Fairytales of Famous Authors Compared to Disney Cartoons with proper respect etc

Story 93: The Girl Without Hands Brothers' Grimm1812

The Girl Without Hands

(Warning this story is harsh and not for the faint of heart, it is graphic but does not contain anything inappropriate for children that has not been discussed yet. It is one of my favorite stories, reminds me much of the Bible book of Job lots. It's emotional depth keeps increasing every time you read it. If you didn't cry the first time you reach the end, you will the second time. It is my favorite Brothers' Grimm story because its writing voice outranks all other stories they've written in my specific collection. This story is just that different and so strong on its very own. Enjoy, you've been warned read if you dare, my Skylights––Lumna10 out)

A miller had fallen on hard times, and all he had left was his mill and the big apple tree behind it. One day when he went to the forest for wood, an old man whom he had never seen before came up to him and said: "Why wear yourself out chopping wood? I will make you rich if you promise to give me what is standing behind your mill" "What can that be but the apple tree?" thought the miller, and he agreed to the bargain. "In three years I shall come and take what is mine," said the stranger with a sneer, and went his way.
When the miller got home, his wife came out to meet him and said: "Tell me, miller miller, where has all this tessure come from all of the sudden. Every chest and box is full of it. No one brought it and I don't understand." The miller replied. ' comes from a stranger I met in forest. He promised to make. me rich, and in return I agreed to let him have what is standing behind the mill. The big apple tree isn't too much to give for all this" The miller's wife was horrified. "Oh, husband," she said, "that was the Devil. He wasn't of the apple tree, he was thinking of our daughter, who was standing behind the mill, sweeping the yard."
The miller's daughter was beautiful and God-fearing; all through the three years she lived in piety, without sin. (The daughter only lives without sin because she walks the path of the Holy Spirit––Lumna10) When the three years had passed and the Evil One was to come for her, she washed herself dean and drew a circle around herself with chalk. The Devil appeared bright and early, but he couldn't get near her. He was very angry. "Keep her away from water," he said to the miller. "If you let her wash, I shall have no power over her." The miller obeyed, for he feared the Devil. Next morning the Devil came again, but she had shed tears on her hands, and they were clean and pure. Again he was unable to get near her, and in his rage he said to the miller, "Chop her hands off; otherwise I shall have no power over her." The miller was horrified. "How can I chop my own child's hands off?" he said.
But the Devil threatened him, saying. "If you don't do as I say, you will belong to me, and I'll come and take you away." The miller was so frightened that he promised to obey. He went to his daughter and said. "My child, the Devil will take me away unless I chop your hands off, and in my fear I promised I'd do it. Help me in my affliction and forgive me the injury I am going to do you"
"Dear father," she replied, "Do what you will with me. I am your child."
There upon she held out her hands and let him chop them off. The Devil came a third ime, but she had wept so long and so abundantly on the stumps that they were clean and pure in spite of everything. So he had to give up; he had lost all rights over her.
The miller, who was her Father, said to her gratefully. "I have gained so much treasure, thanks to you, that I shall always care for you most tenderly."
But she replied, "I cannot stay here. I am going away. Kindly people will provide for my needs."
She bade them tie her maimed arms to her back, and at sunrise she started out. All day she walked and at nightfall she came to the king's orchard. In the moonlight she saw trees full of wonderful fruit, but she couldn't get into the orchard because there was water all around it. She was very hungry, for she had traveled all day without a bite to eat. "Oh," she thought, "if only I could get in and eat some of that fruit; I shall die if I don't." Whereupon she knelt down and prayed to God. Then suddenly an angel appeared and closed a sluice in the stream, so that the moat went dry and she was able to cross. She went into the garden and the angel went with her.
She saw a tree full of fine pears, but they had all been counted. She went up to the tree, took just one pear off it with her mouth and ate it to still her hunger. The gardener saw what she had done, but because the angel was there too he was afraid and thought the girl must be a spirit, so he didn't dare cry out or say anything to the spirit.
When she had eaten the pear, her hunger was stilled, so she went and hid in the thicket. Next morning the king who owned the orchard came and counted the pears. He saw that one was missing and asked the gardener what had become of it, since it was neither on the tree nor under it. The gardener replied "Last night a spirit without hands came into the orchard and took off one pear with its mouth."
"How did this spirit cross the moat?" the king asked. "And where did it go after eating the pear?" The gardener replied: "Someone in white came down from the sky and closed the sluice and stopped the water so the spirit could cross the moat. I was afraid because it must have been an angel. That's why I didn't call out or ask any questions. Then, after eating the pear, the spirit crossed back over."