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GRIMM'S FAIRY TALES
THE MAIDEN WITHOUT HANDS
by Jacob Ludwig Grimm and Wilhelm Carl Grimm
Electronically Enhanced Text (c) Copyright 1996, World Library(R)
THE MAIDEN WITHOUT HANDS
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A MILLER, who had gradually become very poor, had nothing left but
his mill and a large apple tree behind it. One day when he went into
the forest to gather wood, an old man, whom he had never seen
before, came toward him, and said, "Why do you take the trouble to cut
down wood? I will give you great riches if you will promise to let
me have what stands behind your mill."
"That can be no other than my apple tree," thought the miller. "I
possess nothing else." So he said to the old man, "Yes, I will let you
have it."
Then the stranger smiled maliciously, and said, "In three years I
will come again to claim what belongs to me," and after saying this he
departed.
As soon as the miller returned home, his wife came toward him and
said: "Miller, from whence have all these riches come so suddenly to
our house? All at once every drawer and chest has become full of gold.
No one brought it here, and I know not where it came from."
"Oh," replied her husband, "I know all about it. A strange man
whom I met in the wood promised me great treasures if I would make
over to him what stood behind the mill. I knew I had nothing there but
the large apple tree, so I gave him my promise."
"Oh, husband!" said the wife in alarm, "that must have been the
wizard. He did not mean the apple tree, but our daughter, who was
behind the mill sweeping out the court."
The miller's daughter was a modest and beautiful maiden, and lived
in innocence and obedience to her parents for three years, until the
day came on which the wicked wizard was to claim her. She knew he
was coming, and after washing till she was pure and clean as snow, she
drew a circle of white chalk and stood within it.
The wizard made his appearance very early, but he did not dare to
venture over the white circle, therefore he could not get near her. In
great anger he said to the miller, "Take away every drop of water,
that she may not wash, otherwise I shall have no power over her!"
The frightened miller did as he desired, but on the next morning,
when the wizard came again, her hands were as pure and clean as
ever, for she had wept over them. On this account the wizard was still
unable to approach her; so he flew into a rage, and said, "Chop her
hands off, otherwise I cannot touch her."
Then the miller was terrified, and exclaimed, "How can I cut off the
hands of my own child?"
Then the wicked wizard threatened him, and said, "If you will not do
as I desire you, then I can claim you instead of your daughter, and
carry you off."
The father listened in agony, and in his fright promised to obey. He
went to his daughter, and said to her, "Oh, my child, unless I cut off
your two hands the wizard will take me away with him, and in my
anguish I have promised. Help me in my trouble, and forgive me for the
wicked deed I have promised to do." "Dear father," she replied, "do
with me what you will: I am your child."
Thereupon she placed her two hands on the table before him, and he
cut them off. The wizard came next day for the third time, but the
poor girl had wept so bitterly over the stumps of her arms that they
were as clean and white as ever. Then he was obliged to give way,
for he had lost all right to the maiden.
As soon as the wizard had departed the miller said, "My child, I
have obtained so much good through your conduct that for your whole
lifetime I shall hold you most precious and dear." "But I cannot
stay here, father," she replied; "I am not safe; let me go away with
people who will give me the sympathy I need so much." "I fear such
people are very seldom to be found in the world," said her father.
However, he let her go. So she tied up her maimed arms and went
forth on her way at sunrise.
For a whole day she traveled without food, and as night came on
found herself near one of the royal gardens. By the light of the
moon she could see many trees laden with beautiful fruit, but she
could not reach them, because the place was surrounded by a moat
full of water. She had been without a morsel to eat the whole day, and
her hunger was so great that she could not help crying out, "Oh, if
I were only able to get some of that delicious fruit! I shall die
unless I can obtain something to eat very soon."
Then she knelt down and prayed for help, and while she prayed a
guardian fairy appeared and made a channel in the water so that she
was able to pass through on dry ground.
When she entered the garden the fairy was with her, although she did
not know it, so she walked to a tree full of beautiful pears, not
knowing that they had been counted.
Being unable to pluck any without hands, she went quite close to the
tree and ate one with her mouth as it hung. One, and no more, just
to stay her hunger. The gardener, who saw her with the fairy
standing near her, thought it was a spirit, and was too frightened
to move or speak.
After having satisfied her hunger the maiden went and laid herself
down among the shrubs and slept in peace. On the following morning the
King, to whom the garden belonged, came out to look at his fruit
trees, and when he reached the pear tree and counted the pears, he
found one missing. At first he thought it had fallen, but it was not
under the tree, so he went to the gardener and asked what had become
of it.
Then said the gardener, "There was a ghost in the garden last
night who had no hands, and ate a pear off the tree with its mouth."
"How could the ghost get across the water?" asked the King; "and
what became of it after eating the pear?"
To this the gardener replied, "Some one came first in snow-white
robes from heaven, who made a channel and stopped the flow of the
water so that the ghost walked through on dry ground. It must have
been an angel," continued the gardener; "and therefore I was afraid to
ask questions or to call out. As soon as the specter had eaten one
pear it went away."
Then said the King, "Conceal from every one what you have told me,
and I will watch myself tonight."
As soon as it was dark the King came into the garden and brought a
priest with him to address the ghost, and they both seated
themselves under a tree, with the gardener standing near them, and
waited in silence. About midnight the maiden crept out from the bushes
and went to the pear tree, and the three watchers saw her eat a pear
from the tree without picking it, while an angel stood near in white
garments.
Then the priest went toward her, and said, "Art thou come from
Heaven or earth? Art thou a spirit or a human being?"
Then the maiden answered, "Ah, me! I am no ghost, only a poor
creature forsaken by every one but God."
Then said the King, "You may be forsaken by all the world, but if
you will let me be your friend, I will never forsake you."
