Traveling is one of the best ways to experience everything life has to offer. It is also tough to pull off, especially with kids. Instead of juggling passports, time zones, and phrase books, introduce your kids to a bit of Germany with some books that are set in Germany, written by Germans, or feature important […]
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Product Details
ISBN-13: | 9781936041794 |
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Publisher: | Simon & Brown |
Publication date: | 12/30/2010 |
Pages: | 262 |
Product dimensions: | 6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.59(d) |
About the Author
![About The Author](http://img.images-bn.com/static/redesign/srcs/images/grey-box.png?v11.11.4)
Place of Birth:
Hanau, GermanyPlace of Death:
Berlin, GermanyRead an Excerpt
THE FROG-KING, OR IRON HENRY
In olden times when wishing still helped one, there lived a king whose daughters were all beautiful, but the youngest was so beautiful that the sun itself, which has seen so much, was astonished whenever it shone in her face. Close by the King’s castle lay a great dark forest, and under an old lime-tree in the forest was a well, and when the day was very warm, the King’s child went out into the forest and sat down by the side of the cool fountain; and when she was bored she took a golden ball, and threw it up on high and caught it; and this ball was her favorite plaything.
Now it so happened that on one occasion the princess’s golden ball did not fall into the little hand which she was holding up for it, but on to the ground beyond, and rolled straight the water. The King’s daughter followed it with her eyes, but it vanished, and the well was deep, so deep that the bottom could not be seen. At this she began to cry, and cried louder and louder, and could not be comforted. And as she thus lamented, someone said to her: “What ails you, King’s daughter. You weep so that even a stone would show pity.” She looked round to the side from whence the voice came, and saw a frog stretching forth its big, ugly head from the water. “Ah! old water-splasher, is it you?” said she; “I am weeping for my golden ball, which has fallen into the well.”
“Be quiet, and do not weep,” answered the frog, “I can help you, but what will you give me if I bring your plaything up again?” “Whatever you will have, dear frog,” said she—“my clothes, my pearls and jewels, and even the golden crown which I am wearing.”
The frog answered: “I do not care for your clothes, your pearls and jewels, not for your golden crown; but if you will love me and let me be your companion and play-fellow, and sit by you at your little table, and eat off your little golden plate, and drink out of your little cup, and sleep in your little bed—if you will promise me this I will go down below, and bring you your golden ball up again.”
“Oh, yes,” said she, “I promise you all you wish, if you will but bring me my ball back again,” But she thought: “How the silly frog does talk! All he does is to sit in the water with the other frogs, and croak! He can be no companion to any human being!”
But the frog when he had received this promise, put his head into the water and sank down, and in a short while came swimming up again with the ball in his mouth, and threw it on the grass. The King’s daughter was delighted to see her pretty plaything once more, and picked it up, and ran away with it. “Wait, wait,” said the frog. “Take me with you. I can’t run as you can.” But what did it avail him to scream his croak, croak, after her, as loudly as he could? She did not listen to it, but ran home and soon forgot the poor frog, who was forced to go back into his well again.
The next day when she had seated herself at table with the King and all the courtiers, and was eating from her little golden plater, something came creeping splish splash, splish splash, up the marble staircase, and when it had got to the top, it knocked at the door and cried: “Princess, youngest princess, open the door for me.” She ran to see who was outside, but when she opened the door, there sat the frog in front of it. Then she slammed the door to, in great haste, sat down to dinner again, and was quite frightened. The King saw plainly that her heart was beating violently, and saw: “My child, what are you so afraid of? Is there perchance a giant outside who wants to carry you away?” “Ah, no,” replied she, “it is no giant, but a disgusting frog.”
“What does the frog want with you?” “Ah, dear father, yesterday as I was in the forest sitting by the well, playing, my golden ball fell into the water. And because I cried so, the frog brought it out again for me; and because he so insisted, I promised him he should be my companion, but I never thought he would be able to come of his water! And now he is outside there, and wants to come in to me.”
In the meantime it knocked a second time, and cried:
“Princess! youngest princess!
Open the door for me!
Do you not know what you said to me
Yesterday by the cool waters of the well?
Princess, youngest princess!
Open the door for me!”
Then said the King: “That which you have promised must you perform. Go and let him in.” She went and opened the door, and the frog hopped in and followed her, step by step, to her chair. There he sat and cried: “Lift me up beside you.” She delayed, until at last the King commanded her to do it. Once the frog was on the table he said: “Now, push your little golden plate nearer to me that we may together.” She did this, but it was easy to see that she did not do it willingly. The frog enjoyed what he ate, but almost every mouthful she took choked her. At length he said: “I have eaten and am satisfied; now I am tired, carry me into your little room and make your little silken bed ready, and we will both lie down and go to sleep.”
