Hello there,
Thank you so much for joining me for this reading of another couple of the Grimm's fairy tales.
As you likely know,
This was a collection originally of more than 200 different folk tales from Germany that were collected up by the brothers Grimm,
Jacob and Wilhelm,
And they published it all together in a collection back in the early 1800s,
So more than 200 years ago now.
There were so many of these different folk stories,
And yet many of them still feel very familiar to us now,
Although indeed very Grimm a lot of the time,
The content of them.
If you enjoy these old fairy tales,
You might look for the playlist for Grimm's fairy tales,
And you'll find all of the different Grimm's fairy tales that I've recorded there in one place,
And you can play that playlist so it moves from one to the next without you having to search for another track.
But for now,
Let's just take a moment here to have a nice,
Deep exhale,
Letting go of the day,
Letting go of whichever baggage we might be bringing along with us into this moment.
For right now,
There's nowhere else we have to go,
Nothing else we have to be doing.
So we can just relax,
Get ourselves comfortable,
And enjoy another couple of the Grimm's fairy tales.
These will be Rumpelstiltskin and The Rubber Bridegroom.
Rumpelstiltskin By the side of a wood,
In a country,
A long way off,
Ran a fine stream of water,
And upon the stream there stood a mill.
The miller's house was close by,
And the miller,
You must know,
Had a very beautiful daughter.
She was,
Moreover,
Very shrewd and clever,
And the miller was so proud of her that he one day told the king of the land,
Who used to come and hunt in the wood,
That his daughter could spin gold out of straw.
Now,
This king was very fond of money,
And when he heard the miller's boast,
His greediness was raised,
And he sent for the girl to be brought before him.
Then he led her to a chamber in his palace where there was a great heap of straw,
And gave her a spinning wheel,
And said,
All this must be spun into gold before morning,
As you love your life.
It was in vain that the poor maiden said that it was only a silly boast of her father,
For that she could do no such thing as spin straw into gold.
The chamber door was locked,
And she was left alone.
She sat down in one corner of the room,
And began to bewail her hard fate,
When,
On a sudden,
The door opened,
And a droll-looking little man hobbled in,
And said,
Good morrow to you,
My good lass.
What are you weeping for?
Alas,
Said she,
I must spin this straw into gold,
And I know not how.
What will you give me,
Said the hob-goblin,
To do it for you?
My necklace,
Replied the maiden.
He took her at her word,
And sat himself down to the wheel,
And whistled,
And sang,
Round about,
Round about,
Low and behold,
Reel away,
Reel away,
Straw into gold.
And round about the wheel went merrily,
The work was quickly done,
And the straw was all spun into gold.
When the king came and saw this,
He was greatly astonished and pleased,
But his heart grew still more greedy of gain,
And he shut up the poor miller's daughter again,
With a fresh task.
Then she knew not what to do,
And sat down once more to weep.
But the dwarf soon opened the door,
And said,
What will you give me to do your task?
The ring on my finger,
Said she.
So her little friend took the ring,
And began to work at the wheel again,
And whistled,
And sang,
Round about,
Round about,
Low and behold,
Reel away,
Reel away,
Straw into gold.
Till long before morning,
All was done again.
The king was greatly delighted to see all this glittering treasure,
But still he had not enough.
So he took the miller's daughter to a yet larger heap,
And said,
All this must be spun tonight,
And if it is,
You shall be my queen.
As soon as she was alone,
That dwarf came in,
And said,
What will you give me to spin gold for you this third time?
I have nothing left,
Said she.
Then say you will give me,
Said the little man,
The first little child that you may have when you are queen.
That may never be,
Thought the miller's daughter.
And as she knew no other way to get her task done,
She said she would do what he asked.
Round went the wheel again to the old song,
And the mannequin once more spun the heap into gold.
The king came in the morning,
And finding all he wanted,
Was forced to keep his word,
So he married the miller's daughter,
And she really became queen.
At the birth of her first little child,
She was very glad,
And forgot the dwarf and what she had said,
But one day he came into her room,
Where she was sitting playing with her baby,
And put her in mind of it.
Then she grieved sorely at her misfortune,
And said she would give him all the wealth of the kingdom if he would let her off,
But in vain.
Till at last her tears softened him,
And he said,
I will give you three days grace,
And if during that time you tell me my name,
You shall keep your child.
