There once was a queen whom the Lord had prevented from having children. Every morning she went into the garden and begged God in heaven to bestow a son or daughter on her. At dusk the sun shone brightly through the tree trunks and cast its light on the dark green of the garden.

Soon after she gave birth to a little daughter who was as white as snow, as red as blood, and her hair as black as ebony. But the dear child was dead and remained dead. The queen became pale, and her heart trembled greatly.

After the child was lowered into her grave and was covered over with earth, one of her little arms suddenly emerged and reached up into the air. The dead child shouted, “Now I’m going to strangle you!”

Now the woman became so frightened and desperate that she did not allow the neighbours to comfort her and finally hung herself. Indeed, she died a horrible death.

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Notes:

1. Written in March 2020
2. Part of The New Brothers Grimm project
3. Assembled from Tale 76: The Pink Flower; Tale 69: Jorinda and Joringel; Tale 53: Snow White; Tale 6: Faithful Johannes; Tale 117: The Stubborn Child; Tale 4: A Tale About The Boy Who Went Forth To Learn What Fear Was; Tale 214: How Some Children Played At Slaughtering; Tale 9: The Twelve Brothers

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There once was a little old lady who lived in a large city, and one evening she sat alone in her room thinking about how she had lost her first husband, next her two children, then little by little all her relatives, and finally her last friend, who had died that very day.

Then she alone was queen and blew her horn until she died.

After she was buried, a rose grew on one side of her grave, and on the other, a lily. Finally nothing was left except an old castle in the forest.

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Notes:

1. Written in March 2020
2. Part of The New Brothers Grimm project
3. Assembled from Tale 208: The Little Old Lady; Tale 217: The Tablecloth, The Knapsack, The Cannon Hat, And The Horn; Tale 228: The Three Sisters

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Patreon subscribers get not just early access to content and also the occasional gift, but also my eternal gratitude. Which I'm not sure is very useful, but is certainly very real.

(Ko-fi contributors probably only get the gratitude I'm afraid, but please get in touch if you want more).

Thank you!

There was once a poor farmer who was sitting by the hearth one evening and poking the fire, while his wife was spinning nearby.

“Let that be until tomorrow,” said the farmer. “I want you to make a soup for the king.”

“Gladly,” she replied.

The farmer went away, and his wife made the soup for the king by brewing a bread soup as best she could.

“Bread crumbs. All the meat from the cow I slaughtered three days ago. Lungs and liver boiled in salt. A basket of strawberries. A large fat toad.

“Here are twelve pounds of feathers, a dress as glistening as the sun, twelve coffins already filled with wood shavings. Milk and pancakes with sugar and apples and nuts, put into a barrel that was filled with boiling oil and poisonous snakes.”

The king ordered that the soup be brought to him. So delighted was the king by the dish that he ordered the entire court to dine with him the following day. The lights in the hall were lit again, and drums and trumpets were fetched. The flowers were blooming on the steps, and the song of the exotic birds resounded from the room. The entire court assembled in the main hall. Then they went into the palace, sat down at the table, and ate.

When anyone took even a little bite of the food, they became upset. During the rest of their lives the farmer and his wife were tormented by a guilty conscience and spent their days in poverty and misery.

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Notes:

1. Written in March 2020
2. Part of The New Brothers Grimm project
3. Assembled from Tale 37: Thumbling; Tale 65: All Fur; Tale 13: The Three Little Gnomes In The Forest; Tale 7: The Good Bargain; Tale 53: Snow White; Tale 15: Hansel And Gretel; Tale 13: The Three Little Gnomes In The Forest; Tale 63: The Three Feathers; Tale 186: The True Bride; Tale 193: The Drummer; Tale 9: The Twelve Brothers; Tale 76: The Pink Flower; Tale 47: The Juniper Tree; Tale 185: The Poor Boy In The Grave

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Thank you!

Long, long ago there lived an old queen who was a sorceress, and her daughter was the most beautiful maiden under the sun. The old woman, however, thought of nothing but how to lure people to their doom.

When everything was ready, she dipped herself into a barrel of honey, cut open a bed, and rolled around in the feathers so she looked like a strange bird, and it was impossible to recognise her.

At the sight of this the daughter, who was with child, became so upset that she gave birth that very night to two babies who were not shaped like human beings but like apes.

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Notes:

1. Written in March 2020
2. Part of The New Brothers Grimm project
3. Assembled from Tale 134: The Six Servants; Tale 47: The Juniper Tree; Tale 147: The Rejuvenated Little Old Man

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Patreon subscribers get not just early access to content and also the occasional gift, but also my eternal gratitude. Which I'm not sure is very useful, but is certainly very real.

(Ko-fi contributors probably only get the gratitude I'm afraid, but please get in touch if you want more).

Thank you!

One day an old man and his wife sat in front of a wretched looking hut and sought to relax awhile from their work.

“I had a bad dream,” the grandmother said. “I had my hair powdered with snow, but the sun came out and melted it. My dress was made from a spider’s web, but when I passed through some bushes, the thorns tore it apart. My shoes were made of glass, but then I tripped over a stone, and they went ‘clink’ and broke in two.

“At noon I saw a beautiful bird as white as snow sitting on a branch. When the bird finished its song, it flapped its wings and flew ahead of me. I followed it until I came to a little house that was made of bread.

“I went downstairs into the cellar, where I found a very old woman who was bobbing her head. I asked her, “‘Does my husband live in this house?’ ‘Oh you poor child,’ she responded, ‘you’ve stumbled on a murderers’ den.’

“At nightfall the devil came home.

“When this monster came, he cut a piece of flesh from my own thigh, but I withstood the pain without uttering a sound. He went into the stable, cut out the eyes of all the cows and sheep, and threw them in my face.

“He threw me down, dragged me along by my hair, cut my head off on the block, and chopped me into pieces, so that my blood flowed on the floor. He saw that a gold ring was still on my finger, and since he had trouble pulling it off, he took a hatchet and chopped it off.

“You went out to look for me but found nothing except my bones, which you took away from the gallows and buried in a grave.”

“That’s all fine and good,” the old man answered. “I dreamed there was a fountain at the marketplace that used to gush with wine, and it ran dry!”

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Notes:

1. Written in March 2020
2. Part of The New Brothers Grimm project
3. Assembled from Tale 192: The Master Thief; Tale 29: The Devil With The Three Golden Hairs; Tale 84: Hans Gets Married; Tale 15: Hansel And Gretel; Tale 40: The Robber Bridegroom; Tale 242: The Robber And His Sons; Tale 32: Clever Hans; Tale 46: Fitcher’s Bird; Tale 232: The Crows; Tale 4: A Tale About The Boy Who Went Forth To Learn What Fear Was

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Support An Accumulation Of Things

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Patreon subscribers get not just early access to content and also the occasional gift, but also my eternal gratitude. Which I'm not sure is very useful, but is certainly very real.

(Ko-fi contributors probably only get the gratitude I'm afraid, but please get in touch if you want more).

Thank you!