What influential book did the Brothers Grimm publish?
We’ve all heard of the Brothers Grimm and their fairy tales. And some of us know that they published these tales after roaming the countryside collecting folklore. But did you know that Jacob Grimm also published many other books, specifically about German grammar, and has his own law of linguistics, called Grimm’s Law?
Welcome to Not Trivial! A podcast that takes a deeper dive into the stories behind the trivia questions you might’ve heard at the pub. My name is Liz, and I’ve been a trivia nerd since I was young. My parents and I would play Trivial Pursuit often. Still do. I’ve hosted pub trivia, I’ve played pub trivia, and I’m a collector of random history, language, and world culture facts. One of my greatest passions is sharing what I’ve collected with others. I’m hopeful this podcast makes the trivia questions feel less trivial, and more important to understanding how the past creates the present, and subsequently the future. Let’s get started…
Rapunzel. The Brave Little Tailor. Cinderella. Snow White. Disney movies all. And also, children’s tales published in a collection by the Brothers Grimm in 1812. And yes, we’ll get to discuss some of the fairy tales collected by the Grimm Brothers later on in this episode. Let’s get to know the two brothers first, specifically Jacob.
Jacob Grimm was born in 1785, in Hanau which is near Frankfurt-am-Main, in what was then the Holy Roman Empire. Brother Wilhelm was born just a year later. More children followed. His father was a lawyer, who died when he was 11 or 12. Without his father’s income, his mother now had about 10 children to raise on her own. Jacob’s aunt was employed by a wealthy noble family, and his aunt’s wages helped support their family. Helped Jacob stay in school, so he did not have to find work at a young age. Jacob went on to the University of Marburg, so he could study the law like his father.
It was in Marburg at university that Jacob - and his brother Wilhelm, who joined him in Marburg - learned about Friedrich Carl von Savigny. Savigny was from Frankfurt, was less than a decade older than the Brothers Grimm, and also studied in Marburg. By the time the Grimm’s were in Marburg, Savigny was lecturing at the university, specifically about Roman law. Being a good lawyer, back then and now, requires a fair amount of reading and research. Savigny, being an expert in antiquated Roman law, visited libraries and universities and other scholars frequently in order to research the law. This research-based methodology is what drew Jacob to Savigny’s work, as opposed to the content of Roman law itself.
In 1805, Savigny invited Jacob to join him in Paris. Jacob would be a research assistant, essentially, helping Savigny with his literary work. Wilhelm joined Jacob in Paris also. It was Wilhelm that initially fell in love with German literature. Wilhelm then influenced Jacob, who then discovered a love for the Middle Ages, specifically the Middle High German texts about Minnesang. Minnesang is a specific type of lyrical storytelling done in German-speaking places during the 12th, 13th, and 14th centuries. Throughout the Middle Ages, Europe had a strong tradition in various cultures, of storytellers who roamed the land singing lyrical epics and tales of courtly love. It was the non-literary way for folk tales and cultural fables to be spread. In German-speaking places, some of the most famous Minnesang are from men like Wolfram von Eschenbach and Hartmann von Aue.
One of von Aue’s lyrical poems, that he put to melody, is called Poor Heinrich. The plot of this poem is about a young wealthy baron, whom God strikes down with leprosy. Heinrich is unable to come to terms with his affliction, so he visits several doctors. One of them tells him that only the blood of a virgin of marriageable age can cure him, also done as a free sacrifice. Heinrich despairs, returns home, gives away most of his worldly possessions and decides to simply live out his life on his estate with minimal staff. However, a young daughter of a farmer on the estate sees Heinrich and is unafraid of him and his appearance. They become friends, and she even gets Heinrich to make jokes and laugh. Heinrich jokes about her being his bride. One day, she overhears her father and Heinrich discussing the “cure” the doctor gave to Heinrich. She decides there and then, that she will lay down her life for him. She thinks that a sacrifice like this will surely allow her into heaven. In a speech well beyond her years, she manages to convince her father and Heinrich. They travel to the doctor, who at first tries to persuade the girl not to sacrifice herself, but eventually agrees to kill her by cutting out her heart. She willingly lies down for the doctor, who undresses her and prepares his tools. Heinrich sees how truly beautiful the girl is compared to his wretched state of leprosy and cannot allow the doctor to go ahead. Heinrich intervenes, declaring that his leprosy must be God’s will. The girl is visibly upset, having made her own decision to be sacrificed. She even goes so far as to call Heinrich a coward. Her death is avoided and the two return to his estate, where Heinrich is miraculously cured of his leprosy. After some time, the two are married and attain eternal salvation from God.
