Two Grimm Tales
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The Fox and the Geese
(Der Fuchs und die Gänse)
The fox once came to a meadow in which was a flock of fine fat geese, on which he
smiled and said, "I come in the nick of time, you are sitting together quite beautifully, so
that I can eat you up one after the other."The geese cackled with terror, sprang up, and began to wail and beg piteously for their lives. But the fox would listen to nothing, and said, "There is no mercy to be had! You must die."
At length one of them took heart and said, "If we poor geese are to yield up our vigorous young lives, show us the only possible favour and allow us one more prayer, that we may not die in our sins, and then we will place ourselves in a row, so that you can always pick yourself out the fattest."
"Yes," said the fox, "that is reasonable, and a pious request. Pray away, I will wait till you are done."
Then the first began a good long prayer, for ever saying, "Ga! Ga!" and as she would make no end, the second did not wait till her turn came, but began also, "Ga! Ga!" The third and fourth followed her, and soon they were all cackling together.
When they have done praying, the story shall be went on further, but at present they are still praying without stopping.
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Old Hildebrand
(Der alte Hildebrand)
Once on a time lived a peasant and his wife, and the parson of the village had a
fancy for the wife, and had wished for a long while to spend a whole day happily with her.
The peasant woman, too, was quite willing. One day, therefore, he said to the woman,
"Listen, my dear friend, I have now thought of a way by which we can for once spend a whole
day happily together. I'll tell you what; on Wednesday you must take to your bed, and tell
your husband you are ill, and if you only complain and act being ill properly, and go on
doing so till Sunday when I have to preach, I will then say in my sermon that whoever has at
home a sick child, a sick husband, a sick wife, a sick father, a sick mother, a sick brother
or whoever else it may be, and makes a pilgrimage to the Göckerli hill in Italy, where you
can get a peck of laurel-leaves for a kreuzer, the sick child, the sick husband, the sick
wife, the sick father, or sick mother, the sick sister, or whoever else it may be, will be
restored to health at once.""I will manage it," said the woman promptly.
Now therefore on the Wednesday the peasant woman took to her bed, and complained and lamented as agreed on, and her husband did everything for her that he could think of. But nothing did her any good, and when Sunday came the woman said, "I feel as ill as if I were going to die at once, but there is one thing I should like to do before my end I should like to hear the parson's sermon that he is going to preach today."
On that the peasant said, "Ah, my child, do not do it — you might make yourself worse if you were to get up. Look, I will go to the sermon, and will attend to it very carefully, and will tell you everything the parson says."
"Well," said the woman, "go, then, and pay great attention, and repeat to me all that you hear."
So the peasant went to the sermon, and the parson began to preach and said, if any one had at home a sick child, a sick husband, a sick wife, a sick father a sick mother, a sick sister, brother or any one else, and would make a pilgimage to the Göckerli hill in Italy, where a peck of laurel-leaves costs a kreuzer, the sick child, sick husband, sick wife, sick father, sick mother, sick sister, brother, or whoever else it might be, would be restored to health instantly, and whoever wished to undertake the journey was to go to him after the service was over, and he would give him the sack for the laurel-leaves and the kreuzer.
Then no one was more rejoiced than the peasant. After the service was over, he went at once to the parson, who gave him the bag for the laurel-leaves and the kreuzer. After that he went home, and even at the house door he cried, "Hurrah! dear wife, it is now almost the same thing as if you were well! The parson has preached today that whoever had at home a sick child, a sick husband, a sick wife, a sick father, a sick mother, a sick sister, brother or whoever it might be, and would make a pilgrimage to the Göckerli hill in Italy, where a peck of laurel-leaves costs a kreuzer, the sick child, sick husband, sick wife, sick father, sick mother, sick sister, brother, or whoever else it was, would be cured at once. Now I have already got the bag and the kreuzer from the parson, and will at once begin my journey so that you may get well the faster," and thereupon he went away. He was, however, hardly gone before the woman got up and the parson was there directly.
But now we will leave these two for a while, and follow the peasant, who walked on quickly without stopping, in order to get the sooner to the Göckerli hill, and on his way he met an egg-merchant who was just coming from the market, where he had sold his eggs.
"May you be blessed," said the egg-merchant, "where are you off to so fast?"
"My friend," said the peasant, "my wife is ill, and I have been today to hear the parson's sermon, and he preached that if any one had in his house a sick child, a sick husband, a sick wife, a sick father, a sick mother, a sick sister, brother or any one else, and made a pilgrimage to the Göckerli hill in Italy, where a peck of laurel-leaves costs a kreuzer, the sick child, the sick husband, the sick wife, the sick father, the sick mother, the sick sister, brother or whoever else it was, would be cured at once. I have got the bag for the laurel-leaves and the kreuzer from the parson, and now I am beginning my pilgrimage."
"But," said the egg-merchant to the peasant, "are you stupid enough to believe such a thing as that? The parson wants to spend a whole day alone with your wife in peace, so he has given you this job to do to get you out of the way."
"My word!" said the peasant. "How I'd like to know if that's true!"
"Come, then," said the egg-merchant, "I'll tell you what to do. Get into my egg-basket and I will carry you home, and then you will see for yourself."
So that was settled, and the egg-merchant put the peasant into his egg-basket and carried him home.
When they got to the house all was going merry there! The woman had already had nearly everything killed that was in the farmyard, and had made pancakes. The parson was there, and had brought his fiddle with him. The egg-merchant knocked at the door, and woman asked who was there.
"It is I, the egg-merchant," said the egg-merchant, "give me shelter tonight, for it is dark already."
Said the woman, "You come at a very inconvenient time for me, but as you are here it can't be helped: Come in and take a seat there on the bench by the stove."
Then she placed the egg-merchant and the basket which he carried on his back on the bench by the stove. The parson and the woman, however, were as merry as possible. At length the parson said, "Listen, my dear friend, you can sing beautifully; sing something to me."
"Oh," said the woman, "I cannot sing now, in my young days indeed I could sing well enough, but that's all over now."
"Come," said the parson once more, "do sing some little song."
On that the woman began and sang,
"I've sent my husband away from meThen the parson sang,
To the Göckerli hill in Italy."
"I wish it was a year before he came back,Then the egg-merchant who was in the background began to sing (but I ought to tell you the peasant was called Hildebrand). The egg-merchant sang,
I'd never ask him for the laurel-leaf sack.
Hallelujah."
"What are you doing, my Hildebrand dear,And then the peasant sang from his basket,
There on the bench by the stove so near?
Hallelujah."
"All singing I ever shall hate from this day,And he got out of the basket and cudgelled the parson out of the house.
And here in this basket no longer I'll stay.
Hallelujah."
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