Allerleirauh

by The Brothers Grimm

　　There was once on a time a King who had a wife with golden hair, andshe was so beautiful that her equal was not to be found on earth. Itcame to pass that she lay ill, and as she felt that she must soon die,she called the King and said, "If thou wishest to marry again after mydeath, take no one who is not quite as beautiful as I am, and who hasnot just such golden hair as I have: this thou must promise me." Andafter the King had promised her this she closed her eyes and died.

　　For a long time the King could not be comforted, and had no thought oftaking another wife. At length his councillors said, "There is no helpfor it, the King must marry again, that we may have a Queen." And nowmessengers were sent about far and wide, to seek a bride who equalled thelate Queen in beauty. In the whole world, however, none was to be found,and even if one had been found, still there would have been no one whohad such golden hair. So the messengers came home as they went.

　　Now the King had a daughter, who was just as beautiful as her dead mother,and had the same golden hair. When she was grown up the King looked at herone day, and saw that in every respect she was like his late wife, andsuddenly felt a violent love for her. Then he spake to his councillors,"I will marry my daughter, for she is the counterpart of my late wife,otherwise I can find no bride who resembles her." When the councillorsheard that, they were shocked, and said, "God has forbidden a father tomarry his daughter, no good can come from such a crime, and the kingdomwill be involved in the ruin."

　　The daughter was still more shocked when she became aware of her father'sresolution, but hoped to turn him from his design. Then she said to him,"Before I fulfil your wish, I must have three dresses, one as golden asthe sun, one as silvery as the moon, and one as bright as the stars;besides this, I wish for a mantle of a thousand different kinds offur and hair joined together, and one of every kind of animal in yourkingdom must give a piece of his skin for it." But she thought, "Toget that will be quite impossible, and thus I shall divert my fatherfrom his wicked intentions." The King, however, did not give it up,and the cleverest maidens in his kingdom had to weave the three dresses,one as golden as the sun, one as silvery as the moon, and one as brightas the stars, and his huntsmen had to catch one of every kind of animalin the whole of his kingdom, and take from it a piece of its skin, andout of these was made a mantle of a thousand different kinds of fur. Atlength, when all was ready, the King caused the mantle to be brought,spread it out before her, and said, "The wedding shall be to-morrow."

　　When, therefore, the King's daughter saw that there was no longer any hopeof turning her father's heart, she resolved to run away from him. In thenight whilst every one was asleep, she got up, and took three differentthings from her treasures, a golden ring, a golden spinning-wheel, and agolden reel. The three dresses of the sun, moon, and stars she put into anutshell, put on her mantle of all kinds of fur, and blackened her faceand hands with soot. Then she commended herself to God, and went away,and walked the whole night until she reached a great forest. And as shewas tired, she got into a hollow tree, and fell asleep.

　　The sun rose, and she slept on, and she was still sleeping when it wasfull day. Then it so happened that the King to whom this forest belonged,was hunting in it. When his dogs came to the tree, they sniffed, and ranbarking round about it. The King said to the huntsmen, "Just see whatkind of wild beast has hidden itself in there." The huntsmen obeyed hisorder, and when they came back they said, "A wondrous beast is lying inthe hollow tree; we have never before seen one like it. Its skin is furof a thousand different kinds, but it is lying asleep." Said the King,"See if you can catch it alive, and then fasten it to the carriage,and we will take it with us." When the huntsmen laid hold of the maiden,she awoke full of terror, and cried to them, "I am a poor child, desertedby father and mother; have pity on me, and take me with you." Then saidthey, "Allerleirauh, thou wilt be useful in the kitchen, come with us,and thou canst sweep up the ashes." So they put her in the carriage, andtook her home to the royal palace. There they pointed out to her a closetunder the stairs, where no daylight entered, and said, "Hairy animal,there canst thou live and sleep." Then she was sent into the kitchen,and there she carried wood and water, swept the hearth, plucked the fowls,picked the vegetables, raked the ashes, and did all the dirty work.

　　Allerleirauh lived there for a long time in great wretchedness. Alas,fair princess, what is to become of thee now! It happened, however,that one day a feast was held in the palace, and she said to the cook,"May I go up-stairs for a while, and look on? I will place myselfoutside the door." The cook answered, "Yes, go, but you must be backhere in half-an-hour to sweep the hearth." Then she took her oil-lamp,went into her den, put off her fur-dress, and washed the soot off herface and hands, so that her full beauty once more came to light. Andshe opened the nut, and took out her dress which shone like the sun,and when she had done that she went up to the festival, and every onemade way for her, for no one knew her, and thought no otherwise thanthat she was a king's daughter. The King came to meet her, gave hishand to her, and danced with her, and thought in his heart, "My eyeshave never yet seen any one so beautiful!" When the dance was over shecurtsied, and when the King looked round again she had vanished, andnone knew whither. The guards who stood outside the palace were calledand questioned, but no one had seen her.

