Grimm's Fairy Tales

The Three Little Men in the Woods

"Die drei Männlein im Walde"

There was a man whose wife died, and a woman whose husband died. The man had a daughter, and the woman also had a daughter. The girls were acquainted with each other and went for a walk together. Afterwards they came to the woman in her house.

The woman said to the man's daughter, "Listen, tell your father that I would like to marry him, and then you shall wash yourself in milk every morning and drink wine, but my own daughter shall wash herself in water and drink water."

The girl went home and told her father what the woman had said.

The man said, "What shall I do? Marriage is a joy, but also a torment."

Finally, being unable to reach a decision, he pulled off his boot and said, "Take this boot. It has a hole in its sole. Take it to the attic, hang it on the big nail, and then pour water into it. If it holds the water, then I shall again take a wife, but if the water runs through it, then I shall not."

The girl did as she was told, but the water pulled the hole shut, and the boot filled up to the top. She told her father what had happened. Then he himself went up, and when he saw that she was right, he went to the widow and wooed her, and the wedding was held.

The next morning when the two girls got up, there was milk for the man's daughter to wash in and wine for her to drink, but there was water for the woman's daughter to wash herself with and water for her to drink. On the second morning there was water for washing and water to drink for the man's daughter as well as for the woman's daughter. And on the third morning there was water for washing and water to drink for the man's daughter, and milk for washing and wine to drink for the woman's daughter, and so it continued.

The woman became her stepdaughter's worst enemy, and from one day to the next she did whatever she could to make the stepdaughter's life more miserable. Furthermore, she was envious because her stepdaughter was beautiful and kind, while her own daughter was ugly and disgusting.

Once in winter, when everything was frozen as hard as a stone, and the hills and valleys were covered with snow, the woman made a dress of paper, called her stepdaughter, and said, "Here, put this dress on and go out into the woods and fetch me a basketful of strawberries. I have a longing for some."

"Good heaven." said the girl. "Strawberries don't grow in the winter. The ground is frozen, and furthermore the snow has covered everything. And why am I to go out in this paper dress? It is so cold outside that one's breath freezes. The wind will blow through the dress, and the thorns will tear it from my body."

"Will you contradict me?" said the stepmother. "Be on your way, and do not let me see you again until you have the basketful of strawberries." Then she gave her a little piece of hard bread and said, "You can eat from this all day," while thinking, "You will freeze and starve to death out there, and I shall never see you again."

The girl obeyed and put on the paper dress and went out with the basket. There was nothing but snow far and wide, and not a green blade was to be seen. After coming into the woods she saw a small house. Three little dwarfs peeped out. She greeted them and gently knocked on the door.

They shouted, "Come in," and she went into the room and sat down on the bench by the stove to warm herself and eat her breakfast.

The dwarfs said, "Give us some of it, too."

"Gladly," she said, and broke her piece of bread in two, giving them half."

They asked, "What are you doing here in the woods in the wintertime and in your thin dress."

"Oh," she answered, "I am supposed to gather a basketful of strawberries, and am not allowed to go home until I have them."

When she had eaten her bread they gave her a broom and said, "Sweep away the snow next to the back door."