The Complete Fairy Tales by The Brothers Grimm

Author:The Brothers Grimm
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780099511441
Publisher: Random House
Published: 2020-07-05T16:00:00+00:00

He did as she had said, and the king asked him, ‘Have you cut down the whole forest?’

‘Yes,’ said the prince.

When they were sitting at the table, the king said, ‘I can’t give you my daughter for your wife yet. You must first do something else.’

The prince asked what he had to do.

‘I have a very large pond,’ said the king. ‘You must go there tomorrow morning and clean it out so that it glistens like a mirror, and there must be all kinds of fish in it.’

The next morning the king gave him a glass scoop and said, ‘You must be finished with the pond by six o’clock.’

The prince departed, and when he reached the pond, he stuck the scoop into the muck, and the end broke off. Then he tried a pickaxe, but it broke as well, and he became discouraged. At noon the youngest daughter brought him something to eat and asked him how everything was going. The prince said that things were going very badly, and he was bound to lose his head. ‘All the tools broke apart on me again.’

‘Oh,’ she said, ‘you should come and eat something first, then you’ll feel much better.’

‘No,’ he said, ‘I can’t eat. I feel too sad.’

But she spoke so kindly to him that he finally had to come and eat something. Once again she loused him, and he fell asleep. She took her kerchief once more, tied a knot in it, and struck the ground three times with it. ‘Workers, come out!’ she cried.

Suddenly numerous gnomes appeared and asked her what she desired.

‘In three hours’ time the pond must be all cleaned up and must shine so brightly that you can see your own reflection in it. Then you must fill it with all kinds of fish.’

The gnomes went off and called all their relatives to come and help them. They finished everything in two hours, returned to the king’s daughter, and reported, ‘We’ve done what you commanded.’

Once again she took her kerchief and struck the ground three times. ‘Workers, go home!’ And they all vanished on the spot.

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