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Grimms' Fairy Tales
The
Little Peasant
There was a certain village wherein no one
lived but really rich peasants, and just one poor one, whom
they called the little peasant. He had not even so much
as a cow, and still less money to buy one, and yet he and
his wife did so wish to have one. One day he said to her,
"Hark you, I have a good thought, there is our gossip
the carpenter, he shall make us a wooden calf, and paint
it brown, so that it look like any other, and in time it
will certainly get big and be a cow." The woman also
liked the idea, and their gossip the carpenter cut and planed
the calf, and painted it as it ought to be, and made it
with its head hanging down as if it were eating.
Next morning when the cows were being driven out, the little
peasant called the cow-herd and said, "Look, I have
a little calf there, but it is still small and has still
to be carried." The cow-herd said, "All right,
and took it in his arms and carried it to the pasture, and
set it among the grass." The little calf always remained
standing like one which was eating, and the cow-herd said,
"It will soon run alone, just look how it eats already!"
At night when he was going to drive the herd home again,
he said to the calf, "If thou canst stand there and
eat thy fill, thou canst also go on thy four legs; I don't
care to drag thee home again in my arms." But the little
peasant stood at his door, and waited for his little calf,
and when the cow-herd drove the cows through the village,
and the calf was missing, he inquired where it was. The
cow-herd answered, "It is still standing out there
eating. It would not stop and come with us." But the
little peasant said, "Oh, but I must have my beast
back again." Then they went back to the meadow together,
but some one had stolen the calf, and it was gone. The cow-herd
said, "It must have run away." The peasant, however,
said, "Don't tell me that," and led the cow-herd
before the mayor, who for his carelessness condemned him
to give the peasant a cow for the calf which had run away.
And now the little peasant and his wife had the cow for
which they had so long wished, and they were heartily glad,
but they had no food for it, and could give it nothing to
eat, so it soon had to be killed. They salted the flesh,
and the peasant went into the town and wanted to sell the
skin there, so that he might buy a new calf with the proceeds.
On the way he passed by a mill, and there sat a raven with
broken wings, and out of pity he took him and wrapped him
in the skin. As, however, the weather grew so bad and there
was a storm of rain and wind, he could go no farther, and
turned back to the mill and begged for shelter. The miller's
wife was alone in the house, and said to the peasant, "Lay
thyself on the straw there", and gave him a slice of
bread with cheese on it. The peasant ate it, and lay down
with his skin beside him, and the woman thought, "He
is tired and has gone to sleep." In the meantime came
the parson; the miller's wife received him well, and said,
"My husband is out, so we will have a feast."
The peasant listened, and when he heard about feasting he
was vexed that he had been forced to make shift with a slice
of bread with cheese on it. Then the woman served up four
different things, roast meat, salad, cakes, and wine.
Just as they were about to sit down and eat, there was
a knocking outside. The woman said, "Oh, heavens! It
is my husband!" She quickly hid the roast meat inside
the tiled stove, the wine under the pillow, the salad on
the bed, the cakes under it, and the parson in the cupboard
in the entrance. Then she opened the door for her husband,
and said, "Thank heaven, thou art back again! There
is such a storm, it looks as if the world were coming to
an end." The miller saw the peasant lying on the straw,
and asked, "What is that fellow doing there?"
"Ah," said the wife, "the poor knave came
in the storm and rain, and begged for shelter, so I gave
him a bit of bread and cheese, and showed him where the
straw was." The man said, "I have no objection,
but be quick and get me something to eat." The woman
said, "But I have nothing but bread and cheese."
"I am contented with anything," replied the husband,
"so far as I am concerned, bread and cheese will do,"
and looked at the peasant and said, "Come and eat some
more with me." The peasant did not require to be invited
twice, but got up and ate. After this the miller saw the
skin in which the raven was, lying on the ground, and asked,
"What hast thou there?" The peasant answered,
"I have a soothsayer inside it." "Can he
foretell anything to me?" said the miller. "Why
not?" answered the peasant, "but he only says
four things, and the fifth he keeps to himself." The
miller was curious, and said, "Let him foretell something
for once." Then the peasant pinched the raven's head,
so that he croaked and made a noise like krr, krr. The miller
said, "What did he say?" The peasant answered,
"In the first place, he says that there is some wine
hidden under the pillow." "Bless me!" cried
the miller, and went there and found the wine. "Now
go on," said he. The peasant made the raven croak again,
and said, "In the second place, he says that there
is some roast meat in the tiled stove." "Upon
my word!" cried the miller, and went thither, and found
the roast meat. The peasant made the raven prophesy still
more, and said, "Thirdly, he says that there is some
salad on the bed." "That would be a fine thing!"
cried the miller, and went there and found the salad. At
last the peasant pinched the raven once more till he croaked,
and said, "Fourthly, he says that there are some cakes
under the bed." "That would be a fine thing!"
cried the miller, and looked there, and found the cakes.