Sounds a little bit like Beauty and the Beast, right? Yeah. There are hundreds of narratives like this that have been spoken, sung, and handed down over generations. The content was one aspect of the work that intrigued Jacob, but it was also the development of the language. Even the difference from Middle High German to the German that Jacob would’ve understood was a big enough difference. This enlightenment into language development is the path that Jacob Grimm would pursue the rest of his life.
In 1808, Jacob and Wilhelm’s mother died. By this point, Jacob was a university graduate and had accepted a position as superintendent of the private library of Jerome Bonaparte. Jerome was the youngest brother of Napoleon I and at the time, he ruled as King of Westphalia. This was a pretty plush position, he earned a pretty penny, while also having time to himself to research and study what he liked. Alongside his brother Wilhelm, of course. During this time period, Jacob published a handful of texts, like Über den altdeutschen Meistergesang (1811) and Das Lied von Hildebrand und des Weissenbrunner Gebet (1812). These are his works regarding Middle High German literary works; the Minnesang, and also Hildebrandslied.
Hildebrandslied is another literary work from the Middle Ages that is especially important when studying German language or literature. It was written in the 830s, and is the only surviving example in German of a genre revealing the importance of oral storytelling to Germanic tribes of the 9th century and earlier. The plotline of the lay poem revolves around Hildebrand and Hadubrand. The opening lines of the poem set the scene: two warriors meet on a battlefield, probably as the champions of their respective armies. As the older man, Hildebrand opens by asking the identity and genealogy of his opponent. Hadubrand reveals that he did not know his father but the elders told him his father was Hildebrand. He believes his father to be dead. Hildebrand responds by saying that Hadubrand will never fight such a close kinsman (an indirect way of asserting his paternity) and offers gold arm-rings he had received as a gift from the Lord of the Huns. Hadubrand takes this as a ruse to get him off guard and belligerently refuses the offer, accusing Hildebrand of deception, and perhaps implying cowardice. Hildebrand accepts his fate and sees that he cannot honorably refuse battle: he has no choice but to kill his own son or be killed by him. They start to fight, and the text concludes with their shields smashed. But the poem breaks off in the middle of a line, not revealing the full outcome.
Hildebrandslied is but one of many literary works that reveals many layers: what were the legends and heroic tales important to the culture of old Germanic tribes, important enough to write down and how was it written down and in what dialect, and also, as a snapshot of the German language in the 9th century, how has the German language changed over time?
In the process of writing the two initial published texts, Jacob began to expand his critical genius about language development. For example, he was the one who uncovered for the first time that Hildebrandslied uses alliteration as a form of lyricism specific to the German language. As opposed to similar lyrical poetry of the time in French. Alliteration is the occurrence of the same letter or sound at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected words. For example: The big bad bear bored the baby bunnies by the bushes. But Jacob also discovered that he hated text editing, so he employed others for the editing of his notes and remarks. This allowed him to focus on what he enjoyed, but was also brilliant at: noticing how the German language developed.
Jerome Bonaparte didn’t stay King of Westphalia for long, since Napoleon I was on the outs by the year 1814. Jacob had been sent to Paris prior to the fall of Napoleon, this time to secure book restitutions - an effort by annexed locations to return themselves to their former states. The travel to and from Paris gave Jacob and Wilhelm the chance to also roam the German-speaking countryside. The Brothers Grimm visited smaller local libraries and church parishes, where records were kept. They also interviewed locals in various places for the folk tales they’d heard as children. This is the origin of the collection of folk tales the Grimm’s published in two volumes; the first in 1812 and the second in 1815.
As we now start to talk about the collection of fairy tales they published, keep in mind that Jacob Grimm was a highly-motivated researcher and student of language development, i.e. linguistics, although nobody called it linguistics back then. The first volumes were much criticized because, although they were called "Children's Tales", they were not regarded as suitable for children, both for the scholarly information included and the subject matter. Many changes through the editions – such as turning the wicked mother of the first edition in Snow White and Hansel and Gretel to a stepmother, were probably made with an eye to a story’s suitability for children.
