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Grimms' Fairy Tales
The
Old Man and His Grandson
There was once a very old man, whose eyes
had become dim, his ears dull of hearing, his knees trembled,
and when he sat at table he could hardly hold the spoon,
and spilt the broth upon the table-cloth or let it run out
of his mouth. His son and his son's wife were disgusted
at this, so the old grandfather at last had to sit in the
corner behind the stove, and they gave him his food in an
earthenware bowl, and not even enough of it. And he used
to look towards the table with his eyes full of tears. Once,
too, his trembling hands could not hold the bowl, and it
fell to the ground and broke. The young wife scolded him,
but he said nothing and only sighed. Then they bought him
a wooden bowl for a few half-pence, out of which he had
to eat.
They were once sitting thus when the little grandson of
four years old began to gather together some bits of wood
upon the ground. "What are you doing there?" asked
the father. "I am making a little trough," answered
the child, "for father and mother to eat out of when
I am big."
The man and his wife looked at each other for a while,
and presently began to cry. Then they took the old grandfather
to the table, and henceforth always let him eat with them,
and likewise said nothing if he did spill a little of anything.
From Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, Household Tales, trans. Margaret
Hunt (London: George Bell, 1884), 1:309-310. |
