The Starfish
by the Brothers Grimm
There was a princess once who knew
nearly everything. If a leaf stirred in the forest, if a tiny fish cast one of
its scale, if a feather fell from the wing of a bird-she knew of it. The secret
of her knowledge lay in the topmost turret of her castle. There was a room
there with twelve windows, each one clearer then the last, so from the twelfth
window she could see every detail of the whole wide world.
In consequence she thought herself
wise, and made up her mind that she would not marry anyone who was not as wise
as she. She set her suitors to a test. Each was told to hide himself where she
could not find him. If he succeeded he should have her hand; if he failed he
must lose his head.
So far no one had succeeded, while
ninety-seven heads had paid the penalty for their owners’ rashness. Suitors
were growing scarce, when one day three brothers appeared and made a formal
request for her hand. The eldest was given the first chance to hide. He lowered
himself into a deep pit, thinking that there at least he would be safe from his
lady’s eye. But no!-The princess saw him and his fate was sealed. The second
brother was more cunning; he hid himself in the lowest cellar of the royal
castle, but he too was found and had his head chopped off.
The turn of the youngest came. He
asked for a day to think things over, and then for three chances, so that if he
failed once and twice he might still hope to succeed at the third attempt.
Because he was young and very handsome the princess agreed.
The next day he went out hunting. A
black raven flew across his path and he raised his bow. “Don’t shoot!” croaked
the raven. “I may yet be able to help you!”
The young man good-naturedly let
him go. By and by he came to a lake and a fish jumped up. He made as though to
catch it, but – “Spare me!” the fish cried. “I may yet be able to help you!” So
he spared the fish also.
Before long he met with a fox,
limping along with a thorn in its foot. He shot and missed. “Never mind,” said
the fox. “It will be more to your credit if you help me take this thorn out of
my foot.” And so the young man again complied.
The next day he was to hide
himself. He did not in the least know where to go, so he turned his steps to
the forest and asked the raven’s advice.
“One good turn deserves another,”
the raven said. He took an egg from his nest, shut the youth inside and
replaced it in the nest.
The princess looked through her
window. One, two, three-not until she reached the eleventh window did she see
him. She sent someone to fetch the egg from the raven’s nest, and when it was
broken-there was the suitor, very much abashed.
“You have failed once,” the
princess said, “but you are forgiven. Tomorrow you may try again.”
When the next day dawned the young
man was even more perplexed. He went to the lakeside and called on the fish to
help him.
“There is one chance,” said the
fish; “I can swallow you and sink to the bottom of the lake.”
The princess looked from her
windows in turn. Only when she came to the twelfth did she find trace of him.
Then she sent a fisherman and bring it to the castle. When it was opened-there
was the suitor, quite covered in confusion!
“You have failed again,” she said,
gravely. “If you fail a third time you must die!”
The nest day the youth sought his
only other friend, the fox.
“You are so cunning,” he said. “You
know the holes in the earth and the crannies in the rock. Surely you will be
able to hide me!”
The fox thought long and earnest.
“I believe I know what to do,” he
said at last. “Come with me.”
Together they made their way to a
bubbling spring. The fox dipped himself in it and came out as a respectable
merchant. The he dipped the young man in, and he emerged as a starfish. The merchant put the starfish in his
pocket and took him to market.
Now it chanced that the princess
was also at the market that morning. When she saw the dainty creature she
wanted to buy it and willingly paid the price the merchant asked. Before he
gave it to her he managed to whisper in its ear, “When the princess goes to the
turret, hide in her hair!”
And that, a little later, is just
what the starfish did! It crept beneath the thick braids of her yellow hair,
and as she did not have eyes on the back of her head she ran from window to
window with never a glimpse of her suitor. And when she had looked in vain from
the twelfth window she banged it down so hard that every window in the turret
was shattered to atoms! The starfish was quite frightened, but the princess,
feeling it among her tresses, shook it down and bade it begone.
The little creature ran and ran
until it came to the marketplace, and there the merchant found it again. His
task over, he carried it as once to the magic spring, Having dipped themselves,
the two resumed their proper shapes, the fox to receive a grateful thanks of
his friend, and the suitor to find his way to the castle, where the princess
was waiting to marry him.
With all her windows broken, she
was no wiser then anyone else, but at least she was wise enough to know she had
met her match. And as her husband never told her how he had outwitted her, she
gave him her complete respect and a share of her kingdom, and lived with him
happily to the end of her life.