The collection of such tales was also seen as supportive of the romantic nationalism movement, which was starting to gain traction in Germany in the early 1800s. Preserving German history through folktales, focusing on the “raw culture” of a place. I place quotes around that phrase, because many of the tales from the Grimm’s publication were not necessarily German in origin. For example, Rapunzel. This tale has its origins in the French literary tale of ‘the maiden in the tower’ AKA Persinette. The original plot tells a tale of a couple, happily married and expecting their first child. They live next door to a fairy, whose garden is full of fruits, vegetables, and other plants. Like the herb of parsley, which is notably rare in the region. The pregnant wife starts craving parsley, so her husband sneaks into the fairy’s garden to get some for her. The first attempt is successful, but the second attempt he is caught by the fairy. He begs forgiveness and explains about his pregnant wife’s cravings. The fairy gladly provides parsley for the pregnant wife, as long as the couple will give the child to her to raise. The couple agree and the fairy attends the birth of the child. She names her Persinette, “little parsley”.
As the child grows, and becomes more beautiful, the fairy decides to house her in a tower away from the world. Persinette grows up in comfort and wealth, and allows her long golden hair to tumble out of the tower to allow the fairy to visit her. One day, a prince out hunting hears Persinette singing. Persinette spots him and is shocked, having never seen anyone but the fairy. He hides away, so as not to shock her again, and manages to watch the fairy ask Persinette to let her hair down. Later, after the fairy leaves, the prince mimics the fairy’s voice and Persinette lets her hair down. The Prince climbs up to the tower. He woos her, proposes marriage, and visits her nearly every night. Persinette soon becomes pregnant. The fairy soon notices the pregnancy and forces Persinette to tell her everything. The fairy cuts off her long golden hair, moves Persinette to a hut on the seashore, and leaves her with an abundance of food that magically replenishes itself. Persinette eventually gives birth to twins, a boy and a girl. Meanwhile, the prince is lured to the tower again by the fairy mimicking Persinette’s singing voice. He climbs the rope of “hair” and the fairy confronts him. She tells him that Persinette is no longer his, so he flings himself from the tower. He doesn’t die, but he does blind himself in the fall. He roams the land, blind, listening for Persinette’s singing voice. Eventually, he finds her. The lovers rejoice in finding each other again, and Persinette’s tears of joy heal the prince’s blindness. In their reunion, however, the family find that the magically replenishing food turns to stone. The fairy’s magic has dwindled and the family prepares to die together. The fairy, however, has a change of heart after seeing the couple’s devotion. She sends a golden chariot to take the family to the prince’s father’s palace, where they live happily ever after.
The Grimm’s altered the name of the child, from ‘little parsley’ to Rapunzel, named for the rampion salad green that was less rare than parsley. They also altered the ending somewhat. Instead of the fairy having a change of heart, the prince simply leads his little family to the palace after Rapunzel’s tears heal his blindness. Oh, and it was also a sorceress as opposed to a fairy. The French story is also not the origin of a folk tale involving a beautiful maiden with long hair. A Persian poet had written a similar tale in the 10th century, and it is currently still part of the national epic of Iran. In that version, the heroine Rudaba offers her long hair so her lover may enter the harem where she is kept. Her lover, however, asks Rudaba to use a rope in the future, so she doesn’t hurt herself. Even in Europe, the French version isn’t the first. The Italian version of this story was published in Naples a good 60 years before the French version was published. The Italian version is quite different from the French, in that it's the wife who ventures into the forbidden garden, plus there’s a scene where the heroine uses magical objects to cause a distraction while she flees from danger with the prince.
Jacob Grimm continued to research, study, and write about German literature for some years. It’s not until 1819 that his published work titled Deutsche Grammatik drew him even further acclaim. The first edition of the first part of the Grammar treated the inflections of all these languages, and included a general introduction in which he vindicated the importance of a historical study of the German language against the quasi-philosophical methods then in vogue. In 1822 the book appeared in a second edition (really a new work, for, as Grimm himself says in the preface, he had to "mow the first crop down to the ground"). The considerable gap between the two stages of Grimm's development of these editions is shown by the fact that the second volume addresses phonology in 600 pages – more than half the volume. Grimm had concluded that all linguistics must be based on rigorous adherence to the laws of sound change, and he subsequently never deviated from this principle. This gave to all his investigations a consistency and force of conviction that had been lacking in the study of linguistics before his day.
Jacob is recognized for articulating the Germanic Sound Shift, which was first observed by the Danish linguist Rasmus Christian Rask. It became known as Grimm's law, also called the "Rask-Grimm Rule", and it was the first law in linguistics concerning a substantial sound change. It was a turning point in the development of linguistics, allowing the introduction of a rigorous methodology to historic linguistic research. Basically, exactly how Jacob Grimm pursued his studies from day one. It concerns the correspondence of consonants between the ancestral Proto-Indo-European language and its Germanic descendants, Low Saxon and High German, and was first fully stated by Grimm in the second edition of the first part of his Grammar.
