The Best of the Brothers Grimm - Grimm's Fairy Tales - Illustrated

CONTENTS

The Frog Prince

Rapunzel

Hansel and Gretel

The Four Clever Brothers

Rumpelstiltskin

The Fisherman and His Wife

The Elves and the Shoemaker

The Twelve Dancing Princesses

The Golden Goose

The Traveling Musicians

Briar Rose

Little Red Riding-Hood

The Twelve Huntsmen

Puss in Boots

Cinderella

The Robber Bridegroom

The Golden Bird

The Valiant Little Tailor

Tom Thumb

Snow-White and Red-Rose

Biography of the Brothers Grimm

The Frog Prince

In olden times, when wishing was having, there lived a King whose daughters were all beautiful, but the youngest was so beautiful that the sun itself, which has seen so much, was astonished whenever it shone in her face.

Close by the King’s castle lay a great dark forest, and under an old lime-tree in the forest, was a fountain. When the day was very warm, the young princess went out into the forest and sat down by the side of the cool fountain, and when she was dull she took a golden ball, and threw it up in the air and caught it. And this ball was her favorite plaything.

Now, it so happened one day, the Princess’s golden ball did not fall into the little hand which she was holding up for it, but on to the ground, and rolled straight into the fountain. The Princess looked into the water after her ball, but the fountain was very deep, so deep that she could not see the bottom of it. Upon seeing this, she began to cry, and cried louder and louder, and could not be comforted.

And as she thus lamented, a voice said to her, What ails you, Princess? You weep so that even a stone would show pity.

She looked round to the side from whence the voice came, and saw a Frog stretching its thick, ugly head from the water. Alas! said she, what can you do for me, you nasty frog? My golden ball has fallen into the fountain.

Be quiet, and do not weep, answered the Frog, I can help you. But what will you give me if I bring your plaything up again?

Whatever you will have, dear Frog, said she. My clothes, my pearls and jewels, and even the golden crown which I am wearing.

The Frog answered, I do not care for your clothes, your pearls and jewels, or your golden crown, but if you will love me and let me be your companion and playfellow, and sit by you at your little table, and eat off your little golden plate, and drink out of your little cup, and sleep in your little bed--if you will promise me this, I will go down below, and bring your golden ball up again.

Oh, yes, said she, I promise you all you wish, if you will but bring my ball back again. She, however, thought, How the silly Frog does talk! He lives in the water with the other frogs and croaks, and can be no companion to any human being!

But the Frog, when he had received this promise, put his head into the water and sank down. In a short time he came swimming up again with the ball in his mouth, and threw it on the grass. As soon as the young princess saw her ball, she ran to pick it up; and she was so overjoyed to have it in her hand again, that she never thought of the frog, but ran home with it as fast as she could. The frog called after her, Stay, princess, and take me with you as you said, But she did not stop to hear a word.

The next day, when she had seated herself at table with the King and all the courtiers, and was eating from her little golden plate, something came creeping splish splash, splish splash up the marble staircase. And soon afterwards there was a gentle knock at the door, and a little voice cried out and said:

"Open the door, my princess dear,

Open the door to thy true love here!

And mind the promise that you made

By the fountain cool, in the greenwood shade."

The princess ran to see who was outside, but when she opened the door, there sat the Frog in front of it. Then she slammed the door in great haste, sat down to dinner again, and was quite frightened.

The King saw plainly that her heart was beating violently, and said, My Child, what are you so afraid of? Is there a Giant outside who wants to carry you away?

Ah, no, replied she, it is no Giant, but a disgusting Frog.

What does the Frog want with you?

Ah, dear Father, yesterday when I was in the forest sitting by the fountain, playing, my golden ball fell into the water. And because I cried so, the Frog brought it out again for me. And because he insisted so on it, I promised him he should be my companion; but I never thought he would be able to come out of the water! And now he is here, and wants to come in.

In the meantime, it knocked a second time, and cried:

"Youngest princess, tell me, pray:

Don’t you remember yesterday,

And all that you to me did say,

Beside the cooling fountain’s spray?"

