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Grimms' Fairy Tales
The
Hare's Bride
There was once a woman and her daughter who
lived in a pretty garden with cabbages; and a little hare
came into it, and during the winter time ate all the cabbages.
Then says the mother to the daughter, "Go into the
garden, and chase the hare away." The girl says to
the little hare, "Sh-sh, hare, you are still eating
up all our cabbages." Says the hare, "Come, maiden,
and seat yourself on my little hare's tail, and come with
me into my little hare's hut." The girl will not do
it. Next day the hare comes again and eats the cabbages,
then says the mother to the daughter, "Go into the
garden, and drive the hare away." The girl says to
the hare, "Sh-sh, little hare, you are still eating
all the cabbages." The little hare says, "Maiden,
seat thyself on my little hare's tail, and come with me
into my little hare's hut." The maiden refuses. The
third day the hare comes again, and eats the cabbages. On
this the mother says to the daughter, "Go into the
garden, and hunt the hare away." Says the maiden, "Sh-sh,
little hare, you are still eating all our cabbages."
Says the little hare, "Come, maiden, seat thyself on
my little hare's tail, and come with me into my little hare's
hut." The girl seats herself on the little hare's tail,
and then the hare takes her far away to his little hut,
and says, "Now cook green cabbage and millet-seed,
and I will invite the wedding-guests." Then all the
wedding-guests assembled. (Who were the wedding-guests?)
That I can tell you as another told it to me. They were
all hares, and the crow was there as parson to marry the
bride and bridegroom, and the fox as clerk, and the altar
was under the rainbow.
The girl, however, was sad, for she was all alone. The
little hare comes and says, "Open the doors, open the
doors, the wedding-guests are merry." The bride says
nothing, but weeps. The little hare goes away. The little
hare comes back and says, "Take off the lid, take off
the lid, the wedding-guests are hungry." The bride
again says nothing, and weeps. The little hare goes away.
The little hare comes back and says, "Take off the
lid, take off the lid, the wedding-guests are waiting."
Then the bride says nothing, and the hare goes away, but
she dresses a straw-doll in her clothes, and gives her a
spoon to stir with, and sets her by the pan with the millet-seed,
and goes back to her mother. The little hare comes once
more and says, "Take off the lid, take off the lid,"
and gets up, and strikes the doll on the head so that her
cap falls off.
Then the little hare sees that it is not his bride, and
goes away and is sorrowful.
From Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, Household Tales, trans. Margaret
Hunt (London: George Bell, 1884), 1:282-283. |