What does that all mean? Great question! Grimm's law established a relationship between early Germanic stops or plosives and fricatives. Plosives are sounds like [p], [t], [k]. These are voiceless, they don’t use your vocal cords. The sound shift proven in Grimm’s law made these voiceless stops into voiceless fricatives. Instead of [p], [t], and [k], Germanic languages have [f], [th], [h]. But wait! There’s more! The same stops that were previously voiced, then became voiceless. Instead of [b], [d], or [g], in Germanic those became [p], [t], [k]. I know, it’s confusing!
Let’s get some examples. Like the word pedis (Latin) becoming foot (English). The voiceless stop sound of [p] becomes [f], and the voiced stop sound of [d] becomes [t]. Also the word canis (Latin) became Hund (German). The voiceless stop sound of [k] becomes the voiceless fricative sound of [h]. Another example is the word gelu (Latin) becoming kalt (German). The voiced stop sound of [g] becomes the voiceless stop sound of [k]. There are plenty of other examples: the Latin word decem became the English word ten, [d] to [t]; the Latin word quod became the Norwegian hva and Danish hvad, [kw] to [hw].
What Grimm could not explain fully in his methodology were other very common words throughout Germanic languages where his law did not apply. The word pater from Latin, under Grimm’s Law, should sound like faþēr with the “th” sound being voiceless. But it isn’t. Still in English today, as well as in now-extinct Gothic, the word comes out as faðēr with the “th” sound being voiced. Same with the word brother, the “th” sound is voiced, not voiceless. But Grimm’s Law does explain how the initial [p] became a [f] for the word father, as well as the initial [f] became a [bh] for the word brother. The word for brother in Latin is frater. This unexpected voiced fricative in some Germanic words wasn’t explained until well after Jacob Grimm had died. By Karl Verner in 1877. Verner’s Law helps support Grimm’s Law and goes further into explaining more consonant relationships between other Indo-European languages, like Latin, and Germanic languages.
Now, if you noticed, I sometimes referred to an English or Scandinavian word as an example of Grimm’s Law, and not necessarily German. That’s not just because English, Norwegian, Danish, Dutch, Swedish, Icelandic, and others are considered Germanic languages, in the same family; it’s also because German underwent a second consonant shift that other Germanic languages did not. Just for a bit of linguistic fun, let’s look at some examples of this second shift.
The words sleep and ship in English are schlafen and Schiff in German. Because the voiceless plosive sound of [p] is at the end of the word, it shifted to a voiceless fricative sound of [f]. Same if the sound occurred in the middle of a word. The English word apple is Apfel in German. That’s the first consonant that shifted. The second consonant that shifted is the voiceless plosive sound of [t] that became the voiceless fricative sound of [s]. The words eat and out in English are essen and aus in German. Yes, that’s at the end of a word again, but that’s not the only way that consonant shifted in German. The English word two became the German word Zwei. This sound shift was specifically for the initial consonant for a word. You can also see this in the English word toe, which in German is Zeh.
And to bring us back around to fairy tales with another consonant shift word example, the English word thorn is the word Dorn in German. The voiceless fricative sound of [th] became the voiced stop sound of [d]. As in, Dornröschen, the tale of a princess whose parents are warned by a wicked fairy that their daughter will die when she pricks her finger on a spindle.
I know that’s quite a lot of linguistics for one episode. For those of us who light up when we discuss language, how it shifts and develops, and how it's still used today, it’s hard to hit the pause button. Jacob Grimm was no different. In his lifetime, he published over 30 works, all about German grammar, vocabulary, mythology, folk tales, etc. His monumental work was not his law of linguistics, nor his fairy tale collection, it was his dictionary. He began the work in 1838, but it wasn’t published until 1854. It encompasses 33 volumes and over 300,000 headwords. It wasn’t actually fully finished until the 1960s, since it was published in such a disjointed manner. Jacob Grimm died in 1863, at the age of 78, having been one of the key researchers and published authors moving the study of linguistics forward. And that’s not just for the German language, but his methodologies were influential to future linguists and scholars of other language families.
We’ve spent a bit of time today immersed in the world of the Brothers Grimm, especially Jacob. All part of the deep dive into the trivia question: What influential book did the Brothers Grimm publish? Stay tuned to hear more about a few of Grimm’s fairy tales that didn’t make it to the ears of mainstream America.