And now the two sat down to the table together, but the
miller's wife was frightened to death, and went to bed and
took all the keys with her. The miller would have liked
much to know the fifth, but the little peasant said, "First,
we will quickly eat the four things, for the fifth is something
bad." So they ate, and after that they bargained how
much the miller was to give for the fifth prophesy, until
they agreed on three hundred thalers. Then the peasant once
more pinched the raven's head till he croaked loudly. The
miller asked, "What did he say?" The peasant replied,
"He says that the Devil is hiding outside there in
the cupboard in the entrance." The miller said, "The
Devil must go out," and opened the house-door; then
the woman was forced to give up the keys, and the peasant
unlocked the cupboard. The parson ran out as fast as he
could, and the miller said, "It was true; I saw the
black rascal with my own eyes." The peasant, however,
made off next morning by daybreak with the three hundred
thalers.
At home the small peasant gradually launched out; he built
a beautiful house, and the peasants said, "The small
peasant has certainly been to the place where golden snow
falls, and people carry the gold home in shovels."
Then the small peasant was brought before the Mayor, and
bidden to say from whence his wealth came. He answered,
"I sold my cow's skin in the town, for three hundred
thalers." When the peasants heard that, they too wished
to enjoy this great profit, and ran home, killed all their
cows, and stripped off their skins in order to sell them
in the town to the greatest advantage. The Mayor, however,
said, "But my servant must go first." When she
came to the merchant in the town, he did not give her more
than two thalers for a skin, and when the others came, he
did not give them so much, and said, "What can I do
with all these skins?"
Then the peasants were vexed that the small peasant should
have thus overreached them, wanted to take vengeance on
him, and accused him of this treachery before the Mayor.
The innocent little peasant was unanimously sentenced to
death, and was to be rolled into the water, in a barrel
pierced full of holes. He was led forth, and a priest was
brought who was to say a mass for his soul. The others were
all obliged to retire to a distance, and when the peasant
looked at the priest, he recognized the man who had been
with the miller's wife. He said to him, "I set you
free from the cupboard, set me free from the barrel."
At this same moment up came, with a flock of sheep, the
very shepherd who as the peasant knew had long been wishing
to be Mayor, so he cried with all his might, "No, I
will not do it; if the whole world insists on it, I will
not do it!" The shepherd hearing that, came up to him,
and asked, "What art thou about? What is it that thou
wilt not do?" The peasant said, "They want to
make me Mayor, if I will but put myself in the barrel, but
I will not do it." The shepherd said, "If nothing
more than that is needful in order to be Mayor, I would
get into the barrel at once." The peasant said, "If
thou wilt get in, thou wilt be Mayor." The shepherd
was willing, and got in, and the peasant shut the top down
on him; then he took the shepherd's flock for himself, and
drove it away. The parson went to the crowd, and declared
that the mass had been said. Then they came and rolled the
barrel towards the water. When the barrel began to roll,
the shepherd cried, "I am quite willing to be Mayor."
They believed no otherwise than that it was the peasant
who was saying this, and answered, "That is what we
intend, but first thou shalt look about thee a little down
below there," and they rolled the barrel down into
the water.
After that the peasants went home, and as they were entering
the village, the small peasant also came quietly in, driving
a flock of sheep and looking quite contented. Then the peasants
were astonished, and said, "Peasant, from whence comest
thou? Hast thou come out of the water?" "Yes,
truly," replied the peasant, "I sank deep, deep
down, until at last I got to the bottom; I pushed the bottom
out of the barrel, and crept out, and there were pretty
meadows on which a number of lambs were feeding, and from
thence I brought this flock away with me." Said the
peasants, "Are there any more there?" "Oh,
yes," said he, "more than I could do anything
with." Then the peasants made up their minds that they
too would fetch some sheep for themselves, a flock apiece,
but the Mayor said, "I come first." So they went
to the water together, and just then there were some of
the small fleecy clouds in the blue sky, which are called
little lambs, and they were reflected in the water, whereupon
the peasants cried, "We already see the sheep down
below!" The Mayor pressed forward and said, "I
will go down first, and look about me, and if things promise
well I'll call you." So he jumped in; splash! went
the water; he made a sound as if he were calling them, and
the whole crowd plunged in after him as one man. Then the
entire village was dead, and the small peasant, as sole
heir, became a rich man.
From Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, Household Tales, trans. Margaret
Hunt (London: George Bell, 1884), 1:264-269. |