Then said the King, As you have given your word you must keep it; so go and let him in.

She went and opened the door, and the Frog hopped in and followed her, step by step, splish splash to her chair. There he sat still and cried, Lift me up beside you.

She delayed, until at last the King commanded her to do it. When the Frog was once on the chair, he wanted to be on the table, and when he was on the table, he said, Now, push your little golden plate nearer to me that we may eat together.

She did this, but it was easy to see that she did not do it willingly. The Frog enjoyed what he ate, but almost every mouthful the princess ate choked her.

At length the Frog said, I have eaten and am satisfied. Now I am tired, carry me into your little room and make your little silken bed ready; and we will both lie down and go to sleep.

The Princess began to cry, for she was afraid of the cold Frog, which she did not like to touch, and which was now to sleep in her pretty, clean little bed.

But the King grew angry and said, He who helped you when you were in trouble, ought not afterward to be despised.

So she took hold of the Frog with two fingers, carried him upstairs, and put him in a corner. But when she was in bed, he crept to her and said, I am tired, I want to sleep as well as you; lift me up or I will tell your father.

And the princess, though very unwilling, took him up in her hand, and put him upon the pillow of her own bed, where he slept all night long. As soon as it was light he jumped up, hopped downstairs - splish splash - and went out of the house. Now, then, thought the princess, at last he is gone, and I shall be troubled with him no more.

But she was mistaken; for when night came again she heard the same tapping at the door; and the frog came once more, and said:

"Open the door, my princess dear,

Open the door to thy true love here!

And mind the promise that you made

By the fountain cool, in the greenwood shade."

And when the princess opened the door the frog came in, and ate with her and slept upon her pillow as before, till the morning broke. And the third night he did the same. But when the princess awoke on the following morning she was astonished to see, instead of the frog, a handsome prince, gazing on her with the most beautiful eyes she had ever seen, and standing at the head of her bed.

He told her that he had been enchanted by a spiteful fairy, who had changed him into a frog; and that he had been fated so to abide till some princess should take him out of the spring, and let him eat from her plate, and sleep upon her bed for three nights. You, said the prince, have broken his cruel charm, and now I have nothing to wish for but that you should go with me into my father's kingdom, where I will marry you, and love you as long as you live.

The young princess, you may be sure, was not long in saying Yes to all this; and as they spoke a gay coach drove up, with eight beautiful horses, decked with plumes of feathers and a golden harness; and behind the coach rode the prince's servant, Faithful Henry, who had bewailed the misfortunes of his dear master during his enchantment so long and so bitterly, that his heart had well-nigh burst.

They then took leave of the king, and got into the coach with eight horses, and all set out, full of joy and merriment, for the prince's kingdom, which they reached safely; and there they lived happily a great many years.

Rapunzel

There was once a man and a woman, who had long in vain wished for a child. At length, the woman came to believe that the good Lord would grant her desire.

These people had a little window at the back of their house from which a splendid garden could be seen. It was full of the most beautiful flowers and herbs and was surrounded on all sides by a high wall, and no one dared to go into it because it belonged to a sorceress, who had great power and was dreaded by all the world.

One day, the woman was standing by this window and looking down into the garden, when she saw a bed which was planted with the most beautiful leafy plant called rapunzel and it looked so fresh and green that she longed for it, and had the greatest desire to eat some.

This desire increased every day, and as she knew that she could not get any of it, she quite pined away, and looked pale and miserable.

Then her husband was frightened and asked her What ails you, dear Wife?

Ah, she replied, if I do not get some of the rapunzel from the garden behind our house, I shall die.

The man, who loved her dearly, thought, Before you let your wife die, you must get her some of the rapunzel, whatever the cost.

In the twilight of evening, he clambered over the wall into the garden of the Sorceress, hastily clutched a handful of rapunzel, and took it to his wife. She at once made herself a salad of it, and devoured it eagerly.

She enjoyed it so much, however - so very much - that by the next day her desire for the rapunzel had