself down again; but when he had clambered down the wall he was terribly afraid, for he saw the enchantress standing before him.

How dare you descend into my garden and steal my rapunzel? said she with an angry look. You will suffer for it!

Ah, answered he, let mercy take the place of justice, I only made up my mind to do it out of necessity. My wife saw your rapunzel from the window and felt such a longing for it that she would have died if she had not got some to eat.

Then the enchantress allowed her anger to be softened and said to him, If the case be as you say, I will allow you to take away with you as much rapunzel as you wish. Only I make one condition, you must give me the child which your wife will bring into the world; it shall be well treated, and I will care for it like a mother. The man in his terror consented to everything, and when the woman gave birth to her child, the enchantress appeared at once, gave the child the name of Rapunzel, and took it away with her.

Rapunzel grew into the most beautiful child beneath the sun. When she was twelve years old, the enchantress shut her into a tower, which lay in a forest and had neither stairs nor a door, but only a little window quite at the top. When the enchantress wanted to go in, she placed herself beneath it and cried,

"Rapunzel, Rapunzel,

Let down your hair."

Rapunzel had magnificent long hair, fine as spun gold, and when she heard the voice of the enchantress she unfastened her braided tresses and wound them around one of the hooks of the window above. Then the hair fell seventy-five feet down, and the enchantress climbed up by it.

After a year or two, it came to pass that the king’s son rode through the forest and went by the tower. Then he heard a song, which was so charming that he stood still and listened. This was Rapunzel, who in her solitude passed her time in letting her sweet voice resound. The king’s son wanted to climb up to her and looked for the door of the tower, but none was to be found. He rode home, but the singing had so deeply touched his heart that every day he went out into the forest and listened to it. Once when he was thus standing behind a tree, he saw that an enchantress came there, and he heard how she cried,

"Rapunzel, Rapunzel,

Let down your hair."

Then Rapunzel let down the braids of her hair, and the enchantress climbed up to her. If that is the ladder by which one ascends, I will for once try my fortune, said he. So the next day when it began to grow dark, he went to the tower and cried,

"Rapunzel, Rapunzel,

Let down your hair."

Immediately the hair fell down and the king’s son climbed up.

At first Rapunzel was terribly frightened when a man, such as her eyes had never yet beheld, came to her; but the king’s son began to talk to her quite like a friend and told her that his heart had been so stirred that it had let him have no rest, and he had been forced to see her. Then Rapunzel lost her fear, and when he asked her if she would take him for her husband, and she saw that he was young and handsome, she thought, He will love me more than old Dame Gothel does. And she said yes, and laid her hand in his.

She said, I will willingly go away with you, but I do not know how to get down. Bring with you a skein of silk every time you come, and I will weave a ladder with it. When that is ready I will descend, and you will take me upon your horse.

They agreed that until that time he should come to her every evening, for the old woman came by day. The enchantress remarked nothing of this, until once Rapunzel said to her, Tell me, Dame Gothel, how it happens that you are so much heavier for me to draw up than the king’s young son—he is with me in a moment.

Ah! you wicked child, cried the enchantress. What do I hear you say! I thought I had separated you from all the world, and yet you have deceived me. In her anger she clutched Rapunzel’s beautiful tresses, wrapped them twice around her left hand, seized a pair of scissors with the right, and snip, snap, they were cut off, and the lovely braids lay upon the ground. She was so heartless that she took poor Rapunzel into a desert where she had to live in great grief and misery.

On the same day that she cast out Rapunzel, the enchantress fastened the braids of hair which she had cut off to the hook of the window, and when the king’s son came in the evening and cried,

"Rapunzel, Rapunzel,

Let down your hair,"

the enchantress let down the shorn hair. The king’s son ascended, but he did not find his dearest Rapunzel above. Instead, the enchantress gazed at him with wicked and venomous looks. Aha! she cried mockingly. You would fetch your dearest, but the beautiful bird sits no longer singing in the nest; the cat has got it, and will scratch out your eyes as well. Rapunzel is lost to you; you will never see her more.

The king’s son was beside himself with pain, and in his despair he leapt down from the tower. He escaped with his life, but the thorns into which he fell pierced his eyes. Then he wandered quite blind about the forest, eating nothing but roots and berries and weeping over the loss of his dearest wife. Thus he roamed about in misery for some years, and at length came to the desert where Rapunzel lived in wretchedness. He heard a voice, and it seemed so familiar to him that he went toward it, and when he approached, Rapunzel recognized him and fell upon his neck and wept. Two of her tears wetted his eyes and they grew clear again, and he could see with them as before. He led her to his kingdom where he was joyfully received, and they lived for a long time afterward, happy and contented.

HANSEL AND GRETEL

ON the outskirts of a great forest dwelt a poor woodcutter with his wife and his two children. The boy was called Hansel and the girl, Gretel. Their mother had died and their father’s new wife was cold and distant. The woodcutter had little to bite and to break, and once when a great famine fell upon the land, he could no longer procure even daily bread.

Now when he thought over this by night in his bed, and tossed about in his anxiety, he groaned and said to his wife, What is to become of us? How are we to feed our poor children when we no longer have anything even for ourselves?

I’ll tell you what, husband, answered the woman, "early tomorrow morning we will take the children out into the thickest part of the forest. There we will light a fire for them and give each of them one more piece of bread. After that we will go to our work and leave them alone. They will not find the way home again, and we shall be