1812
GRIMM'S FAIRY TALES
JORINDA AND JORINGEL
by Jacob Ludwig Grimm and Wilhelm Carl Grimm
Electronically Enhanced Text (c) Copyright 1996, World Library(R)
JORINDA AND JORINGEL
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THERE ONCE was an old castle in the midst of a large and thick
forest, and in it an old woman who was a witch dwelt all alone. In the
daytime she changed herself into a cat or a screech-owl, but in the
evening she took her proper shape again as a human being. She could
lure wild beasts and birds to her, and then she killed and boiled
and roasted them. If any one came within one hundred paces of the
castle he was obliged to stand still, and could not stir from the
place until she bade him be free. But whenever an innocent maiden came
within this circle, she changed her into a bird, and shut her up in
a wicker-work cage, and carried the cage into a room in the castle.
She had about seven thousand cages of rare birds in the castle.
Now there was a maiden who was called Jorinda, fairer than all other
girls. She and a handsome youth named Joringel had promised to marry
each other. They were still in the days of betrothal, and their
greatest happiness was being together. One day in order that they
might be able to talk together in quiet they went for a walk in the
forest. "Take care," said Joringel, "that you do not go too near the
castle."
It was a beautiful evening; the sun shone brightly between the
trunks of the trees into the dark green of the forest, and the
turtle-doves sang mournfully upon the young boughs of the birch trees.
Jorinda wept now and then. She sat down in the sunshine and was
sorrowful. Joringel was sorrowful too; they were as sad as if they
were about to die. Then they looked around them, and were quite at a
loss, for they did not know by which way they should go home. The
sun was still half above the mountain and half set.
Joringel looked through the bushes, and saw the old walls of the
castle close at hand. He was horror-stricken and filled with deadly
fear. Jorinda was singing,
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"My little bird, with the necklace red,
Sings sorrow, sorrow, sorrow,
He sings that the dove must soon be dead,
Sings sorrow, sor- jug, jug, jug."
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Joringel looked for Jorinda. She was changed into a nightingale, and
sang "jug, jug, jug." A screech-owl with glowing eyes flew three times
round about her, and three times cried "to-whoo, to-whoo, to-whoo!"
Joringel could not move: he stood there like a stone, and could
neither weep nor speak, nor move hand or foot.
The sun had now set. The owl flew into the thicket, and directly
afterwards there came out of it a crooked old woman, yellow and
lean, with large red eyes and a hooked nose, the point of which
reached to her chin. She muttered to herself, caught the
nightingale, and took it away in her hand.
Joringel could neither speak nor move from the spot; the nightingale
was gone. At last the woman came back, and said in a hollow voice,
"Greet thee, Zachiel. If the moon shines on the cage, Zachiel, let him
loose at once." Then Joringel was freed. He fell on his knees before
the woman and begged that she would give him back his Jorinda, but she
said that he should never have her again, and went away. He called, he
wept, he lamented, but all in vain, "Ah, what is to become of me?"
Joringel went away, and at last came to a strange village; there
he kept sheep for a long time. He often walked round and round the
castle, but not too near to it. At last he dreamt one night that he
found a blood-red flower, in the middle of which was a beautiful large
pearl; that he picked the flower and went with it to the castle, and
that everything he touched with the flower was freed from enchantment;
he also dreamt that by means of it he recovered his Jorinda.
In the morning, when he awoke, he began to seek over hill and dale
if he could find such a flower. He sought until the ninth day, and
then, early in the morning, he found the blood-red flower. In the
middle of it there was a large dew-drop, as big as the finest pearl.
Day and night he journeyed with this flower to the castle. When he
was within a hundred paces of it he was not held fast, but walked on
to the door. Joringel was full of joy; he touched the door with the
flower, and it sprang open. He walked in through the courtyard, and
listened for the sound of the birds. At last he heard it. He went on
and found the room from whence it came, and there the witch was
feeding the birds in the seven thousand cages.
When she saw Joringel she was angry, very angry, and scolded and
spat poison and gall at him, but she could not come within two paces
of him. He did not take any notice of her, but went and looked at
the cages with the birds, but there were many hundred nightingales;
how was he to find his Jorinda again?
Just then he saw the old woman quietly take away a cage with a
bird in it, and go towards the door.
Swiftly he sprang towards her, touched the cage with the flower, and
also the old woman. She could now no longer bewitch any one; and
Jorinda was standing there, clasping him round the neck, and she was
as beautiful as ever!
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THE END
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