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Grimms' Fairy Tales
The
Girl Without Hands
A certain miller had little by little fallen
into poverty, and had nothing left but his mill and a large
apple-tree behind it. Once when he had gone into the forest
to fetch wood, an old man stepped up to him whom he had
never seen before, and said, "Why dost thou plague
thyself with cutting wood, I will make thee rich, if thou
wilt promise me what is standing behind thy mill?"
"What can that be but my apple-tree?" thought
the miller, and said, "Yes," and gave a written
promise to the stranger. He, however, laughed mockingly
and said, "When three years have passed, I will come
and carry away what belongs to me," and then he went.
When the miller got home, his wife came to meet him and
said, "Tell me, miller, from whence comes this sudden
wealth into our house? All at once every box and chest was
filled; no one brought it in, and I know not how it happened."
He answered, "It comes from a stranger who met me in
the forest, and promised me great treasure. I, in return,
have promised him what stands behind the mill; we can very
well give him the big apple-tree for it." "Ah,
husband," said the terrified wife, "that must
have been the devil! He did not mean the apple-tree, but
our daughter, who was standing behind the mill sweeping
the yard."
The miller's daughter was a beautiful, pious girl, and
lived through the three years in the fear of God and without
sin. When therefore the time was over, and the day came
when the Evil-one was to fetch her, she washed herself clean,
and made a circle round herself with chalk. The devil appeared
quite early, but he could not come near to her. Angrily,
he said to the miller, "Take all water away from her,
that she may no longer be able to wash herself, for otherwise
I have no power over her." The miller was afraid, and
did so. The next morning the devil came again, but she had
wept on her hands, and they were quite clean. Again he could
not get near her, and furiously said to the miller, "Cut
her hands off, or else I cannot get the better of her."
The miller was shocked and answered, "How could I cut
off my own child's hands?" Then the Evil-one threatened
him and said, "If thou dost not do it thou art mine,
and I will take thee thyself." The father became alarmed,
and promised to obey him. So he went to the girl and said,
"My child, if I do not cut off both thine hands, the
devil will carry me away, and in my terror I have promised
to do it. Help me in my need, and forgive me the harm I
do thee." She replied, "Dear father, do with me
what you will, I am your child." Thereupon she laid
down both her hands, and let them be cut off. The devil
came for the third time, but she had wept so long and so
much on the stumps, that after all they were quite clean.
Then he had to give in, and had lost all right over her.
The miller said to her, "I have by means of thee received
such great wealth that I will keep thee most delicately
as long as thou livest." But she replied, "Here
I cannot stay, I will go forth, compassionate people will
give me as much as I require." Thereupon she caused
her maimed arms to be bound to her back, and by sunrise
she set out on her way, and walked the whole day until night
fell. Then she came to a royal garden, and by the shimmering
of the moon she saw that trees covered with beautiful fruits
grew in it, but she could not enter, for there was much
water round about it. And as she had walked the whole day
and not eaten one mouthful, and hunger tormented her, she
thought, "Ah, if I were but inside, that I might eat
of the fruit, else must I die of hunger!" Then she
knelt down, called on God the Lord, and prayed. And suddenly
an angel came towards her, who made a dam in the water,
so that the moat became dry and she could walk through it.
And now she went into the garden and the angel went with
her. She saw a tree covered with beautiful pears, but they
were all counted. Then she went to them, and to still her
hunger, ate one with her mouth from the tree, but no more.
The gardener was watching; but as the angel was standing
by, he was afraid and thought the maiden was a spirit, and
was silent, neither did he dare to cry out, or to speak
to the spirit. When she had eaten the pear, she was satisfied,
and went and concealed herself among the bushes. The King
to whom the garden belonged, came down to it next morning,
and counted, and saw that one of the pears was missing,
and asked the gardener what had become of it, as it was
not lying beneath the tree, but was gone. Then answered
the gardener, "Last night, a spirit came in, who had
no hands, and ate off one of the pears with its mouth."
The King said, "How did the spirit get over the water,
and where did it go after it had eaten the pear?" The
gardener answered, "Some one came in a snow-white garment
from heaven who made a dam, and kept back the water, that
the spirit might walk through the moat. And as it must have
been an angel, I was afraid, and asked no questions, and
did not cry out. When the spirit had eaten the pear, it
went back again." The King said, "If it be as
thou sayest, I will watch with thee to-night."
When it grew dark the King came into the garden and brought
a priest with him, who was to speak to the spirit. All three
seated themselves beneath the tree and watched. At midnight
the maiden came creeping out of the thicket, went to the
tree, and again ate one pear off it with her mouth, and
beside her stood the angel in white garments. Then the priest
went out to them and said, "Comest thou from heaven
or from earth? Art thou a spirit, or a human being?"
She replied, "I am no spirit, but an unhappy mortal
deserted by all but God." The King said, "If thou
art forsaken by all the world, yet will I not forsake thee."
He took her with him into his royal palace, and as she was
so beautiful and good, he loved her with all his heart,
had silver hands made for her, and took her to wife.