It’s true that many Disney movies are based on folk tales from the Brothers Grimm. The fact that there are a few hundred tales collected, means there’s plenty to choose from. Let me tell you two tales from the Brothers Grimm. One of them Disney would find hard to make into an animated movie, the other is maybe too far-fetched for our cynical modern sensibilities.
Let’s start with the latter. This is the tale of The Queen Bee.
Two kings' sons once went out in search of adventures, and fell into a wild, disorderly way of living, so that they never came home again. The youngest, who was called Simpleton, set out to seek his brothers, but when he found them they mocked him for thinking that he could get through the world, when they two could not make their way, and yet were so much cleverer. They all three traveled away together, and came to an ant-hill. The two elders wanted to destroy it, but Simpleton said, "Leave the creatures in peace; I will not allow you to disturb them." Then they went onwards and came to a lake, on which a great number of ducks were swimming. The two brothers wanted to catch a couple and roast them, but Simpleton would not permit it. At length they came to a bee's nest, in which there was so much honey that it ran out of the trunk of the tree where it was. The two wanted to make a fire beneath the tree, and suffocate the bees in order to take away the honey, but Simpleton again stopped them and said, "Leave the creatures in peace, I will not allow you to burn them."
After some time, the two brothers arrived at a castle where stone horses were standing in the stables, and no human being was to be seen. They went through all the halls until, quite at the end, they came to a door in which were three locks. In the middle of the door, however, there was a little pane, through which they could see into the room. There they saw a little grey man, who was sitting at a table. They called him, and he got up, opened the locks, and came out. He said nothing, but conducted them to a handsomely-spread table, and when they had eaten and drunk, he took each of them to a bedroom. Next morning the little grey man came to the eldest, beckoned to him, and conducted him to a stone table, on which were inscribed three tasks. The first was that in the forest, beneath the moss, lay the princess's one thousand pearls, which must be picked up. If by sunset one single pearl was missing, he who had searched for them would be turned to stone. The eldest went out, and sought the pearls all day, but when sunset came, he had only found one hundred. He was changed into stone. Next day, the second brother undertook the same adventure; it did not fare much better with him than with the eldest; he did not find more than two hundred pearls, and was changed to stone.
At last the tasks came to Simpleton, who sought in the moss. It was, however, so hard to find the pearls, and he got on so slowly, that he seated himself on a stone, and wept. And while he was thus sitting, the king of the ants whose life he had once saved, came with five thousand ants, and before long the little creatures had got all the pearls together, and laid them in a heap. The second task, however, was to fetch out of the lake the key to the king's daughter's bedroom. When Simpleton came to the lake, the ducks which he had saved before, swam up to him, dived down, and brought the key out of the water. But the third task was the most difficult; from amongst the three sleeping daughters of the king the task was to seek out the youngest and dearest. They all looked exactly alike though, and were only to be distinguished by having eaten different sweetmeats before they fell asleep: the eldest a bit of sugar; the second a little syrup; and the youngest a spoonful of honey. Then the queen of the bees, which Simpleton had protected from fire, came and tasted the lips of all three, and at last she remained sitting on the mouth which had eaten honey, and thus Simpleton recognized the right princess. Then the enchantment was at an end; everything was released from sleep, and those who had been turned to stone returned to their natural forms. Simpleton married the youngest and sweetest princess, and after her father's death became King.
Isn’t it nice to think that a prince who is a simpleton is the hero of a fairy tale? Maybe not. And now, Fitcher’s Bird.
There was once a wizard who took the form of a poor man, and went to houses to beg, and capture pretty girls. No one knew where he carried them, for they were never seen again. One day he appeared before the door of a man who had three pretty daughters; he looked like a weak beggar, and carried a basket on his back, as if he meant to collect charitable gifts in it. He begged for a little food, and when the eldest daughter came out and was just reaching for a piece of bread, he barely touched her, and she was forced to jump into his basket. He hurried away with long strides, and carried her away into a dark forest to his house. Everything in the house was magnificent; he gave her whatever she could possibly desire. This lasted a few days, and then he said, "I must journey forth, and leave you alone for a short time; here are the keys of the house; you may go everywhere and look at everything except into one room, which this little key here opens, and there I forbid you to go on pain of death." He also gave her an egg and said, "Preserve the egg carefully for me, for a great misfortune would arise from the loss of it."
