Hello there!
Thank you so much for joining me for this reading of yet another of the Grimm's fairy tales.
This is one of the more obscure ones.
This is The Adventures of Chanticleer and Partlet.
As you likely know,
The original compendium of these fairy tales contained more than 200 stories collected up in Germany by the brothers Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm and published in the early 1800s.
At this point I personally have read close to 50 of those stories.
If you haven't heard the others and would like to,
I would certainly recommend looking for the playlist for Grimm's fairy tales and you'll find there everything that I have read personally.
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 installment of the wild and wonderful Grimm's fairy tales.
The Adventures of Chanticleer and Partlet.
One.
How they went to the mountains to eat nuts.
The nuts are quite ripe now,
Said Chanticleer to his wife Partlet.
Suppose we go together to the mountains and eat as many as we can before the squirrel takes them all away.
With all my heart,
Said Partlet,
Let us go and make a holiday of it together.
So they went to the mountains and it was a lovely day.
They stayed there till the evening.
Now,
Whether it was that they had eaten so many nuts that they could not walk,
Or whether they were lazy and would not,
I do not know.
However,
They took it into their heads that it did not become them to go home on foot.
So Chanticleer began to build a little carriage of nutshells.
And when it was finished,
Partlet jumped into it and sat down and bid Chanticleer harness himself to it and draw her home.
That's a good joke,
Said Chanticleer.
No,
That will never do.
I had rather by half walk home.
I'll sit on the box and be coachman if you like,
But I'll not draw.
While this was passing,
A duck came quacking up and cried out,
You thieving vagabonds,
What business of you in my grounds?
I'll give it you well for your insolence.
And upon that,
She fell upon Chanticleer most lustily.
But Chanticleer was no coward and returned the duck's blows with his sharp spurs so fiercely that she soon began to cry out for mercy,
Which was only granted her upon condition that she would draw the carriage home for them.
This she agreed to do.
And Chanticleer got upon the box and drove,
Crying,
Now duck,
Get on as fast as you can.
And away they went at a pretty good pace.
After they had travelled along a little way,
They met a needle and a pin walking together along the road.
And the needle cried out,
Stop,
Stop,
And said it was so dark that they could hardly find their way.
And such dirty walking,
They could not get on at all.
He told them that he and his friend,
The pin,
Had been at a public house a few miles off and had sat drinking till they had forgotten how late it was.
He begged,
Therefore,
That the travellers would be so kind as to give them a lift in their carriage.
Chanticleer,
Observing that they were but thin fellows and not likely to take up much room,
Told them they might ride,
But made them promise not to dirty the wheels of the carriage in getting in,
Nor to tread on Partlet's toes.
Late at night they arrived at an inn.
And as it was bad travelling in the dark,
And the duck seemed much tired and waddled about a good deal from one side to the other,
They made up their minds to fix their quarters there.
But the landlord at first was unwilling,
And said his house was full,
Thinking they might not be very respectable company.
However,
They spoke civilly to him and gave him the egg which Partlet had laid by the way,
And said they would give him the duck,
Who was in the habit of laying one every day.
So at last he let them come in,
And they bespoke a handsome supper,
And spent the evening very jolly.
Early in the morning,
Before it was quite light,
And when nobody was stirring in the inn,
Shorty Clare awakened his wife,
And fetching the egg,
They pecked a hole in it,
Ate it up,
And threw the shells into the fireplace.
They then went to the pin and needle,
Who were fast asleep,
And seizing them by the heads,
Stuck one into the landlord's easy chair,
And the other into his handkerchief,
And having done this,
They crept away as softly as possible.
However,
The duck,
Who slept in the open air in the yard,
Heard them coming,
And jumping into the brook which ran close by the inn,
Soon swam out of their reach.
An hour or two afterwards,
The landlord got up,
And took his handkerchief to wipe his face,
But the pin ran into him,
And pricked him.
Then he walked into the kitchen to light his pipe at the fire,
But when he stirred it up,
The egg shells flew into his eyes,
And almost blinded him.
Bless me,
Said he,
All the world seems to have a design against my head this morning.
And so saying,
He threw himself sulkily into his easy chair,
But oh dear,
The needle ran into him,
And this time the pain was not in his head.
He now flew into a very great passion,
And suspecting the company who had come in the night before,
He went to look after them,
But they were all off.
So he swore that he never again would take in such a troupe of vagabonds,
Who ate a great deal,
Paid no reckoning,
And gave him nothing for his trouble but their apish tricks.
2.
How Chanticleer and Parthlet Went to Visit Mr.
Corbes Another day,
Chanticleer and Parthlet wished to ride out together.