　　She had, however, run into her little den, had quickly taken off herdress, made her face and hands black again, put on the fur-mantle,and again was Allerleirauh. And now when she went into the kitchen,and was about to get to her work and sweep up the ashes, the cook said,"Leave that alone till morning, and make me the soup for the King; I,too, will go upstairs awhile, and take a look; but let no hairs fall in,or in future thou shalt have nothing to eat." So the cook went away,and Allerleirauh made the soup for the king, and made bread soup and thebest she could, and when it was ready she fetched her golden ring fromher little den, and put it in the bowl in which the soup was served. Whenthe dancing was over, the King had his soup brought and ate it, and heliked it so much that it seemed to him he had never tasted better. Butwhen he came to the bottom of the bowl, he saw a golden ring lying, andcould not conceive how it could have got there. Then he ordered the cookto appear before him. The cook was terrified when he heard the order,and said to Allerleirauh, "Thou hast certainly let a hair fall intothe soup, and if thou hast, thou shalt be beaten for it." When he camebefore the King the latter asked who had made the soup? The cook replied,"I made it." But the King said, "That is not true, for it was much betterthan usual, and cooked differently." He answered, "I must acknowledgethat I did not make it, it was made by the rough animal." The King said,"Go and bid it come up here."

　　When Allerleirauh came, the King said, "Who art thou?" "I am a poorgirl who no longer has any father or mother." He asked further, "Of whatuse art thou in my palace?" She answered, "I am good for nothing but tohave boots thrown at my head." He continued, "Where didst thou get thering which was in the soup?" She answered, "I know nothing about thering." So the King could learn nothing, and had to send her away again.

　　After a while, there was another festival, and then, as before,Allerleirauh begged the cook for leave to go and look on. He answered,"Yes, but come back again in half-an-hour, and make the King the breadsoup which he so much likes." Then she ran into her den, washed herselfquickly, and took out of the nut the dress which was as silvery as themoon, and put it on. Then she went up and was like a princess, and theKing stepped forward to meet her, and rejoiced to see her once more,and as the dance was just beginning they danced it together. But whenit was ended, she again disappeared so quickly that the King could notobserve where she went. She, however, sprang into her den, and once moremade herself a hairy animal, and went into the kitchen to prepare thebread soup. When the cook had gone up-stairs, she fetched the littlegolden spinning-wheel, and put it in the bowl so that the soup coveredit. Then it was taken to the King, who ate it, and liked it as much asbefore, and had the cook brought, who this time likewise was forced toconfess that Allerleirauh had prepared the soup. Allerleirauh againcame before the King, but she answered that she was good for nothingelse but to have boots thrown at her head, and that she knew nothing atall about the little golden spinning-wheel.

　　When, for the third time, the King held a festival, all happened just asit had done before. The cook said, "Faith rough-skin, thou art a witch,and always puttest something in the soup which makes it so good that theKing likes it better than that which I cook," but as she begged so hard,he let her go up at the appointed time. And now she put on the dresswhich shone like the stars, and thus entered the hall. Again the Kingdanced with the beautiful maiden, and thought that she never yet hadbeen so beautiful. And whilst she was dancing, he contrived, withouther noticing it, to slip a golden ring on her finger, and he had givenorders that the dance should last a very long time. When it was ended,he wanted to hold her fast by her hands, but she tore herself loose,and sprang away so quickly through the crowd that she vanished from hissight. She ran as fast as she could into her den beneath the stairs,but as she had been too long, and had stayed more than half-an-hourshe could not take off her pretty dress, but only threw over it herfur-mantle, and in her haste she did not make herself quite black,but one finger remained white. Then Allerleirauh ran into the kitchen,and cooked the bread soup for the King, and as the cook was away, puther golden reel into it. When the King found the reel at the bottom ofit, he caused Allerleirauh to be summoned, and then he espied the whitefinger, and saw the ring which he had put on it during the dance. Thenhe grasped her by the hand, and held her fast, and when she wantedto release herself and run away, her mantle of fur opened a little,and the star-dress shone forth. The King clutched the mantle and toreit off. Then her golden hair shone forth, and she stood there in fullsplendour, and could no longer hide herself. And when she had washed thesoot and ashes from her face, she was more beautiful than anyone who hadever been seen on earth. But the King said, "Thou art my dear bride,and we will never more part from each other." Thereupon the marriagewas solemnized, and they lived happily until their death.