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Story 42: Three Little Men in The Woods Brothers' Grimm 1812

Three Little Men in the Woods

There was once a man whose wife died and woman whose husband had died, and the man had a daughter and the woman also had a daughter. The girls knew each other and went for a walk together and then they went to the women's house. And the woman said to the man's daughter: "Listen to me. Go and tell your Father I wish to marry him. Then you will wash in milk and drink wine, but my daughter will wash in water and drink water."
The girl went home and told her father what the woman had said: "What should I do? Marriage is a joy, but it's also torture." Finally, when he couldn't make up his mind, he took off his boot and said: "See this boot? There is a hole in it. Take it up to the attic, hang it on a nail, and pour water into it. If the water stays, I'll take a wife, if it runs out, I won't. The girl did as she was bidden. The water pulled the sides of the hole together and the boot stayed brimful. She told her Father what happened. Then he went up to the attic to see for himself, and when he saw it was true, he went to the widow and courted her and the wedding was celebrated.

Next morning, when the two girls got up, the husband's daughter had milk to wash in and wine to drink, and the wife's daughter had water to wash in and water to drink. On the second morning, the husband's daughter as well as the wife's daughter had water to wash in and water to drink. On the third morning, the husband's daughter had water to wash in and water to drink, and the wife's daughter had milk to wash in and wine to drink. And that's how it was from then on. The wife hated her stepdaughter like poison and racked her brains looking for ways to make things worse for her from day to day. For one thing, she was envious, because her stepdaughter was beautiful and sweet-tempered, while her own daughter was ugly and
horrid.
One winter day, when the ground was frozen solid and hill and dale were covered with snow, the wife made a dress out of paper, called the girl and said: "Put on this dress and go out into the woods.
I want you to bring me a little basket full of strawberries. I have a craving for them." "My goodness!" said the girl. "Strawberries don't grow in the wintertime; the ground is frozen and everything is covered with snow. And why do you want me to go out in this paper dress?-it's so cold your breath freezes. The wind will blow through it and the brambles will tear it off me." "Don't you dare talk back to me!" cried the stepmother. "Get a move on and don't show your face again until that basket is full of strawberries." Then she gave her a piece of stale bread. "This will do you for the day," she said. And she thought: "She'll die of cold and hunger out there, and I'll never see her again."

Obediently, the stepdaughter put on the paper dress and went with the little basket. As far as the eye could see, there was nothing but snow, and not the slightest blade of green. When she got to the woods, she saw a hut. Three dwarfs were peering out of it. She bade them good morning and knocked shyly at the door. "Come in!" they cried. She went in and sat down on the bench by the stove to warm herself and eat her breakfast. The dwarfs said: "Give us some."
"Gladly," She said, and broke her bread in two and gave them half. "What are you doing out here in the woods in that thin dress in the dead of winter?" they asked.

