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The Girl Without Hands
Tales Collected by the Brothers Grimm
A certain miller had little by little fallen into poverty, and
had nothing left but his mill and a large apple-tree behind
it. Once when he had gone into the forest to fetch wood, an
old man stepped up to him whom he had never seen before, and
said, "Why dost thou plague thyself with cutting wood, I will
make thee rich, if thou wilt promise me what is standing behind
thy mill?" "What can that be but my apple-tree?" thought the
miller, and said, "Yes," and gave a written promise to the
stranger. He, however, laughed mockingly and said, "When three
years have passed, I will come and carry away what belongs to me,"
and then he went. When the miller got home, his wife came to
meet him and said, "Tell me, miller, from whence comes this
sudden wealth into our house? All at once every box and chest
was filled; no one brought it in, and I know not how it
happened." He answered, "It comes from a stranger who met me in
the forest, and promised me great treasure. I, in return,
have promised him what stands behind the mill; we can very
well give him the big apple-tree for it." "Ah, husband," said the
terrified wife, "that must have been the devil! He did not mean the
apple-tree, but our daughter, who was standing behind the mill
sweeping the yard."
The miller's daughter was a beautiful, pious girl, and lived
through the three years in the fear of God and without sin. When
therefore the time was over, and the day came when the Evil-one
was to fetch her, she washed herself clean, and made a circle
round herself with chalk. The devil appeared quite early, but
he could not come near to her. Angrily, he said to the miller,
"Take all water away from her, that she may no longer be able to
wash herself, for otherwise I have no power over her." The
miller was afraid, and did so. The next morning the devil came
again, but she had wept on her hands, and they were quite
clean. Again he could not get near her, and furiously said to
the miller, "Cut her hands off, or else I cannot get the better of her." The miller was shocked and
answered, "How could I cut off my
own child's hands?" Then the Evil-one threatened him and said,
"If thou dost not do it thou art mine, and I will take thee thyself." The father became alarmed,
and promised to obey him. So he
went to the girl and said, "My child, if I do not cut off both
thine hands, the devil will carry me away, and in my terror
I have promised to do it. Help me in my need, and forgive me
the harm I do thee." She replied, "Dear father, do with me what
you will, I am your child." Thereupon she laid down both her
hands, and let them be cut off. The devil came for the third
time, but she had wept so long and so much on the stumps, that
after all they were quite clean. Then he had to give in, and
had lost all right over her.
The miller said to her, "I have by means of thee received such
great wealth that I will keep thee most delicately as long as
thou livest." But she replied, "Here I cannot stay, I will go forth,
compassionate people will give me as much as I require." Thereupon she caused her maimed
arms to be bound to her back,
and by sunrise she set out on her way, and walked the whole day
until night fell. Then she came to a royal garden, and by
the shimmering of the moon she saw that trees covered with
beautiful fruits grew in
it, but she could not enter, for there was much water round about it.
And as she had walked the whole day and not eaten one mouthful,
and hunger tormented her, she thought, "Ah, if I were but inside,
that I might eat of the fruit, else must I die of hunger!" Then
she knelt down, called on God the Lord, and prayed. And
suddenly an angel came towards her, who made a dam in the water,
so that the moat became dry and she could walk through it. And
now she went into the garden and the angel went with her. She
saw a tree covered with beautiful pears, but they were all
counted. Then she went to them, and to still her hunger, ate
one with her mouth from the tree, but no more. The gardener
was watching; but as the angel was standing by, he was afraid
and thought the maiden was a spirit, and was silent, neither
did he dare to cry out, or to speak to the spirit. When she had
eaten the pear, she was satisfied, and went and concealed herself
among the bushes. The King to whom the garden belonged, came
down to it next morning, and counted, and saw that one of the
pears was missing, and asked the gardener what had become of it,
as it was not lying beneath the tree, but was gone. Then
answered the gardener, "Last night, a spirit came in, who had no
hands, and ate off one of the pears with its mouth." The King
said, "How did the spirit get over the water, and where did it go
after it had eaten the pear?" The gardener answered, "Some one
came in a snow-white garment from heaven who made a dam, and
kept back the water, that the spirit might walk through the moat. And as it must have been an
angel, I was afraid, and asked
no questions, and did not cry out. When the spirit had eaten
the pear, it went back again." The King said, "If it be as thou
sayest, I will watch with thee to-night."
When it grew dark the King came into the garden and brought
a priest with him, who was to speak to the spirit. All three
seated themselves beneath the tree and watched. At midnight the
maiden came creeping out of the thicket, went to the tree, and
again ate one pear off it with her mouth, and beside her stood
the angel in white garments. Then the priest went out to them
and said, "Comest thou from heaven or from earth? Art thou a
spirit, or a human
being?" She replied, "I am no spirit, but an unhappy mortal
deserted by all but God." The King said, "If thou art forsaken
by all the world, yet will I not forsake thee." He took her with
him into his royal palace, and as she was so beautiful and good,
he loved her with all his heart, had silver hands made for her,
and took her to wife.