So Chanticleer built a handsome carriage with four red wheels and harnessed six mice to it,
And then he and Parthlet got into the carriage and away they drove.
Soon afterwards,
A cat met them and said,
Where are you going?
And Chanticleer replied,
All on our way,
A visit to pay to Mr.
Corbes the fox today.
Then the cat said,
Take me with you.
Chanticleer said,
With all my heart,
Get up behind and be sure you do not fall off.
Take care of this handsome coach of mine,
Nor dirty my pretty red wheels so fine.
Now mice be ready and wheels run steady,
For we are going a visit to pay to Mr.
Corbes the fox today.
3.
How Chanticleer and Parthlet Went to Visit Mr.
Corbes Soon after came up a millstone,
An egg,
A duck and a pin,
And Chanticleer gave them all leave to get into the carriage and go with them.
When they arrived at Mr.
Corbes' house,
He was not at home,
So the mice drew the carriage into the coach house,
Chanticleer and Parthlet flew upon a beam,
The cat sat down in the fireplace,
The duck got into the washing cistern,
The pin stuck himself into the bed pillow,
The millstone laid himself over the house door,
And the egg rolled himself up in the towel.
When Mr.
Corbes came home,
He went to the fireplace to make a fire,
But the cat threw all the ashes in his eyes,
So he ran to the kitchen to wash himself,
But there the duck splashed all the water in his face,
And when he tried to wipe himself,
The egg broke to pieces in the towel all over his face and eyes.
Then he was very angry and went without his supper to bed,
But when he laid his head on the pillow,
The pin ran into his cheek.
At this,
He became quite furious and jumping up would have run out of the house,
But when he came to the door,
The millstone fell down on his head and killed him on the spot.
Three.
How Parthlet died and was buried,
And how Chanticleer died of grief.
Another day,
Chanticleer and Parthlet agreed to go again to the mountains to eat nuts,
And it was settled that all the nuts which they found should be shared equally between them.
Now,
Parthlet found a very large nut,
But she said nothing about it to Chanticleer and kept it all to herself.
However,
It was so big that she could not swallow it,
And it stuck in her throat.
Then she was in a great fright and cried out to Chanticleer,
Pray,
Run as fast as you can and fetch me some water,
Or I shall be choked.
Chanticleer ran as fast as he could to the river and said,
River,
Give me some water,
For Parthlet lies in the mountain and will be choked by a great nut.
The river said,
Run first to the bride and ask her for a silken cord to draw up the water.
Chanticleer ran to the bride and said,
Bride,
You must give me a silken cord,
For then the river will give me water,
And the water I will carry to Parthlet,
Who lies on the mountain and will be choked by a great nut.
But the bride said,
Run first and bring me my garland that is hanging on a willow in the garden.
Then Chanticleer ran to the garden and took the garland from the bough where it hung and brought it to the bride,
And then the bride gave him the silken cord,
And he took the silken cord to the river,
And the river gave him water,
And he carried the water to Parthlet.
But in the meantime she was choked by the great nut and lay quite dead and never moved anymore.
Then Chanticleer was very sorry and cried bitterly,
And all the beasts came and wept with him over poor Parthlet,
And six mice built a little hearse to carry her to her grave,
And when it was ready they harnessed themselves before it and Chanticleer drove them.
On the way they met the fox.
Where are you going Chanticleer?
Said he.
To bury my Parthlet,
Said the other.
May I go with you?
Said the fox.
Yes,
But you must get up behind or my horses will not be able to draw you.
Then the fox got up behind and presently the wolf,
The bear,
The goat,
And all the beasts of the wood came and climbed upon the hearse.
So on they went till they came to a rapid stream.
How shall we get over?
Said Chanticleer.
Then said a straw.
I will lay myself across and you may pass over upon me.
But as the mice were going over the straw slipped away and fell into the water and the six mice all fell in and were drowned.
What was to be done?
Then a large log of wood came and said.
I am big enough,
I will lay myself across the stream and you shall pass over upon me.
So he laid himself down but they managed so clumsily that the log of wood fell in and was carried away by the stream.
Then a stone who saw what had happened came up and kindly offered to help poor Chanticleer by laying himself across the stream and this time he got safely to the other side with the hearse and managed to get Parthlet out of it.
But the fox and the other mourners who were sitting behind were too heavy and fell back into the water and were all carried away by the stream and drowned.
Thus Chanticleer was left alone with his dead Parthlet and having dug a grave for her he laid her in it and made a little hillock over her.
Then he sat down by the grave and wept and mourned till at last he died too and so all were dead.
