Chương Chương 38 · The Robber Bridegroom

. The Robber Bridegroom

There was once on a time a miller, who had a beautiful daughter, and as

she was grown up, he wished that she was provided for, and well

married. He thought, “If any good suitor comes and asks for her, I will

give her to him.” Not long afterwards, a suitor came, who appeared to

be very rich, and as the miller had no fault to find with him, he

promised his daughter to him. The maiden, however, did not like him

quite so much as a girl should like the man to whom she is engaged, and

had no confidence in him. Whenever she saw, or thought of him, she felt

a secret horror. Once he said to her, “Thou art my betrothed, and yet

thou hast never once paid me a visit.” The maiden replied, “I know not

where thy house is.” Then said the bridegroom, “My house is out there

in the dark forest.” She tried to excuse herself and said she could not

find the way there. The bridegroom said, “Next Sunday thou must come

out there to me; I have already invited the guests, and I will strew

ashes in order that thou mayst find thy way through the forest.” When

Sunday came, and the maiden had to set out on her way, she became very

uneasy, she herself knew not exactly why, and to mark her way she

filled both her pockets full of peas and lentils. Ashes were strewn at

the entrance of the forest, and these she followed, but at every step

she threw a couple of peas on the ground. She walked almost the whole

day until she reached the middle of the forest, where it was the

darkest, and there stood a solitary house, which she did not like, for

it looked so dark and dismal. She went inside it, but no one was

within, and the most absolute stillness reigned. Suddenly a voice

cried,

“Turn back, turn back, young maiden dear,

’Tis a murderer’s house you enter here.”

The maiden looked up, and saw that the voice came from a bird, which

was hanging in a cage on the wall. Again it cried,

“Turn back, turn back, young maiden dear,

’Tis a murderer’s house you enter here.”

Then the young maiden went on farther from one room to another, and

walked through the whole house, but it was entirely empty and not one

human being was to be found. At last she came to the the cellar, and

there sat an extremely aged woman, whose head shook constantly. “Can

you not tell me,” said the maiden, “if my betrothed lives here?”

“Alas, poor child,” replied the old woman, “whither hast thou come?

Thou art in a murderer’s den. Thou thinkest thou art a bride soon to be

married, but thou wilt keep thy wedding with death. Look, I have been

forced to put a great kettle on there, with water in it, and when they

have thee in their power, they will cut thee to pieces without mercy,

will cook thee, and eat thee, for they are eaters of human flesh. If I

do not have compassion on thee, and save thee, thou art lost.”

Thereupon the old woman led her behind a great hogshead where she could

not be seen. “Be as still as a mouse,” said she, “do not make a sound,

or move, or all will be over with thee. At night, when the robbers are

asleep, we will escape; I have long waited for an opportunity.” Hardly

was this done, than the godless crew came home. They dragged with them

another young girl. They were drunk, and paid no heed to her screams

and lamentations. They gave her wine to drink, three glasses full, one

glass of white wine, one glass of red, and a glass of yellow, and with

this her heart burst in twain. Thereupon they tore off her delicate

raiment, laid her on a table, cut her beautiful body in pieces and

strewed salt thereon. The poor bride behind the cask trembled and

shook, for she saw right well what fate the robbers had destined for

her. One of them noticed a gold ring on the little finger of the

murdered girl, and as it would not come off at once, he took an axe and

cut the finger off, but it sprang up in the air, away over the cask and

fell straight into the bride’s bosom. The robber took a candle and

wanted to look for it, but could not find it. Then another of them

said, “Hast thou looked behind the great hogshead?” But the old woman

cried, “Come and get something to eat, and leave off looking till the

morning, the finger won’t run away from you.”

Then the robbers said, “The old woman is right,” and gave up their

search, and sat down to eat, and the old woman poured a

sleeping-draught in their wine, so that they soon lay down in the

cellar, and slept and snored. When the bride heard that, she came out

from behind the hogshead, and had to step over the sleepers, for they

lay in rows on the ground, and great was her terror lest she should

waken one of them. But God helped her, and she got safely over. The old

woman went up with her, opened the doors, and they hurried out of the

murderers’ den with all the speed in their power. The wind had blown

away the strewn ashes, but the peas and lentils had sprouted and grown

up, and showed them the way in the moonlight. They walked the whole

night, until in the morning they arrived at the mill, and then the

maiden told her father everything exactly as it had happened.

When the day came when the wedding was to be celebrated, the bridegroom

appeared, and the Miller had invited all his relations and friends. As

they sat at table, each was bidden to relate something. The bride sat

still, and said nothing. Then said the bridegroom to the bride, “Come,

my darling, dost thou know nothing? Relate something to us like the

rest.” She replied, “Then I will relate a dream. I was walking alone

through a wood, and at last I came to a house, in which no living soul

was, but on the wall there was a bird in a cage which cried,

“Turn back, turn back, young maiden dear,

’Tis a murderer’s house you enter here.”

And this it cried once more. ‘My darling, I only dreamt this. Then I

went through all the rooms, and they were all empty, and there was

something so horrible about them! At last I went down into the cellar,

and there sat a very very old woman, whose head shook; I asked her,

‘Does my bridegroom live in this house? She answered, ‘Alas poor child,

thou hast got into a murderer’s den, thy bridegroom does live here, but

he will hew thee in pieces, and kill thee, and then he will cook thee,

and eat thee.’ My darling, I only dreamt this. But the old woman hid me

behind a great hogshead, and, scarcely was I hidden, when the robbers

came home, dragging a maiden with them, to whom they gave three kinds

of wine to drink, white, red, and yellow, with which her heart broke in

twain. My darling, I only dreamt this. Thereupon they pulled off her

pretty clothes, and hewed her fair body in pieces on a table, and

sprinkled them with salt. My darling, I only dreamt this. And one of

the robbers saw that there was still a ring on her little finger, and

as it was hard to draw off, he took an axe and cut it off, but the

finger sprang up in the air, and sprang behind the great hogshead, and

fell in my bosom. And there is the finger with the ring!” And with

these words she drew it forth, and showed it to those present.

The robber, who had during this story become as pale as ashes, leapt up

and wanted to escape, but the guests held him fast, and delivered him

over to justice. Then he and his whole troop were executed for their

infamous deeds.