Grimm's Fairy Tales | The White Snake | The Elves & Cobbler

Enjoy this reading of two of the classic Grimm's Fairy Tales..."The White Snake" and "The Elves & The Shoemaker"!

The Grimm's Fairy Tales were originally a collection of over 200 folk tales, collected by the brothers Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm in Germany and published in the early 1800s... There are many different stories in the collection and many of them are indeed quite "grim", yet they form the backbones of so many of our familiar fairy tales today...!

Transcript

Hello there.

Thank you so much for joining me for this reading of a couple of the Grimm's Fairy Tales.

So,

The Grimm's Fairy Tales were originally a collection of over 200 folk tales that were collected by the brothers Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm in Germany and published in the early 1800s.

There were many different stories and many of them are indeed quite grim by our modern standards and yet they form the backbones of so many of our familiar fairy tales.

So,

Today we're going to be reading The White Snake and The Elves and The Shoemaker but before we get into the stories,

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 that we have to be and nothing else that we have to be doing.

So,

We can just relax,

Get ourselves comfortable and listen to some of the Grimm's Fairy Tales.

The White Snake A long time ago,

There lived a king who was famed for his wisdom through all the land.

Nothing was hidden from him and it seemed as if news of the most secret things was brought to him through the air.

But he had a strange custom.

Every day after dinner,

When the table was cleared and no one else was present,

A trusty servant had to bring him one more dish.

It was covered,

However,

And even the servant did not know what was in it.

Neither did anyone know,

For the king never took off the cover to eat of it until he was quite alone.

This had gone on for a long time.

When one day,

The servant who took away the dish was overcome with such curiosity that he could not help carrying the dish into his room.

When he had carefully locked the door,

He lifted up the cover and saw a white snake lying on the dish.

But when he saw it,

He could not deny himself the pleasure of tasting it.

So,

He cut off a little bit and put it into his mouth.

No sooner had it touched his tongue than he heard a strange whispering of little voices outside his window.

He went and listened,

And then noticed that it was the sparrows who were chattering together and telling one another of all kinds of things which they had seen in the fields and woods.

Eating the snake had given him power of understanding the language of animals.

Now,

It so happened that on this very day,

The queen lost her most beautiful ring and suspicion of having stolen it fell upon this trusty servant,

Who was allowed to go everywhere.

The king ordered the man to be brought before him and threatened with angry words that unless he could before the morrow point out the thief,

He himself should be looked upon as guilty and executed.

In vain,

He declared his innocence.

He was dismissed with no better answer.

In his trouble and fear,

He went down into the courtyard and took thought how to help himself out of his trouble.

Now,

Some ducks were sitting together quietly by a brook and taking their rest,

And whilst they were making their feathers smooth with their bills,

They were having a confidential conversation together.

The servant stood by and listened.

They were telling one another of all the places where they had been waddling about all the morning and what good food they had found,

And one said in a pitiful tone,

Something lies heavy on my stomach.

As I was eating in haste,

I swallowed a ring which lay under the queen's window.

The servant at once seized her by the neck,

Carried her to the kitchen and said to the cook,

Here is a fine duck.

Pray,

Kill her.

Yes,

Said the cook,

And weighed her in his hand.

She has spared no trouble to fatten herself and has been waiting to be roasted long enough.

So he cut off her head,

And as she was being dressed for the spit,

The queen's ring was found inside her.

The servant could now easily prove his innocence,

And the king,

To make amends for the wrong,

Allowed him to ask a favour and promised him the best place in the court that he could wish for.

The servant refused everything,

And only asked for a horse and some money for travelling,

As he had a mind to see the world and go about a little.

When his request was granted,

He set out on his way,

And one day came to a pond,

Where he saw three fishes caught in the reeds and gasping for water.

Now,

Though it is said that fishes are dumb,

He heard them lamenting that they must perish so miserably,

And as he had a kind heart,

He got off his horse and put the three prisoners back into the water.

They leapt with delight,

Put out their heads and cried to him,

We will remember you and repay you for saving us.

He rode on,

And after a while,

It seemed to him that he heard a voice in the sand at his feet.

He listened,

And heard an ant-king complain,

Why cannot folks with their clumsy beasts keep off our bodies?

That stupid horse with his heavy hoofs has been treading down my people without mercy.

So,

He turned onto a side path,

And the ant-king cried out to him,

We will remember you.

One good turn deserves another.

The path led him into a wood,

And there he saw two old ravens standing by their nest and throwing out their young ones.

Out with you,

You idle,

Good-for-nothing creatures,

Cried they.

We cannot find food for you any longer.

You are big enough and can provide for yourselves.

But the poor young ravens lay upon the ground,

Flapping their wings and crying,

Oh,

What helpless chicks we are.

We must shift for ourselves,

And yet we cannot fly.

What can we do but lie here and starve?

So,

The good young fellow alighted and killed his horse with his sword and gave it to them for food.

Then they came hopping up to it,

Satisfied their hunger and cried,

We will remember you.

One good turn deserves another.

And now he had to use his own legs.

And when he had walked a long way,

He came to a large city.

There was a great noise and crowd in the streets.

And a man rode up on horseback,

Crying aloud,

The king's daughter wants a husband,

But whoever seeks her hand must perform a hard task,

And if he does not succeed,

He will forfeit his life.

Many had already made the attempt,

But in vain.

Nevertheless,

When the youth saw the king's daughter,

He was so overcome by her great beauty that he forgot all danger,

Went before the king and declared himself a suitor.

So he was led out to the sea and a gold ring was thrown into it before his eyes.