So the maiden was taken to the King's castle, and she was so
beautiful and modest that the King learned to love her with all his
heart. He had silver hands made for her, and very soon after they were
married with great pomp.
About a year after, the King had to go to battle, and he placed
his young wife under the care of his mother, who promised to be very
kind to her, and to write to him.
Not long after this the Queen had a little son born, and the
King's mother wrote a letter to him immediately, so that he might have
the earliest intelligence, and sent it by a messenger.
The messenger, however, after traveling a long way, became tired and
sat down to rest by a brook, where he soon fell fast asleep. Then came
the wizard, who was always trying to injure the good Queen, took
away the letter from the sleeping messenger, and replaced it by
another, in which it was stated that the little child was a
changeling.
Knowing nothing of the change, the messenger carried this letter
to the King, who, when he read it, was terribly distressed and
troubled. However, he wrote in reply to say that the Queen was to have
every attention and care till his return.
The wicked wizard again watched for the messenger, and while he
slept exchanged the King's kind letter for another, in which was
written to the King's mother an order to kill both the Queen and her
child.
The old mother was quite terrified when she read this letter, for
she could not believe the King meant her to do anything so dreadful.
She wrote again to the King, but there was no answer, for the wicked
wizard always interrupted the messengers, and sent false letters.
The last was worse than all, for it stated that instead of killing the
mother and her child, they were to cut out the tongue of the
changeling and put out the mother's eyes.
But the King's mother was too good to attend to these dreadful
orders, so she said to the Queen, while her eyes streamed with
tears, "I cannot kill you both, as the King desires me to do; but I
must not let you remain here any longer. Go, now, out into the world
with your child, and do not come here again." Then she bound the boy
on his mother's back, and the poor woman departed, weeping as she
went.
After walking some time she reached a dense forest, and knew not
which road to take. So she knelt down and prayed for help. As she rose
from her knees she saw a light shining from the window of a little
cottage, on which was hung a small sign-board, with these words:
"Every one who dwells here is safe." Out of the cottage stepped a
maiden dressed in snowy garments, and said, "Welcome, Queen wife," and
led her in. Then she unfastened the baby from his mother's back, and
hushed him in her arms till he slept so peacefully that she laid him
on a bed in another room, and came back to his mother.
The poor woman looked at her earnestly, and said, "How did you
know I was a Queen?" The white maiden replied: "I am a good fairy sent
to take care of you and your child."
So she remained in that cottage many years, and was very happy,
and so pious and good that her hands, which had been cut off, were
allowed to grow again, and the little boy became her great comfort.
Not long after she had been sent away from the castle the King
returned, and immediately asked to see his wife and child.
Then his old mother began to weep, and said, "You wicked man, how
can you ask me for your wife and child when you wrote me such dreadful
letters, and told me to kill two such innocent beings?"
The King, in distress, asked her what she meant; and she showed
him the letters she had received, which were changed by the dreadful
wizard. Then the King began to weep so bitterly for his wife and child
that the old woman pitied him, and said, "Do not be so unhappy; they
still live; I could not kill them. But your wife and child are gone
into the wide world, never to come back for fear of your anger."
Then said the King, "I will go to the ends of the earth to find
them, and I will neither eat nor drink till I find my dear wife,
even if I should die of hunger."
Thereupon the King started on his expedition, traveling over rocks
and valleys, over mountains and highways, for seven long years. But he
found her not, and he thought she was starved to death, and that he
should never see her again.
He neither ate nor drank during the whole time of earthly food,
but Heaven sent him help. At last he arrived at a large forest and
found the little cottage with the sign-board, and the words upon it:
"Every one who dwells here is safe."
While he stood reading the words the maiden in white raiment came
out, took him by the hand, and led him into the cottage, saying, "My
lord the King is welcome; but why is he here?" Then he replied, "I
have been for seven years traveling about the world hoping to find
my wife and child, but I have not yet succeeded. Can you help me?"
"Sit down," said the angel, "and take something to eat and drink
first."
The King was so tired that he gladly obeyed, for he really wanted
rest. Then he laid himself down and slept, and the maiden in the white
raiment covered his face.
Then she went into an inner chamber where the Queen sat with her
little son, whom she had named "Pain-bringer," and said to her, "Go
out together into the other chamber; your husband is come."
The poor Queen went out, but still sorrowfully, for she remembered
the cruel letters his mother had received, and knew not that he
still loved her. Just as she entered the room the covering fell off
his face, and she told her little son to replace it.
The boy went forward and laid the cloth gently over the face of
the strange man. But the King heard the voice in his slumber, and
moved his head so that the covering again fell off.
"My child," said the Queen, "cover the face of thy father."
He looked at her in surprise, and said, "How can I cover my father's
face, dear mother? I have no father in this world. You have taught
me to pray to 'Our Father, which art in heaven,' and I thought my
father was God. This strange man is not my father; I don't know him."
When the King heard this he started up and asked who they were. Then
said the Queen, "I am your wife, and this is your son."
The King looked at her with surprise. "Your face and your voice
are the same," he said; "but my wife had silver hands, and yours are
natural." "My hands have mercifully been allowed to grow again," she
replied, and, as he still doubted, the maiden in white entered the
room, carrying the silver hands, which she showed to the King.
Then he saw at once that this was indeed his dear lost wife and
his own little son; and he embraced them, full of joy, exclaiming,
"Now has a heavy stone fallen from my heart!"
The maiden prepared a dinner for them, of which they all partook
together; and, after a kind farewell, the King started with his wife
and child to return home to the castle, where his mother and all the
household received them with great joy.
A second marriage-feast was prepared, and the happiness of their
latter days made amends for all they had suffered through the wicked
demon who had caused them so much pain and trouble.
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THE END
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