Now the queen lay awake all night,
Thinking of all the odd names that she had ever heard,
And she sent messengers all over the land to find out new ones.
The next day the little man came,
And she began with Timothy,
Ichabod,
Benjamin,
Jeremiah,
And all the names she could remember,
But to all and each of them he said,
Madam,
That is not my name.
The second day she began with all the comical names she could hear of,
Bandylegs,
Hunchback,
Crookshanks,
And so on,
But the little gentleman still said to every one of them,
Madam,
That is not my name.
The third day one of the messengers came back and said,
I have travelled two days without hearing of any other names,
But yesterday as I was climbing a hill among the trees of the forest where the fox and the hare bid each other good night,
I saw a little hut,
And before the hut burnt a fire,
And round about the fire a funny little dwarf was dancing upon one leg and singing,
Merrily the feast I'll make,
Today I'll brew,
Tomorrow bake,
Merrily I'll dance and sing,
For next day will a stranger bring,
Little does my lady dream,
Rumpelstiltskin is my name.
When the queen heard this she jumped for joy,
And as soon as her little friend came she sat down upon her throne and called all her court round to enjoy the fun,
And the nurse stood by her side with the baby in her arms as if it was quite ready to be given up.
Then the little man began to chuckle at the thought of having the poor child to take home with him to his hut in the woods,
And he cried out,
Now lady,
What is my name?
Is it John?
Asked she,
No madam,
Is it Tom?
No madam,
Is it Jemmy?
It is not,
Can your name be Rumpelstiltskin?
Said the lady slyly.
Some witch told you that,
Some witch told you that,
Cried the little man,
And dashed his right foot in a rage so deep into the floor that he was forced to lay hold of it with both hands to pull it out.
Then he made the best of his way off while the nurse laughed and the baby crowed,
And all the court jeered at him for having had so much trouble for nothing,
And said,
We wish you a very good morning,
And a merry feast,
Mr Rumpelstiltskin.
The Robber Bridegroom There was once a miller who had one beautiful daughter,
And as she was grown up,
He was anxious that she should be well married and provided for.
He said to himself,
I will give her to the first suitable man who comes and asks for her hand.
Not long after,
A suitor appeared,
And as he appeared to be very rich,
And the miller could see nothing in him with which to find fault,
He betrothed his daughter to him.
But the girl did not care for the man as a girl ought to care for her betrothed husband.
She did not feel that she could trust him,
And she could not look at him,
Nor think of him without an inward shudder.
One day he said to her,
You have not yet paid me a visit,
Although we have been betrothed for some time.
I do not know where your house is.
She answered,
My house is out there in the dark forest,
He said.
She tried to excuse herself by saying that she would not be able to find the way thither.
Her betrothed only replied,
You must come and see me next Sunday.
I have already invited guests for that day,
And that you may not mistake the way,
I will strew ashes along the path.
When Sunday came,
And it was time for the girl to start,
A feeling of dread came over her,
Which she could not explain.
And that she might be able to find her path again,
She filled her pockets with peas and lentils to sprinkle on the ground as she went along.
On reaching the entrance to the forest,
She found the path strewed with ashes,
And these she followed,
Throwing down some peas on either side of her at every step she took.
She walked the whole day until she came to the deepest,
Darkest part of the forest.
There she saw a lonely house,
Looking so grim and mysterious that it did not please her at all.
She stepped inside,
But not a soul was to be seen,
And a great silence reigned throughout.
Suddenly,
A voice cried,
Turn back,
Turn back,
Young maiden fair,
Linger not in this murderous lair.
The girl looked up and saw that the voice came from a bird hanging in a cage on the wall.
Again,
It cried,
Turn back,
Turn back,
Young maiden fair,
Linger not in this murderous lair.
The girl passed on,
Going from room to room of the house,
But they were all empty,
And still she saw no one.
At last,
She came to the cellar,
And there sat a very,
Very old woman who could not keep her head from shaking.
Can you tell me,
Asked the girl,
If my betrothed husband lives here?
Ah,
You poor child,
Answered the old woman,
What a place for you to come to.
This is a murderer's den.
You think yourself a promised bride,
And that your marriage will soon take place?
But it is with death that you will keep your marriage feast.
