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Grimms' Fairy Tales
Fitcher's
Bird
There was once a wizard who used to take the
form of a poor man, and went to houses and begged, and caught
pretty girls. No one knew whither he carried them, for they
were never seen more. One day he appeared before the door
of a man who had three pretty daughters; he looked like
a poor weak beggar, and carried a basket on his back, as
if he meant to collect charitable gifts in it. He begged
for a little food, and when the eldest daughter came out
and was just reaching him a piece of bread, he did but touch
her, and she was forced to jump into his basket. Thereupon
he hurried away with long strides, and carried her away
into a dark forest to his house, which stood in the midst
of it. Everything in the house was magnificent; he gave
her whatsoever she could possibly desire, and said, "My
darling, thou wilt certainly be happy with me, for thou
hast everything thy heart can wish for." This lasted
a few days, and then he said, "I must journey forth,
and leave thee alone for a short time; there are the keys
of the house; thou mayst go everywhere and look at everything
except into one room, which this little key here opens,
and there I forbid thee to go on pain of death." He
likewise gave her an egg and said, "Preserve the egg
carefully for me, and carry it continually about with thee,
for a great misfortune would arise from the loss of it."
She took the keys and the egg, and promised to obey him
in everything. When he was gone, she went all round the
house from the bottom to the top, and examined everything.
The rooms shone with silver and gold, and she thought she
had never seen such great splendour. At length she came
to the forbidden door; she wished to pass it by, but curiosity
let her have no rest. She examined the key, it looked just
like any other; she put it in the keyhole and turned it
a little, and the door sprang open. But what did she see
when she went in? A great bloody basin stood in the middle
of the room, and therein lay human beings, dead and hewn
to pieces, and hard by was a block of wood, and a gleaming
axe lay upon it. She was so terribly alarmed that the egg
which she held in her hand fell into the basin. She got
it out and washed the blood off, but in vain, it appeared
again in a moment. She washed and scrubbed, but she could
not get it out.
It was not long before the man came back from his journey,
and the first things which he asked for were the key and
the egg. She gave them to him, but she trembled as she did
so, and he saw at once by the red spots that she had been
in the bloody chamber. "Since thou hast gone into the
room against my will," said he, "thou shalt go
back into it against thine own. Thy life is ended."
He threw her down, dragged her thither by her hair, cut
her head off on the block, and hewed her in pieces so that
her blood ran on the ground. Then he threw her into the
basin with the rest.
"Now I will fetch myself the second," said the
wizard, and again he went to the house in the shape of a
poor man, and begged. Then the second daughter brought him
a piece of bread; he caught her like the first, by simply
touching her, and carried her away. She did not fare better
than her sister. She allowed herself to be led away by her
curiosity, opened the door of the bloody chamber, looked
in, and had to atone for it with her life on the wizard's
return. Then he went and brought the third sister, but she
was clever and crafty. When he had given her the keys and
the egg, and had left her, she first put the egg away with
great care, and then she examined the house, and at last
went into the forbidden room. Alas, what did she behold!
Both her sisters lay there in the basin, cruelly murdered,
and cut in pieces. But she began to gather their limbs together
and put them in order, head, body, arms and legs. And when
nothing further was wanting the limbs began to move and
unite themselves together, and both the maidens opened their
eyes and were once more alive. Then they rejoiced and kissed
and caressed each other.
On his arrival, the man at once demanded the keys and the
egg, and as he could perceive no trace of any blood on it,
he said, "Thou hast stood the test, thou shalt be my
bride." He now had no longer any power over her, and
was forced to do whatsoever she desired. "Oh, very
well," said she, "thou shalt first take a basketful
of gold to my father and mother, and carry it thyself on
thy back; in the meantime I will prepare for the wedding."
Then she ran to her sisters, whom she had hidden in a little
chamber, and said, "The moment has come when I can
save you. The wretch shall himself carry you home again,
but as soon as you are at home send help to me." She
put both of them in a basket and covered them quite over
with gold, so that nothing of them was to be seen, then
she called in the wizard and said to him, "Now carry
the basket away, but I shall look through my little window
and watch to see if thou stoppest on the way to stand or
to rest."
The wizard raised the basket on his back and went away
with it, but it weighed him down so heavily that the perspiration
streamed from his face. Then he sat down and wanted to rest
awhile, but immediately one of the girls in the basket cried,
"I am looking through my little window, and I see that
thou art resting. Wilt thou go on at once?" He thought
it was his bride who was calling that to him; and got up
on his legs again. Once more he was going to sit down, but
instantly she cried, "I am looking through my little
window, and I see that thou art resting. Wilt thou go on
directly?" And whenever he stood still, she cried this,
and then he was forced to go onwards, until at last, groaning
and out of breath, he took the basket with the gold and
the two maidens into their parents' house. At home, however,
the bride prepared the marriage-feast, and sent invitations
to the friends of the wizard. Then she took a skull with
grinning teeth, put some ornaments on it and a wreath of
flowers, carried it upstairs to the garret-window, and let
it look out from thence. When all was ready, she got into
a barrel of honey, and then cut the feather-bed open and
rolled herself in it, until she looked like a wondrous bird,
and no one could recognize her. Then she went out of the
house, and on her way she met some of the wedding-guests,
who asked,
"O, Fitcher's bird, how com'st thou here?"
"I come from Fitcher's house quite near."
"And what may the young bride be doing?"
"From cellar to garret she's swept all clean,
And now from the window she's peeping, I ween."
At last she met the bridegroom, who was coming slowly back.
He, like the others, asked,
"O, Fitcher's bird, how com'st thou here?"
"I come from Fitcher's house quite near."
"And what may the young bride be doing?
"From cellar to garret she's swept all clean,
And now from the window she's peeping, I ween."
The bridegroom looked up, saw the decked-out skull, thought
it was his bride, and nodded to her, greeting her kindly.
But when he and his guests had all gone into the house,
the brothers and kinsmen of the bride, who had been sent
to rescue her, arrived. They locked all the doors of the
house, that no one might escape, set fire to it, and the
wizard and all his crew had to burn.
From Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, Household Tales, trans. Margaret
Hunt (London: George Bell, 1884), 1:178-181. |
