Elf E-book

                                      1812
                              GRIMM'S FAIRY TALES
                                    THE ELF

                  by Jacob Ludwig Grimm and Wilhelm Carl Grimm








Electronically Enhanced Text (c) Copyright 1996, World Library(R)



                                           THE ELF
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  THERE WAS once upon a time a rich King who had three daughters,
who daily went to walk in the palace garden. The King was a great
lover of all kinds of fine trees, but there was one for which he had
such an affection that if anyone gathered an apple from it he wished
him a hundred fathoms under ground. And when harvest time came, the
apples on this tree were all as red as blood. The three daughters went
every day beneath the tree, and looked to see if the wind had not
blown down an apple, but they never by any chance found one, and the
tree was so loaded with them that it was almost breaking, and the
branches hung down to the ground.
  The King's youngest child had a great desire for an apple, and
said to her sisters, "Our father loves us far too much to wish us
underground, it is my belief that he would only do that to people
who were strangers." And while she was speaking, the child plucked off
quite a large apple, and ran to her sisters, saying, "Just taste, my
dear little sisters, for never in my life have I tasted anything so
delightful." Then the two other sisters also ate some of the apple,
whereupon all three sank deep down into the earth, where they could
hear no cock crow.
  When mid-day came, the King wished to call them to come to dinner,
but they were nowhere to be found. He sought them everywhere in the
palace and garden, but could not find them. Then he was much troubled,
and made known to the whole land that whosoever brought his
daughters back again should have one of them to wife. Hereupon so many
young men went about the country in search, that there was no counting
them, for every one loved the three children because they were so kind
to all, and so fair of face. Three young huntsmen also went out, and
when they had traveled about for eight days, they arrived at a great
castle, in which were beautiful apartments, and in one room a table
was laid on which were delicate dishes which were still so warm that
they were smoking, but in the whole of the castle no human being was
either to be seen or heard.
  They waited there for half a day, and the food still remained warm
and smoking, and at length they were so hungry that they sat down
and ate, and agreed with each other that they would stay and live in
that castle, and that one of them, who should be chosen by casting
lots, should remain in the house, and the two others seek the King's
daughters. They cast lots, and the lot fell on the eldest; so next day
the two younger went out to seek, and the eldest had to stay at home.
  At mid-day came a small, small mannikin and begged for a piece of
bread; then the huntsman took the bread which he had found there,
and cut a round off the loaf and was about to give it to him, but
while he was giving it to the mannikin, the latter let it fall, and
asked the huntsman to be so good as to give him that piece again.
The huntsman was about to do so and stooped, on which the mannikin
took a stick, seized him by the hair, and gave him a good beating.
  Next day, the second stayed at home, and he fared no better. When
the two others returned in the evening, the eldest said, "Well, how
have you got on?" "Oh, very badly," said he, and then they lamented
their misfortune together, but they said nothing about it to the
youngest, for they did not like him at all, and always called him
Stupid Hans, because he did not exactly belong to the forest.
                                                          