After a year the King had to take the field, so he commended
his young Queen to the care of his mother and said, "If she
is brought to bed take care of her, nurse her well,
and tell me of it at once in a letter." Then she gave birth to
a fine boy. So the old mother made haste to write and announce
the joyful news to him. But the messenger rested by a brook
on the way, and as he was fatigued by the great distance, he
fell asleep. Then came the Devil, who was always seeking to
injure the good Queen, and exchanged the letter for another, in
which was written that the Queen had brought a monster into
the world. When the King read the letter he was shocked and
much troubled, but he wrote in answer that they were to take
great care of the Queen and nurse her well until his arrival. The messenger went back with the
letter, but rested at the
same place and again fell asleep. Then came the Devil
once more, and put a different letter in his pocket, in which
it was written that they were to put the Queen and her child to
death. The old mother was terribly shocked when she received
the letter, and could not believe it. She wrote back again to
the King, but received no other answer, because each time the
Devil substituted a false letter, and in the last letter it was
also written that she was to preserve the Queen's tongue and
eyes as a token that she had obeyed.
But the old mother wept to think such innocent blood was to
be shed, and had a hind brought by night and cut out her tongue
and eyes, and kept them. Then said she to the Queen, "I cannot
have thee killed as the King commands, but here thou mayst stay
no longer. Go forth into the wide world with thy child, and
never come here again." The poor woman tied her child on her back,
and went away with eyes full of tears. She came into a great wild
forest, and then she fell on her knees and prayed to God, and the
angel of the Lord appeared to her and led her to a little house
on which was a sign with the words, "Here all dwell free." A
snow-white maiden came out of the little house and said, 'Welcome,
Lady Queen," and conducted her inside. Then they unbound the
little boy from her back, and held him to her breast that he might
feed, and laid him in a beautifully-made little bed. Then
said the poor woman, "From whence knowest thou that I was a queen?"
The white maiden answered, "I am an angel sent by God, to watch
over thee and thy child." The Queen stayed seven years in the
little house, and was well cared for, and by God's grace, because
of her piety, her hands which had been cut off, grew once more.
At last the King came home again from the war, and his first
wish was to see his wife and the child. Then his aged mother
began to weep and said, "Thou wicked man, why didst thou write to me
that I was to take those two innocent lives?" and she showed him
the two letters which the Evil-one had forged, and then
continued, "I did as thou badest me," and she showed the tokens, the
tongue and eyes. Then the King began to weep for his poor wife
and his little son so much more bitterly than she was doing,
that the aged mother had compassion on him and said, "Be at peace,
she still lives; I secretly caused a hind to be killed, and
took these tokens from it; but I bound the child to thy wife's
back and bade her go forth into the wide world, and made her
promise never to come back here again, because thou wert so
angry with her." Then spoke the King, "I will go as far as
the sky is blue, and will neither eat nor drink until I have
found again my dear wife and my child, if in the meantime they
have not been killed, or died of hunger."
Thereupon the King travelled about for seven long years, and
sought her in every cleft of the rocks and in every cave, but
he found her not, and thought she had died of want. During the
whole of this time he neither ate nor drank, but God supported him. At
length he came into a great forest, and found therein the little
house whose sign was, "Here all dwell free." Then forth came
the white maiden, took him by the hand, led him in, and said,
"Welcome, Lord King," and asked him from whence he came. He
answered, "Soon shall I have travelled about for the space of
seven years, and I seek my wife and her child, but cannot find
them." The angel offered him meat and drink, but he did not
take anything, and only wished to rest a little. Then he lay
down to sleep, and put a handkerchief over his face.
Thereupon the angel went into the chamber where the Queen
sat with her son, whom she usually called "Sorrowful," and
said to her, "Go out with thy child, thy husband hath come." So
she went to the place where he lay, and the handkerchief
fell from his face. Then said she, "Sorrowful, pick up thy father's handkerchief, and cover his
face again." The child picked
it up, and put it over his face again. The King in his sleep
heard what passed, and had pleasure in letting the handkerchief
fall once more. But the child grew impatient, and said,
"Dear mother, how can I cover my father's face when I have no
father in this world? I have learnt to say the prayer, 'Our
Father, which art in Heaven,' thou hast told me that my father
was in Heaven, and was the good God, and how can I know a wild
man like this? He is not my father." When the King heard that,
he got up, and asked who they were. Then said
she, "I am thy wife, and that is thy son, Sorrowful." And he
saw her living hands, and said, "My wife had silver hands." She
answered, "The good God has caused my natural hands to grow again;"
and the angel went into the inner room, and brought the silver
hands, and showed them to him. Hereupon he knew for a certainty
that it was his dear wife and his dear child, and he kissed
them, and was glad, and said, "A heavy stone has fallen from off
mine heart." Then the angel of God gave them one meal with her, and
after that they went home to the King's aged mother. There were
great rejoicings everywhere, and the King and Queen were married
again, and lived contentedly to their happy end.
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