Look,
Do you see that large cauldron of water,
Which I am obliged to keep on the fire?
As soon as they have you in their power,
They will kill you without mercy,
And cook and eat you,
For they are eaters of men.
If I did not take pity on you and save you,
You would be lost.
Thereupon,
The old woman led her behind a large cask,
Which quite hid her from view.
Keep as still as a mouse,
She said.
Do not move or speak,
Or it will be all over with you.
Tonight,
When the robbers are all asleep,
We will flee together.
I have long been waiting for an opportunity to escape.
The words were hardly out of her mouth when the godless crew returned,
Dragging another young girl along with them.
They were all drunk,
And paid no heed to her cries and lamentations.
They gave her wine to drink,
Three glasses full,
One of white wine,
One of red,
And one of yellow.
And with that,
Her heart gave way,
And she died.
Then they tore off her dainty clothing,
Laid her on a table,
And cut her beautiful body into pieces,
And sprinkled salt upon it.
The poor betrothed girl crouched trembling and shuddering behind the cask,
For she saw what a terrible fate had been intended for her by the robbers.
One of them now noticed a gold ring still remaining on a little finger of the murdered girl,
And as he could not draw it off easily,
He took a hatchet and cut off the finger.
But the finger sprang into the air and fell behind the cask into the lap of the girl who was hiding there.
The robber took a light and began looking for it,
But he could not find it.
Have you looked behind the large cask?
Said one of the others,
But the old woman called out,
Come and eat your suppers,
And let the thing be till tomorrow.
The finger won't run away.
The old woman is right,
Said the robbers,
And they ceased looking for the finger and sat down.
The old woman then mixed a sleeping draught with their wine,
And before long they were all lying on the floor of the cellar,
Fast asleep and snoring.
As soon as the girl was assured of this,
She came from behind the cask.
She was obliged to step over the bodies of the sleepers who were lying close together,
And every moment she was filled with renewed dread,
Lest she should awaken them.
But God helped her so that she passed safely over them,
And then she and the old woman went upstairs,
Opened the door,
And hastened as fast as they could from the murderer's den.
They found the ashes scattered by the wind,
But the peas and lentils had sprouted and grown sufficiently above the ground to guide them in the moonlight along the path.
All night long they walked,
And it was morning before they reached the mill.
Then the girl told her father all that had happened.
The day came that had been fixed for the marriage.
The bridegroom arrived,
And also a large company of guests,
For the miller had taken care to invite all his friends and relations.
As they sat at the feast,
Each guest in turn was asked to tell a tale.
The bride sat still and did not say a word.
And you,
My love,
Said the bridegroom,
Turning to her,
Is there no tale,
You know?
Tell us something.
I will tell you a dream,
Then,
Said the bride.
I went alone through a forest and came at last to a house.
Not a soul could I find within,
But a bird that was hanging in a cage on the wall cried,
Turn back,
Turn back,
Young maiden fair,
Linger not in this murderer's lair.
And again,
A second time,
It said these words,
My darling,
This is only a dream.
I went on through the house,
From room to room,
But they were all empty and everything was so grim and mysterious.
At last,
I went down to the cellar,
And there sat a very,
Very old woman who could not keep her head still.
I asked her if my betrothed lived here,
And she answered,
Ah,
You poor child,
You are come to a murderer's den.
Your betrothed does indeed live here,
But he will kill you without mercy and afterwards cook and eat you.
My darling,
This is only a dream.
The old woman hid me behind a large cask,
And scarcely had she done this when the robbers returned home,
Dragging a young girl along with them.
They gave her three kinds of wine to drink,
White,
Red and yellow,
And with that,
She died.
My darling,
This is only a dream.
Then they tore off her dainty clothing and cut her beautiful body into pieces and sprinkled salt upon it.
My darling,
This is only a dream.
And one of the robbers saw that there was a gold ring still left on her finger,
And as it was difficult to draw off,
He took a hatchet and cut off her finger.
But the finger sprang into the air and fell behind the great cask into my lap.
And here is the finger with the ring.
And with these words,
The bride drew forth the finger and showed it to the assembled guests.
The bridegroom,
Who during this recital had grown deadly pale,
Up and tried to escape,
But the guests seized him and held him fast.
They delivered him up to justice,
And he and all his murderous band were condemned to death for their wicked deeds.
