"The Robber Bridegroom" - The Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm

There was once a Miller, who had a beautiful daughter. When she grew up, he wanted to have her married and settled. He thought, ' If a suitable bridegroom come and ask for my daughter, I will give her to him.'

Soon after a suitor came who appeared to be rich, and as the Miller knew nothing against him he promised his daughter to him. The Maiden, however, did not like him as a bride ought to like her bridegroom ; nor had she any faith in him. Whenever she looked at him, or thought about him, a shudder came over her. One day he said to her, ' You are my betrothed, and yet you have never been to see me.'

The Maiden answered : ' I don't even know where your house is.'

Then the Bridegroom said, ' My house is in the depths of the forest.'

She made excuses, and said she could not find the way.

The Bridegroom answered : ' Next Sunday you must come and see me without fail. I have invited some other guests, and, so that you may be able to find the way, I will strew some ashes to guide you.'

When Sunday came, and the Maiden was about to start, she was frightened, though she did not know why. So that she should be sure of finding her way back she filled her pockets with peas and lentils. At the entrance to the forest she found the track of ashes, and followed it ; but every step or two she scattered a few peas right and left.

She walked nearly the whole day, right into the midst of the forest, where it was almost dark. Here she saw a solitary house, which she did not like ; it was so dark and dismal.

She went in, but found nobody, and there was dead silence. Suddenly a voice cried —

' Turn back, turn back, thou bonnie Bride, Nor in this house of death abide.'

The Maiden looked up, and saw that the voice came from a bird in a cage hanging on the wall. Once more it made the same cry —

' Turn back, turn back, thou bonnie Bride, Nor in this house of death abide.'

The beautiful Bride went from room to room, all over the house, but they were all empty ; not a soul was to be seen. At last she reached the cellar, and there she found an old, old woman with a shaking head.

' Can you tell me if my Bridegroom lives here ? '

' Alas ! poor child,' answered the old woman, ' little dost thou know where thou art ; thou art in a murderer's den. Thou thoughtest thou wast about to be married, but death will be thy marriage. See here, I have had to fill this kettle with water, and when they have thee in their power they will kill thee without mercy, cook, and eat thee, for they are eaters of human flesh. Unless I take pity on thee and save thee, thou art lost.' Then the old woman led her behind a great cask, where she could not be seen. ' Be as quiet as a mouse,' she said. ' Don't stir, or all will be lost. To-night, when the murderers are asleep, we will fly. I have long waited for an opportunity.'

Hardly had she said this when the riotous crew came home. They dragged another maiden with them, but as they were quite drunk they paid no attention to her shrieks and lamentations. They gave her wine to drink, three glasses full — red, white, and yellow. After she had drunk them she fell down dead. The poor Bride hidden behind the cask was terrified ; she trembled and shivered, for she saw plainly to what fate she was destined.

One of the men noticed a gold ring on the little finger of the murdered girl, and as he could not pull it off he took an axe and chopped the finger off ; but it sprang up into the air, and fell right into the lap of the Bride behind the cask. The man took a light to look for it, but he could not find it. One of the others said, ' Have you looked behind the big cask ? '

But the old woman called out : ' Come and eat, and leave the search till to-morrow ; the finger won't run away.'