She took the keys and the egg, and promised to obey him in everything. When he was gone, she went all round the house from the bottom to the top, and examined everything. The rooms shone with silver and gold, and she thought she had never seen such splendor. After some time, she came to the forbidden door; she wished to pass it by, but curiosity got the best of her. She examined the key, it looked like any other; she put it in the keyhole and turned it a little, and the door sprang open. But what did she see when she went in? A great bloody basin stood in the middle of the room, and therein lay human beings, dead and hewn to pieces, and hard by was a block of wood, and a gleaming axe lay upon it. She was so terribly alarmed that the egg which she held in her hand fell into the basin. She got it out and tried to wash the blood off, but no matter how much she washed and scrubbed, she could not get it out.
It was not long before the man came back from his journey, and the first things which he asked for were the key and the egg. She gave them to him, but she trembled as she did, and he saw at once by the red stain that she had been in the bloody chamber. "Since you have gone into the room against my will," said he, "you shall go back into it against your own will." He threw her down, dragged her by her hair, cut her head off on the block, and chopped her in pieces so that her blood ran on the ground. Then he threw her into the basin with the rest.
"Now I will fetch myself the second," said the wizard, and again he went to the house in the shape of a poor man, and begged. The second daughter brought him a piece of bread; he caught her like the first, by simply touching her, and carried her away. She did not fare better than her sister. She allowed herself to be led away by her curiosity, opened the door of the bloody chamber, looked in, and had to atone for it with her life on the wizard's return. Then he went and brought the third sister, but she was clever and crafty. When he had given her the keys and the egg, and had left her, she first put the egg away with great care, and then she examined the house, and at last went into the forbidden room. Alas, what did she behold! Both her sisters lay there in the basin, cruelly murdered, and cut in pieces. But she began to gather their limbs together and put them in order, head, body, arms and legs. And when nothing further was missing the limbs began to move and unite themselves together, and both the maidens opened their eyes and were once more alive. Then they rejoiced and kissed each other.
On the wizard’s return, the man at once demanded the keys and the egg, and as he could perceive no trace of any blood on it, he said, "You have stood the test, you shall be my bride." Now, he no longer had any power over her, and was forced to do whatsoever she desired. "First, take a basketful of gold to my father and mother, and carry it on your back; in the meantime I will prepare for our wedding. Then she ran to her sisters, whom she had hidden in a little chamber and said, "The moment has come when I can save you. The wretch shall himself carry you home again, but as soon as you are at home send help to me." She put both of them in a basket and covered them quite over with gold, so that nothing of them was to be seen, then she called in the wizard and said to him, "Now carry the basket away, but I shall look through my little window and watch to see if you stop on the way to stand or to rest."
The wizard raised the basket on his back and went away with it, but it weighed him down so heavily that the perspiration streamed from his face. He sat down and wanted to rest awhile, but immediately one of the sisters in the basket cried, "I am looking through my little window, and I see that you are resting. Will you go on at once?" He thought his bride was calling to him; and got up on his legs again. Groaning and out of breath, he took the basket with the gold and the two maidens into their parents' house. At home, however, the bride prepared the marriage-feast, and sent invitations to the friends of the wizard. Then she took a skull with grinning teeth, put some ornaments on it and a wreath of flowers, carried it upstairs to the window, and let it look out from there. When all was ready, she got into a barrel of honey, and then cut the feather-bed open and rolled herself in it, until she looked like a wondrous bird, and no one could recognize her. Then she went out of the house, and on her way she met some of the wedding-guests, who asked,
"O, Fitcher's bird, how did you get here?"
"I come from Fitcher's house quite near."
"And what may the young bride be doing?"
"From cellar to attic she's swept all clean,
And now from the window she's peeping, you see."
At last she met the groom, who was coming slowly back. He, like the others, asked,
"O, Fitcher's bird, how did you get here?"
"I come from Fitcher's house quite near."
"And what may the young bride be doing?
"From cellar to attic she's swept all clean,
And now from the window she's peeping, you see."
The wizard looked up, saw the decked-out skull, thought it was his bride, and nodded to her, greeting her kindly. But when he and his guests had all gone into the house, the brothers and kinsmen of the bride, who had been sent to rescue her, arrived. They locked all the doors of the house, so that no one might escape, set fire to it, and the wizard and all his crew had to burn.
There are some logistical flaws to this tale, but we get the point, don’t we? I’m all for sisters sticking together, but that’s just creepy. I hope you’ve enjoyed this German language literary excursion today. Another episode of Not Trivial is coming soon - please subscribe to the show, you can find it wherever you listen to podcasts. Thank you!