Array The Brothers Grimm - Fairy Tales from the Brothers Grimm - A New English Version

‘I’d be glad to help,’ he said. ‘Make me your child’s godfather and I’ll give him all the riches of the world, and I’ll make sure he has a good time, too.’

‘And who are you?’

‘I’m the Devil.’

‘What! I don’t want you for a godfather. You deceive people and lead them into sin — I’ve heard all about you.’

So he went on, and the next person he met was an old man tottering towards him on withered legs.

‘Take me as your child’s godfather,’ the old man said.

‘Who are you?’

‘I’m Death, and I make everyone equal.’

‘Then you’re the one,’ said the poor man. ‘You take away the poor, and you take away the rich. You shall be godfather to my child.’

‘That’s a wise decision,’ said Death. ‘I’ll make your child rich and famous. Anyone who has me for a friend can’t fail.’

‘Next Sunday, then,’ said the man. ‘Make sure you turn up on time.’

Death appeared at the baptism just as he’d promised, and swore all the vows, and behaved with perfect propriety.

So the boy grew up, and when he became of age his godfather came to the house and said, ‘Come with me, young man.’

The boy followed his godfather out into the forest, where the old man showed him a particular herb.

‘This is a present from your godfather,’ he said. ‘I’m going to make you a famous physician. Whenever you’re called to the bed of a sick person, just look around and you’ll see me. If I’m standing by the patient’s head, you can tell his family that all will be well. Then give him a little of this herb, any way you like — give him a leaf to chew, make some tea from the flowers, grind the roots up into a paste and make pills, doesn’t make any difference: in a day or so he’ll be perfectly well again. But if I’m standing at the foot of the bed, he belongs to me, remember? You have to say there’s no help for him, no doctor in the world could save him. Now this will always work, but watch out: if you give the herb to anyone who belongs to me, something very bad will happen to you.’

The young man did as his godfather said, and it wasn’t long before he was the most famous doctor in the world. People were amazed by his ability to know at once whether the patient would live or die, and they came from every country in the world to consult him, and gave him so much money that he soon became a very wealthy man.

Now it so happened that the king of that country fell ill. The famous physician was sent for, and the courtiers asked him to say whether the royal patient was likely to survive. However, when the young man entered the bedroom, he saw his godfather standing at the foot of the bed. The king was doomed. That wasn’t what the king’s family wanted to hear, of course.

‘If only I could contradict my godfather, just once!’ thought the physician. ‘He’ll be angry, no doubt, but I am his godson, after all. Maybe he’ll overlook it. I’ll risk it, anyway.’

So he turned the patient round so that Death was standing at his head, and gave him a decoction of the leaves to drink, and pretty soon the king was sitting up and feeling much better.

However, immediately the young man was alone Death came to him, frowning darkly and shaking his finger.

‘You tricked me!’ he said. ‘I take a very dim view of that. I’ll overlook it this time because you’re my godson, but try it just once again and you’ll be sorry, because I’ll take you away with me when I go.’

Not long afterwards the king’s daughter fell gravely ill. She was his only child, and the king wept day and night until his eyes were so swollen he could barely see. He announced far and wide that whoever could cure her would marry her and inherit the kingdom.

Naturally, the young man was among those who came to try. And once again, when he entered the sick room, there was Death standing at the patient’s feet. This time, though, the young man hardly saw his godfather, because after one look at the princess’s face he was lost: she was so beautiful that he could think of nothing else. Death was frowning and snarling and shaking his fist, and the young man hardly noticed: he turned the princess round, gave her two pills, and presently she was sitting up with the colour returning to her cheeks.

But Death, having been cheated for a second time, was in no mood to wait. He seized the physician with his bony hand and said, ‘Right, my boy, you’re done for now.’

And he pulled him away from the princess’s bedside, and away from the palace, and away from the town, and his ice-cold grasp was so firm that the young man couldn’t pull free, no matter how hard he tried. Death led him to a great cavern under the mountains, where thousands and thousands of candles were burning, some of them tall, some of them medium-sized, and others so short they were on the point of going out. In fact at every moment some candles did go out, and others elsewhere suddenly came alight, so that the little flames seemed to be leaping about from one spot to another in constant movement.

‘See these candles?’ said godfather Death. ‘Everyone alive on earth has a candle burning down here. The tall ones belong to children, the middle-sized ones to married people in the prime of life, and the little ones to old people. Mostly, that is. Some people who are only young have a very short candle.’

‘Which is mine?’ said the young man, thinking that his candle was bound to have a long way to burn down yet.

Death pointed to a little stump where the flame was already guttering. The young man was horrified.

‘Oh, godfather, dear godfather, light another one for me, I beg you! I long to marry the princess — you know why I had to turn her round — I fell in love with her at once — I couldn’t help it! Please, dear godfather, let me live my life!’

‘That’s impossible,’ said Death. ‘I can’t light another one without letting the first go out.’

‘Oh, I beg you — please — put this one on top of a new one so it can carry on burning when the first one’s finished!’

Death pretended that he was going to do that, and he took a new long candle and set it upright before taking the little stump that was nearly out; but he was determined to have his revenge, and in tipping it over to light the new one, he let the old flame go out. The physician fell to the ground at once, for he was equal to everyone else: he had fallen into the hands of Death.

Tale type:ATU 332, ‘Godfather Death’

Source:a story told to the Grimm brothers by Marie Elisabeth Wild

Similar stories:Italo Calvino: ‘The Land Where No One Ever Dies’ ( Italian Folktales ); Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm: ‘The Godfather’, ‘The Messengers of Death’ ( Children’s and Household Tales )

The other Grimm tale of this type, ‘The Godfather’, is short and facetious, with little of this story’s power. The story in Calvino is similar only in its conclusion — that no one can escape falling into the hands of death. Of course, there are innumerable variations on that idea, Geoffrey Chaucer’s ‘The Pardoner’s Tale’ being one of the best known.

Two thousand years ago, or a very long time anyway, there lived a rich man and his good and beautiful wife. They loved each other dearly. There was only one thing needed to complete their happiness, and that was children, but as much as they longed for a child, and as much as the woman prayed both day and night, no child came, and no child came.

Now in front of their house was a courtyard, where there grew a juniper tree. One winter’s day the woman stood under the tree peeling an apple, and as she did so she cut her finger, and a drop of blood fell into the snow.