  On the third day, the youngest stayed at home, and again the
little mannikin came and begged for a piece of bread. When the youth
gave it to him, the elf let it fall as before, and asked him to be
so good as to give him that piece again. Then said Hans to the
little mannikin, "What! canst thou not pick up that piece thyself?
If thou wilt not take as much trouble as that for thy daily bread,
thou dost not deserve to have it." Then the mannikin grew very angry
and said he was to do it, but the huntsman would not, and took my dear
mannikin, and gave him a thorough beating. Then the mannikin
screamed terribly, and cried, "Stop, stop, and let me go, and I will
tell thee where the King's daughters are."
  When Hans heard that, he left off beating him and the mannikin
told him that he was an earth-mannikin, and that there were more
than a thousand like him, and that if he would go with him he would
show him where the King's daughters were. Then he showed him a deep
well, but there was no water in it. And the elf said that he knew well
that the companions Hans had with him did not intend to deal honorably
with him, therefore if he wished to deliver the King's children, he
must do it alone. The two other brothers would also be very glad to
recover the King's daughters, but they did not want to have any
trouble or danger. Hans was therefore to take a large basket, and he
must seat himself in it with his hanger and a bell, and be let down.
Below were three rooms, and in each of them was a Princess, with a
many-headed dragon, whose heads she was to comb and trim, but he
must cut them off. And having said all this, the elf vanished.
  When it was evening the two brothers came and asked how he had got
on, and he said, "pretty well so far," and that he had seen no one
except at mid-day when a little mannikin had come who had begged for a
piece of bread, that he had given some to him, but that the mannikin
had let it fall and had asked him to pick it up again; but as he did
not choose to do that, the elf had begun to lose his temper, and
that he had done what he ought not, and had given the elf a beating,
on which he had told him where the King's daughters were. Then the two
were so angry at this that they grew green and yellow.
  Next morning they went to the well together, and drew lots who
should first seat himself in the basket, and again the lot fell on the
eldest, and he was to seat himself in it, and take the bell with
him. Then he said, "If I ring, you must draw me up again immediately."
When he had gone down for a short distance, he rang, and they at
once drew him up again. Then the second seated himself in the
basket, but he did just the same as the first, and then it was the
turn of the youngest, but he let himself be lowered quite to the
bottom. When he had got out of the basket, he took his hanger, and
went and stood outside the first door and listened, and heard the
dragon snoring quite loudly. He opened the door slowly, and one of the
Princesses was sitting there, and had nine dragon's heads lying upon
her lap, and was combing them. Then he took his hanger and hewed at
them, and the nine fell off. The Princess sprang up, threw her arms
round his neck, embraced and kissed him repeatedly, and took her
stomacher, which was made of red gold, and hung it round his neck.
Then he went to the second Princess, who had a dragon with five
heads to comb, and delivered her also, and to the youngest, who had
a dragon with four heads, he went likewise. And they all rejoiced, and
embraced him and kissed him without stopping.
  Then he rang very loud, so that those above heard him, and he placed
the Princesses one after the other in the basket, and had them all
drawn up, but when it came to his own turn he remembered the words
of the elf, who had told him that his comrades did not mean well by
him. So he took a great stone which was lying there, and placed it
in the basket, and when it was about half way up, his false brothers
above cut the rope, so that the basket with the stone fell to the
ground, and they thought that he was dead, and ran away with the three
Princesses, making them promise to tell their father that it was
they who had delivered them, and then they went to the King, and
each demanded a Princess in marriage.
                                                         
  In the meantime the youngest huntsman was wandering about the
three chambers in great trouble, fully expecting to have to end his
days there, when he saw, hanging on the wall, a flute; then said he,
"Why do you hang there, no one can be merry here?" He looked at the
dragon's head likewise and said, "You cannot help me now." He walked
backwards and forwards for such a long time that he made the surface
of the ground quite smooth. At last other thoughts came to his mind,
and he took the flute from the wall, and played a few notes on it, and
suddenly a number of elves appeared, and with every note that he
sounded one more came.
  He played until the room was entirely filled. They all asked what he
desired, so he said he wished to get above ground back to daylight, on
which they seized him by every hair that grew on his head, and thus
they flew with him on to the earth again. When he was above ground, he
at once went to the King's palace just as the wedding of one
Princess was about to be celebrated, and he went to the room where the
King and his three daughters were. When the Princesses saw him they
fainted. Hereupon the King was angry, and ordered him to be put in
prison at once, because he thought he must have done some injury to
the children. When the Princesses came to themselves, however, they
entreated the King to set him free again. The King asked why, and they
said that they were not allowed to tell that, but their father said
that they were to tell it to the stove. And he went out, listened at
the door, and heard everything. Then he caused the two brothers to
be hanged on the gallows, and to the third he gave his youngest
daughter, and on that occasion I wore a pair of glass shoes, and I
struck them against a stone, and they said, "Klink," and were broken.
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                               THE END