The King’s daughter began to cry, for she was afraid of the cold frog which she did not like to touch, and which was now to sleep in her pretty, clean little bed. But the King grew angry and said: “He who helped you when you were in trouble ought not afterwards to be despised by you.” So she took hold of the frog with two fingers, carried him upstairs, and put him in a corner. But when she was in bed he crept to her and said: “I am tired, I want to sleep as well as you, lift me up or I will tell your father.” At this she was terribly angry, and took him up and threw him with all her might against the wall. “Now, will you be quiet, odious frog,” said she. But when he fell down he was no frog but a king’s son with kind and beautiful eyes. He by her father’s will was now her dear companion and husband. Then he told her how he had been bewitched by a wicked witch, and how no one could have delivered him from the well but herself, and that to-morrow they would go together to his kingdom. Then they went to sleep, and next morning when the sun awoke them, a carriage came driving up with eight white horses, which had white ostrich feathers on their heads, and were harnessed with golden chains, and behind stood the young King’s servant, faithful Henry. Faithful Henry had been so unhappy when his master was changed into a frog, that he had caused three iron bands to be laid round his heart, lest it should burst with grief and sadness. The carriage was to conduct the young King into his kingdom. Faithful Henry helped them both in, and placed himself behind again, and was full of joy because of this deliverance. And when they had driven a part of the way, the King’s son heard a cracking behind him as if something had broken. So he turned round and cried: “Henry, the carriage is breaking.”
“No, master, it is not the carriage. It is a band from my heart, which was put there in my great pain when you were a frog and imprisoned in the well,” Again and once again while they were on their something cracked, and each time the King’s son thought the carriage was breaking; but it was only the bands which were springing from the heart of faithful Henry because his master was set free and was happy.
Table of Contents
Introduction by Padraic Colum viiTHE FAIRY TALES
1. The Frog-King, or Iron Henry 17
2. Cat and Mouse in Partnership 21
3. Our Lady’s Child 23
4. The Story of the Youth who Went Forth to Learn what Fear Was 29
5. The Wolf and the Seven Little Kids 39
6. Faithful John 43
7. The Good Bargain 51
8. The Strange Musician 56
9. The Twelve Brothers 59
10. The Pack of Ragamuffins 65
11. Brother and Sister 67
12. Rapunzel 73
13. The Three Little Men in the Wood 78
14. The Three Spinners 83
15. Hänsel and Gretel 86
16. The Three Snake-Leaves 94
17. The White Snake 98
18. The Straw, the Coal, and the Bean 102
19. The Fisherman and His Wife 103
20. The Valiant Little Tailor 112
21. Cinderella 121
22. The Riddle 128
23. The Mouse, the Bird, and the Sausage 131
24. Mother Holle 133
25. The Seven Ravens 137
26. Little Red-Cap 139
27. The Bremen Town-Musicians 144
28. The Singing Bone 148
29. The Devil with the Three Golden Hairs 151
30. The Louse and the Flea 158
31. The Girl Without Hands 160
32. Clever Hans 166
33. The Three Languages 169
34. Clever Elsie 171
35. The Tailor in Heaven 175
36. The Wishing-Table, the Gold-Ass, and the Cudgel in the Sack 177
37. Thumbling 187
38. The Wedding of Mrs. Fox 193
39. The Elves 197
40. The Robber Bridegroom 200
41. Herr Korbes 205
42. The Godfather 206
43. Frau Trude 208
44. Godfather Death 209
45. Thumbling’s Travels 212
46. Fitcher’s Bird 216
47. The Juniper Tree 220
48. Old Sultan 230
49. The Six Sons 232
50. Little Briar-Rose 237
51. Fundevogel 241
52. King Thrushbeard 244
53. Little Snow White 249
54. The Knapsack, the Hat, and the Horn 258
55. Rumpelstiltskin 264
56. Sweetheart Roland 268
57. The Golden Bird 272
58. The Dog and the Sparrow 280
59. Frederick and Catherine 283
60. The Two Brothers 290
61. The Little Peasant 311
62. The Queen Bee 317
63. The Three Feathers 319
64. The Golden Goose 322
65. Allerleirauh 326
66. The Hare’s Bride 332
67. The Twelve Huntsmen 334
68. The Thief and his Master 337
69. Jorinda and Joringel 339