Then the king ordered him to fetch this ring up from the bottom of the sea and added,

If you come up again without it,

You will be thrown in again and again until you perish amid the waves.

All the people grieved for the handsome youth.

Then they went away,

Leaving him alone by the sea.

He stood on the shore and considered what he should do.

When suddenly he saw three fishes come swimming towards him and they were the very fishes whose lives he had saved.

The one in the middle held a mussel in its mouth,

Which it laid on the shore at the youth's feet,

And when he had taken it up and opened it,

There lay the gold ring in the shell,

Full of joy.

He took it to the king and expected that he would grant him the promised reward.

But when the proud princess perceived that he was not her equal in birth,

She scorned him and required him first to perform another task.

She went down into the garden and strewed with her own hands ten sackfuls of millet seed on the grass.

Then she said,

Tomorrow morning before sunrise,

These must be picked up and not a single grain be wanting.

The youth sat down in the garden and considered how it might be possible to perform this task.

But he could think of nothing.

And there he sat,

Sorrowfully awaiting the break of day,

When he should be led to death.

But as soon as the first rays of the sun shone into the garden,

He saw all the ten sacks standing side by side,

Quite full,

And not a single grain was missing.

The ant king had come in the night with thousands and thousands of ants,

And the grateful creatures had,

By great industry,

Picked up all the millet seed and gathered them into the sacks.

Presently,

The king's daughter herself came down into the garden and was amazed to see that the young man had done the task she had given him.

But she could not yet conquer her proud heart and said,

Although he has performed both the tasks,

He shall not be my husband until he had brought me an apple from the tree of life.

The youth did not know where the tree of life stood.

But he set out and would have gone on forever,

As long as his legs would carry him,

Though he had no hope of finding it.

After he had wandered through three kingdoms,

He came one evening to a wood and lay down under a tree to sleep.

But he heard a rustling in the branches,

And a golden apple fell into his hand.

At the same time,

Three ravens flew down to him,

Perched themselves upon his knee,

And said,

We are the three young ravens whom you saved from starving.

When we had grown big and heard that you were seeking the golden apple,

We flew over the sea to the end of the world,

Where the tree of life stands,

And have brought you the apple.

The youth,

Full of joy,

Set out homewards and took the golden apple to the king's beautiful daughter,

Who had now no more excuses left to make.

They cut the apple of life in two and ate it together,

And then her heart became full of love for him,

And they lived in undisturbed happiness to a great age.

THE ELVES AND THE SHOEMAKER There was once a shoemaker who worked very hard and was very honest,

But still he could not earn enough to live upon,

And at last all he had in the world was gone,

Save just leather enough to make one pair of shoes.

Then he cut his leather out all ready to make up the next day,

Meaning to rise early in the morning to his work.

His conscience was clear and his heart light amidst all his troubles,

So he went peaceably to bed,

Left all his cares to heaven,

And soon fell asleep.

In the morning,

After he had said his prayers,

He sat himself down to his work,

When,

To his great wonder,

There stood the shoes all ready made upon the table.

The good man knew not what to say or think at such an odd thing happening.

He looked at the workmanship.

There was not one false stitch in the whole job.

All was so neat and true that it was quite a masterpiece.

The same day,

A customer came in and the shoes suited him so well that he willingly paid a price higher than usual for them.

And the poor shoemaker,

With the money,

Bought leather enough to make two pairs more.

In the evening,

He cut out the work and went to bed early,

That he might get up and begin betimes next day.

But he was saved all the trouble,

For when he got up in the morning,

The work was done,

Ready to his hand.

Soon in came buyers,

Who paid him handsomely for his goods,

So that he bought leather enough for four pair more.

He cut out the work again overnight and found it done in the morning as before,

And so it went on for some time.

What was got ready in the evening was always done by daybreak,

And the good man soon became thriving and well off again.

One evening,

About Christmas time,

As he and his wife were sitting over the fire,

Chatting together,

He said to her,

I should like to sit up and watch tonight,

That we may see who it is that comes and does my work for me.

The wife liked the thought,

So they left the light burning and hid themselves in a corner of the room,

Behind a curtain that was hung up there and watched what would happen.

As soon as it was midnight,

There came in two little naked dwarfs,

And they sat themselves upon the shoemaker's bench,

Took up all the work that was cut out,

And began to ply with their little fingers,

Stitching and wrapping and tapping away at such a rate that the shoemaker was all wonder and could not take his eyes off them.

And on they went till the job was quite done and the shoes stood ready for use upon the table.

This was long before daybreak,

And then they bustled away as quick as lightning.

The next day,

The wife said to the shoemaker,

These little whites have made us rich and we ought to be thankful to them and do them a good turn if we can.

I am quite sorry to see them run about as they do,

And indeed it is not very decent,

For they have nothing upon their backs to keep off the cold.

I'll tell you what,

I will make each of them a shirt and a coat and waistcoat and a pair of pantaloons into the bargain,

And do you make each of them a little pair of shoes.

The thought pleased the good cobbler very much,

And one evening when all the things were ready,

They laid them on the table instead of the work that they used to cut out,

And then went and hid themselves to watch what the little elves would do.

About midnight in they came,

Dancing and skipping,

Hopped round the room,

And then went to sit down to their work as usual,

But when they saw the clothes lying for them,

They laughed and chuckled and seemed mightily delighted.

Then they dressed themselves in the twinkling of an eye and danced and capered and sprang about as merry as could be,

Till at last they danced out at the door and away over the green.

The good couple saw them no more,

But everything went well with them from that time forward as long as they lived.

Reviews

I enjoyed this story and would love having more Grimm’s Tales to listen to!