"I've been sent to look for strawberries," she said. "And I'm not to go home until I've picked a basketful." When she had eaten her bread, they gave her a broom and said: "Sweep the snow away from the back door." While she was outside, the three little men talked it over: "What should we give her for being so good and kind and sharing her bread with us?" The first said. "My gift is that she shall become more beautiful every day." The second said: "My gift is that whenever she says a word a gold piece shall fall out of her mouth" The third said: "My gift is that a king shall come and take her for his wife."
The girl did as the dwarfs had bidden her. She took the broom and swept the snow from behind the hut, and what do you think she found? Ripe strawberries, every one of them dark red, coming up from under the snow. In her joy she picked until her basket was full, thanked the little men, gave each of them her hand, and ran home to bring her stepmother what she had asked for. When she went in and said, "Good evening," a gold piece fell from her mouth. Then she told them what had happened in the woods, and as she spoke the gold pieces kept falling out of her mouth, so that the floor was soon covered with them. "Of all the arrogance!" said her stepsister.
"Throwing money around like that!" But in her heart she envied her, and wanted to go out into the woods and look for strawberries. Her mother said: "No, no, my darling daughter, it's too cold, you'd freeze to death." But the daughter gave her no peace, and in the end she let her go. She made her a beautiful fur coat to wear, and gave her sandwiches and cake to take with her.
The girl went to the woods and headed straight for the hut. Again the three dwarfs were peering out, but she didn't say good morning or honor them with so much as a glance. Without a word of greeting she stomped into the hut, sat down by the stove, and began to eat her sandwiches and cake. "Give us some!" the little men cried out, but she replied: "How can I when I haven't enough for myself?" When she had finished eating, they said: "Here's a broom, go and sweep around the back door." "Pooh! Go do your own sweeping," she said.
"I'm not your maid." When she saw they weren't going to give her anything, she went outside. The little men talked it over. "What shall we give her for being so horrid and having a wicked, envious heart, and never giving anything away." The first said: "My gift is that she shall become uglier every day." The second said; "My gift is that whenever she says a word a toad shall jump out of her mouth." The third said: "My gift is that she shall die a cruel death." The girl looked for strawberries outside the hut, and when she didn't find any she went peevishly home. And when she opened her mouth to tell her mother what had happened, a toad jumped out at every word, and everyone thought she was disgusting.
The stepmother was angrier than ever. All she could think of was
Generalizing: as rule, how to bring sorrow to her husband's daughter, who was growing more beautiful every day. In the end, she took a kettle, put it on the fire, and boiled yarn in it. When the yarn was boiled, she threw it over the poor girl's shoulder, gave her an ax, and told her to go out to the frozen river, cut a hole in the ice and rinse the yarn. Obediently she went to the river and began to chop a hole in the ice. While she was chopping, a marvelous carriage came along and a ling was sitting in it. The carriage stopped and the king asked: "Who are you, my child, and what are you doing here?" "I'm a poor girl and I'm rinsing yarn."
The king felt sorry for her, and when he saw how beautiful she was, he said. "Would you like to ride away with me?» "Oh yes, with all my heart," she said, for she was glad to get away from her mother and sister.
So she got into the carriage and rode away with the king, and when they got to his palace their wedding was celebrated with great splendor, and that was the little men's gift to the girl. A year later the young queen gave birth to a son, and when her stepmother heard of her great good fortune, she and her daughter came to the palace as if to pay her a visit. Then one day when the king had gone out and no one else was there, the wicked woman grabbed the queen by the head and her daughter grabbed her by the feet, and they picked her up from her bed and threw her out of the window into the river. Then the ugly daughter lay down in the bed, and the old woman pulled the blankets up over her head. When the king came home and wanted to speak to his wife, the old woman cried: "Hush, hush, not now. She's all in a sweat, you must let her rest." The king thought no harm and didn't come back until the next morning. Then he spoke to his wife and she answered, and at every word a toad jumped out of her mouth, when up until then it had always been a gold piece.
He asked what was wrong with her, but the old woman said it came of the bad sweat she had been in, and the trouble would soon go away.

That night the kitchen boy saw a duck swimming in the drainage tunnel and the duck said:
said;
"What are you doing, king? Are you awake, or slumbering?"
When he didn't answer, the duck said:
"What are my guests about?"
And che kitchen boy answered:
"They're sound asleep, no doubt."
Then the duck asked:
"And what of my baby sweet?"
And he answered:
got "He's in his cradle asleep."
Then the duck took the form of the queen and went up and suckled the child and plumped up his bed and covered him up. Then she turned into a duck again and swam away in the runnel. Next night she did the same thing, and on the third she said to the kitchen boy: "Go and tell the king to take his sword and stand on the threshold and swing it over me three times." The kitchen boy ran to the king and told him, and he came with his sword and swung it three times over the ghost. The third time his wife stood before him alive and well and as lovely as ever.
The king was very happy, but he kept the queen hidden in a bedchamber until the Sunday when the child was to be christened. After the christening, the king said. "What should be done to a person who drags someone out of bed and throws him into the water?" The old woman answered: "The villain should be shut up in a barrel studded with nails and rolled down the hill into the water." The ling said:
"You've pronounced your own sentence." He sent for just such a barrel, and the old woman and her daughter were put into it, and the lid was hammered tight, and it was rolled down the hill into the river.