70. The Three Sons of Fortune 342
71. How Six Men Got On in the World 344
72. The Wolf and the Man 350
73. The Wolf and the Fox 351
74. Gossip Wolf and the Fox 353
75. The Fox and the Cat 354
76. The Pink 355
77. Clever Gretel 360
78. The Old Man and his Grandson 363
79. The Water-Nixie 364
80.The Death of the Little Hen 365
81. Brother Lustig 367
82. Gambling Hansel 378
83. Hans in Luck 381
84. Hans Married 387
85. The Gold-Children 388
86. The Fox and the Geese 393
87. The Poor Man and the Rich Man 394
88. The Singing, Soaring Lark 399
89. The Goose-Girl 404
90. The Young Giant 412
91. The Gnome 420
92. The King of the Golden Mountain 425
93. The Raven 431
94. The Peasant’s Wise Daughter 437
95. Old Hildebrand 440
96. The Three Little Birds 445
97. The Water of Life 449
98. Doctor Knowall 456
99. The Spirit in the Bottle 458
100. The Devil’s Sooty Brother 463
101. Bearskin 467
102. The Willow-Wren and the Bear 472
103. Sweet Porridge 475
104. Wise Folks 476
105. Tales of the Paddock 480
106. The Poor Miller’s Boy and the Cat 482
107. The Two Travelers 486
108. Hans the Hedgehog 497
109. The Shroud 502
110. The Jew Among the Thorns 503
111. The Skillful Huntsman 508
112. The Flail from Heaven 514
113. The Two King’s Children 515
114. The Cunning Little Tailor 525
115. The Bright Sun Brings it to Light 528
116. The Blue Light 530
117. The Willful Child 534
118. The Three Army-Surgeons 535
119. The Seven Swabians 538
120. The Three Apprentices 542
121. The King’s Son Who Feared Nothing 545
122. Donkey Cabbages 551
123. The Old Woman in the Wood 558
124. The Three Brothers 561
125. The Devil and his Grandmother 563
126. Ferdinand the Faithful and Ferdinand the Unfaithful 566
127. The Iron Stove 571
128. The Lazy Spinner 577
129. The Four Skillful Brothers 580
130. One-Eye, Two-Eyes, and Three-Eyes 585
131. Fair Katrinelje and Pif-Paf-Poltrie 593
132. The Fox and the Horse 595
133. The Shoes that Were Danced to Pieces 596
134. The Six Servants 600
135. The White Bride and the Black Bride 608
136. Iron Hans 612
137. The Three Black Princesses 620
138. Knoist and his Three Sons 622
139. The Maid of Brakel 623
140. My Household 624
141. The Lambkin and the Little Fish 625
142. Simeli Mountain 627
143. Going a Traveling 630
144. The Donkey 632
145. The Ungrateful Son 636
146. The Turnip 637
147. The Old Man Made Young Again 640
148. The Lord’s Animals and the Devil’s 642
149. The Beam 645
150. The Old Beggar-Woman 646
151. The Three Sluggards 647
151. The Twelve Idle Servants 648
152. The Shepherd Boy 651
153. The Star Money 652
154. The Stolen Farthings 654
155. Looking for a Bride 655
156. The Hurds 656
157. The Sparrow and his Four Children 657
158. The Story of Schlauraffen Land 660
159. The Ditmars Tale of Wonders 662
160. A Riddling Tale 663
161. Snow-White and Rose-Red 664
162. The Wise Servant 671
163. The Glass Coffin 672
164. Lazy Harry 678
165. The Griffin 681
166. Strong Hans 688
167. The Peasant in Heaven 695
168. Lean Lisa 696
169. The Hut in the Forest 698
170. Sharing Joy and Sorrow 704
171. The Willow-Wren 705
172. The Sole 709
173. The Bittern and the Hoopoe 710
174. The Owl 711
175. The Moon 713
176. The Duration of Life 716
177. Death’s Messengers 718
178. Master Pfriem 720
179. The Goose-Girl at the Well 725
180. Eve’s Various Children 734
181. The Nixie of the Mill-Pond 736
182. The Little Folks’ Presents 742
183. The Giant and the Tailor 745
184. The Nail 748
185. The Poor Boy in the Grave 749
186. The True Bride 752
187. The Hare and the Hedgehog 760
188. The Spindle, the Shuttle, and the Needle 764
189. The Peasant and the Devil 767
190. The Crumbs on the Table 768
191. The Sea-Hare 769
192. The Master-Thief 773
193. The Drummer 781
194. The Ear of Corn 791
195. The Grave-Mound 792
196. Old Rinkrank 796
197. The Crystal Ball 798
198. Maid Maleen 801
199. The Boots of Buffalo Leather 808
200. The Golden Key 812
THE CHILDREN’S LEGENDS
201. St. Joseph in the Forest 815
202. The Twelve Apostles 818
203. The Rose 819
204. Poverty and Humility Lead to Heaven 820
205. God’s Food 822
206. The Three Green Twigs 823
207. Our Lady’s Little Glass 825
208. The Aged Mother 826
209. The Heavenly Wedding 828
210. The Hazel-Branch 830
Folkloristic Commentary by Joseph Campbell 833