After a year the King had to take the field, so he commended
his young Queen to the care of his mother and said, "If
she is brought to bed take care of her, nurse her well,
and tell me of it at once in a letter." Then she gave
birth to a fine boy. So the old mother made haste to write
and announce the joyful news to him. But the messenger rested
by a brook on the way, and as he was fatigued by the great
distance, he fell asleep. Then came the Devil, who was always
seeking to injure the good Queen, and exchanged the letter
for another, in which was written that the Queen had brought
a monster into the world. When the King read the letter
he was shocked and much troubled, but he wrote in answer
that they were to take great care of the Queen and nurse
her well until his arrival. The messenger went back with
the letter, but rested at the same place and again fell
asleep. Then came the Devil once more, and put a different
letter in his pocket, in which it was written that they
were to put the Queen and her child to death. The old mother
was terribly shocked when she received the letter, and could
not believe it. She wrote back again to the King, but received
no other answer, because each time the Devil substituted
a false letter, and in the last letter it was also written
that she was to preserve the Queen's tongue and eyes as
a token that she had obeyed.
But the old mother wept to think such innocent blood was
to be shed, and had a hind brought by night and cut out
her tongue and eyes, and kept them. Then said she to the
Queen, "I cannot have thee killed as the King commands,
but here thou mayst stay no longer. Go forth into the wide
world with thy child, and never come here again." The
poor woman tied her child on her back, and went away with
eyes full of tears. She came into a great wild forest, and
then she fell on her knees and prayed to God, and the angel
of the Lord appeared to her and led her to a little house
on which was a sign with the words, "Here all dwell
free." A snow-white maiden came out of the little house
and said, 'Welcome, Lady Queen," and conducted her
inside. Then they unbound the little boy from her back,
and held him to her breast that he might feed, and laid
him in a beautifully-made little bed. Then said the poor
woman, "From whence knowest thou that I was a queen?"
The white maiden answered, "I am an angel sent by God,
to watch over thee and thy child." The Queen stayed
seven years in the little house, and was well cared for,
and by God's grace, because of her piety, her hands which
had been cut off, grew once more.
At last the King came home again from the war, and his
first wish was to see his wife and the child. Then his aged
mother began to weep and said, "Thou wicked man, why
didst thou write to me that I was to take those two innocent
lives?" and she showed him the two letters which the
Evil-one had forged, and then continued, "I did as
thou badest me," and she showed the tokens, the tongue
and eyes. Then the King began to weep for his poor wife
and his little son so much more bitterly than she was doing,
that the aged mother had compassion on him and said, "Be
at peace, she still lives; I secretly caused a hind to be
killed, and took these tokens from it; but I bound the child
to thy wife's back and bade her go forth into the wide world,
and made her promise never to come back here again, because
thou wert so angry with her." Then spoke the King,
"I will go as far as the sky is blue, and will neither
eat nor drink until I have found again my dear wife and
my child, if in the meantime they have not been killed,
or died of hunger."
Thereupon the King travelled about for seven long years,
and sought her in every cleft of the rocks and in every
cave, but he found her not, and thought she had died of
want. During the whole of this time he neither ate nor drank,
but God supported him. At length he came into a great forest,
and found therein the little house whose sign was, "Here
all dwell free." Then forth came the white maiden,
took him by the hand, led him in, and said, "Welcome,
Lord King," and asked him from whence he came. He answered,
"Soon shall I have travelled about for the space of
seven years, and I seek my wife and her child, but cannot
find them." The angel offered him meat and drink, but
he did not take anything, and only wished to rest a little.
Then he lay down to sleep, and put a handkerchief over his
face.
Thereupon the angel went into the chamber where the Queen
sat with her son, whom she usually called "Sorrowful,"
and said to her, "Go out with thy child, thy husband
hath come." So she went to the place where he lay,
and the handkerchief fell from his face. Then said she,
"Sorrowful, pick up thy father's handkerchief, and
cover his face again." The child picked it up, and
put it over his face again. The King in his sleep heard
what passed, and had pleasure in letting the handkerchief
fall once more. But the child grew impatient, and said,
"Dear mother, how can I cover my father's face when
I have no father in this world? I have learnt to say the
prayer, 'Our Father, which art in Heaven,' thou hast told
me that my father was in Heaven, and was the good God, and
how can I know a wild man like this? He is not my father."
When the King heard that, he got up, and asked who they
were. Then said she, "I am thy wife, and that is thy
son, Sorrowful." And he saw her living hands, and said,
"My wife had silver hands." She answered, "The
good God has caused my natural hands to grow again;"
and the angel went into the inner room, and brought the
silver hands, and showed them to him. Hereupon he knew for
a certainty that it was his dear wife and his dear child,
and he kissed them, and was glad, and said, "A heavy
stone has fallen from off mine heart." Then the angel
of God gave them one meal with her, and after that they
went home to the King's aged mother. There were great rejoicings
everywhere, and the King and Queen were married again, and
lived contentedly to their happy end.
From Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, Household Tales, trans. Margaret
Hunt (London: George Bell, 1884), 1:127-132. |
