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

‘Oh,’ she sighed, ‘if only I had a child as red as blood and as white as snow!’

As she said that her heart lifted, and she felt happy. She went back into the house, feeling sure everything would end well.

One month went by, and the snow vanished.

Two months went by, and the world turned green.

Three months went by, and flowers bloomed out of the earth.

Four months went by, and all the twigs on all the trees in the forest grew stronger and pressed themselves together, and the birds sang so loud that the woods resounded, and the blossom fell from the trees.

Five months went by, and the woman stood under the juniper tree. It smelled so sweet that her heart leaped in her breast, and she fell to her knees with joy.

Six months went by, and the fruit grew firm and heavy, and the woman fell still.

When seven months had gone by, she plucked the juniper berries and ate so many that she felt sick and sorrowful.

After the eighth month had gone, she called her husband and said to him, weeping, ‘If I die, bury me under the juniper tree.’

She felt comforted by his promise, and then one more month went by, and she had a child as red as blood and as white as snow; when she saw the baby her heart could not contain her joy, and she died.

Her husband buried her under the juniper tree, weeping bitterly. After a little time his first anguish ebbed away, and although he still wept, it was less bitterly than before. And after a little more time had gone by, he took a second wife.

He had a daughter by the second wife, but his first wife’s child, as red as blood and as white as snow, was a son. The second wife loved her daughter, but whenever she looked at the little boy she felt her heart twist with hatred, because she knew he would inherit her husband’s wealth, and she feared her daughter would get nothing. Seeing this, the Devil got into her and let her think of nothing else, and from then on she never left the little boy alone: she slapped him and cuffed him, she shouted at him and made him stand in the corner, until the poor child was so afraid he hardly dared come home from school, for there was nowhere he could find any peace.

One day the woman had gone into the pantry when her little daughter Marleenken came in after her and said, ‘Mama, can I have an apple?’

‘Of course, my dear,’ said the woman, and gave her a fine red apple from the chest. This chest had a heavy lid with a sharp iron lock.

‘Mama, can my brother have one too?’ said Marleenken.

Mention of the little boy made the woman angry, but she contained herself and said, ‘Yes, of course, when he comes home from school.’

Just then she happened to look out of the window and saw the little boy coming home. And it was as if the Devil himself entered her head, because she seized the apple from the girl and said, ‘You’re not going to have one before your brother.’ She threw the apple into the chest and shut it, and Marleenken went up to her room.

Then the little boy came in, and the Devil made the woman say sweetly, ‘My son, would you like an apple?’

But her eyes were fierce.

‘Mama,’ said the little boy, ‘you look so angry! Yes, I’d like an apple.’

She couldn’t stop. She had to go on.

‘Come with me,’ she said, opening the lid of the chest. ‘Choose an apple for yourself. Lean right in — that’s it — the best ones are at the back…’

And while the little boy was leaning in, the Evil One nudged her, and bam! She slammed down the lid, and his head fell off and rolled in among the red apples.

Then she felt horribly afraid, and she thought, ‘What can I do? But maybe there’s a way…’ And she ran upstairs to her chest of drawers and took a white scarf, and then she sat the little boy in a chair by the kitchen door and set his head on his neck again, and tied the scarf around it so nothing could be seen. Then she put an apple in his hand, and went into the kitchen to put some water on the stove to boil.

And Marleenken came into the kitchen and said, ‘Mama, brother is sitting by the door, and he’s got an apple in his hand, and his face is so white! I asked him to give me the apple, but he didn’t answer me, and I was frightened.’

‘Well, you go back out there and speak to him again,’ said the mother, ‘and if he won’t answer you this time, smack his face.’

So Marleenken went to the little boy and said, ‘Brother, give me the apple.’

But he sat still and said nothing, so she smacked his face, and his head fell off. Poor Marleenken was terrified. She screamed and ran to her mother and cried, ‘Oh mother, mother, I’ve knocked my brother’s head off!’ She sobbed and cried and nothing would comfort her.

‘Oh, Marleenken, you bad girl,’ said her mother, ‘what have you done? But be quiet, hush, don’t say a word about it. It can’t be helped. We won’t tell anyone. We’ll put him in the stew.’

So she took the little boy and chopped him into pieces and put them in the pot. Marleenken couldn’t stop crying; in fact so many tears fell in the water that there was no need for salt.

Presently the father came home and sat down at the table. He looked around and said, ‘Where’s my little boy?’

The woman put a large dish of stew on the table. Marleenken was crying and crying helplessly.

The father said again, ‘Where’s my son? Why isn’t he here at the table?’

‘Oh,’ the woman said, ‘he’s gone away to visit his mother’s great-uncle’s family. He’s going to stay with them for a while.’

‘But why? He didn’t even say goodbye.’

‘He wanted to go. He said he was going to stay for six weeks. Don’t worry, they’ll look after him.’

‘Well, I’m upset about that,’ said the father. ‘He shouldn’t have gone like that without asking me. I’m sorry he’s not here. He should have said goodbye.’ And he began to eat, and he said, ‘Marleenken dear, why are you crying? Your brother will come back, don’t worry.’

And he ate some more stew, and then he said, ‘Wife, this is the best stew I’ve ever tasted. It’s delicious! Give me some more. You two aren’t having any. I’ve got a feeling that this is all for me.’ And he ate the whole dish, every scrap, and threw the bones under the table.

Marleenken went to her chest of drawers and took out her best silk scarf. Then she gathered up all the bones from under the table, tied them up in the scarf, and took them outside. Her poor eyes had wept so much they had no tears left, and she could only cry blood.

She laid the bones down on the green grass under the juniper tree, and as she did so she felt her heart lighten, and she stopped crying.

And the juniper tree began to move. First the branches moved apart, and then they moved together again, like someone clapping their hands. As that happened a golden mist gathered among the branches and then rose up like a flame, and at the heart of the flame there was a beautiful bird that flew high into the air singing and chirping merrily. And when the bird was gone, the juniper tree was just as it had been before, but the scarf and the bones had vanished. Marleenken felt happy again, just as happy as if her brother was still alive, and she ran into the house and sat down to eat her supper.

Meanwhile the bird was flying far away. He flew to a town and settled on the roof of a goldsmith’s house and began to sing:

Inside his workshop the goldsmith was making a golden chain. He heard the bird singing overhead and thought how lovely it sounded, so he stood up to run outside and see what sort of bird it could be. He left the house in such a hurry one of his slippers fell off on the way, and he stood in the middle of the street in his leather apron and one slipper, with his pincers in one hand and the golden chain in the other, and he looked up to see the bird and shaded his eyes from the bright sun and called out: ‘Hey, bird! That’s a lovely song you’re singing! Sing it again for me!’