The Girl Without Hands

A certain miller had little by little fallen into poverty, and had
nothing left but his mill and a large apple-tree behind it. Once when
he had gone into the forest to fetch wood, an old man stepped up to him
whom he had never seen before, and said, "Why dost thou plague thyself
with cutting wood, I will make thee rich, if thou wilt promise me what
is standing behind thy mill?" "What can that be but my apple-tree?"
thought the miller, and said, "Yes," and gave a written promise to the
stranger. He, however, laughed mockingly and said, "When three years
have passed, I will come and carry away what belongs to me," and then
he went. When the miller got home, his wife came to meet him and said,
"Tell me, miller, from whence comes this sudden wealth into our house?
All at once every box and chest was filled; no one brought it in, and I
know not how it happened." He answered, "It comes from a stranger who
met me in the forest, and promised me great treasure. I, in return,
have promised him what stands behind the mill; we can very well give
him the big apple-tree for it." "Ah, husband," said the terrified wife,
"that must have been the devil! He did not mean the apple-tree, but our
daughter, who was standing behind the mill sweeping the yard."

The miller's daughter was a beautiful, pious girl, and lived through
the three years in the fear of God and without sin. When therefore the
time was over, and the day came when the Evil-one was to fetch her, she
washed herself clean, and made a circle round herself with chalk. The
devil appeared quite early, but he could not come near to her. Angrily,
he said to the miller, "Take all water away from her, that she may no
longer be able to wash herself, for otherwise I have no power over
her." The miller was afraid, and did so. The next morning the devil
came again, but she had wept on her hands, and they were quite clean.
Again he could not get near her, and furiously said to the miller, "Cut
her hands off, or else I cannot get the better of her." The miller was
shocked and answered, "How could I cut off my own child's hands?" Then
the Evil-one threatened him and said, "If thou dost not do it thou art
mine, and I will take thee thyself." The father became alarmed, and
promised to obey him. So he went to the girl and said, "My child, if I
do not cut off both thine hands, the devil will carry me away, and in
my terror I have promised to do it. Help me in my need, and forgive me
the harm I do thee." She replied, "Dear father, do with me what you
will, I am your child." Thereupon she laid down both her hands, and let
them be cut off. The devil came for the third time, but she had wept so
long and so much on the stumps, that after all they were quite clean.
Then he had to give in, and had lost all right over her.

The miller said to her, "I have by means of thee received such great
wealth that I will keep thee most delicately as long as thou livest."
But she replied, "Here I cannot stay, I will go forth, compassionate
people will give me as much as I require." Thereupon she caused her
maimed arms to be bound to her back, and by sunrise she set out on her
way, and walked the whole day until night fell. Then she came to a
royal garden, and by the shimmering of the moon she saw that trees
covered with beautiful fruits grew in it, but she could not enter, for
there was much water round about it. And as she had walked the whole
day and not eaten one mouthful, and hunger tormented her, she thought,
"Ah, if I were but inside, that I might eat of the fruit, else must I
die of hunger!" Then she knelt down, called on God the Lord, and
prayed. And suddenly an angel came towards her, who made a dam in the
water, so that the moat became dry and she could walk through it. And
now she went into the garden and the angel went with her. She saw a
tree covered with beautiful pears, but they were all counted. Then she
went to them, and to still her hunger, ate one with her mouth from the
tree, but no more. The gardener was watching; but as the angel was
standing by, he was afraid and thought the maiden was a spirit, and was
silent, neither did he dare to cry out, or to speak to the spirit. When
she had eaten the pear, she was satisfied, and went and concealed
herself among the bushes. The King to whom the garden belonged, came
down to it next morning, and counted, and saw that one of the pears was
missing, and asked the gardener what had become of it, as it was not
lying beneath the tree, but was gone. Then answered the gardener, "Last
night, a spirit came in, who had no hands, and ate off one of the pears
with its mouth." The King said, "How did the spirit get over the water,
and where did it go after it had eaten the pear?" The gardener
answered, "Some one came in a snow-white garment from heaven who made a
dam, and kept back the water, that the spirit might walk through the
moat. And as it must have been an angel, I was afraid, and asked no
questions, and did not cry out. When the spirit had eaten the pear, it
went back again." The King said, "If it be as thou sayest, I will watch
with thee to-night."

When it grew dark the King came into the garden and brought a priest
with him, who was to speak to the spirit. All three seated themselves
beneath the tree and watched. At midnight the maiden came creeping out
of the thicket, went to the tree, and again ate one pear off it with
her mouth, and beside her stood the angel in white garments. Then the
priest went out to them and said, "Comest thou from heaven or from
earth? Art thou a spirit, or a human being?" She replied, "I am no
spirit, but an unhappy mortal deserted by all but God." The King said,
"If thou art forsaken by all the world, yet will I not forsake thee."
He took her with him into his royal palace, and as she was so beautiful
and good, he loved her with all his heart, had silver hands made for
her, and took her to wife.

After a year the King had to take the field, so he commended his young
Queen to the care of his mother and said, "If she is brought to bed
take care of her, nurse her well, and tell me of it at once in a
letter." Then she gave birth to a fine boy. So the old mother made
haste to write and announce the joyful news to him. But the messenger
rested by a brook on the way, and as he was fatigued by the great
distance, he fell asleep. Then came the Devil, who was always seeking
to injure the good Queen, and exchanged the letter for another, in
which was written that the Queen had brought a monster into the world.
When the King read the letter he was shocked and much troubled, but he
wrote in answer that they were to take great care of the Queen and
nurse her well until his arrival. The messenger went back with the
letter, but rested at the same place and again fell asleep. Then came
the Devil once more, and put a different letter in his pocket, in which
it was written that they were to put the Queen and her child to death.
The old mother was terribly shocked when she received the letter, and
could not believe it. She wrote back again to the King, but received no
other answer, because each time the Devil substituted a false letter,
and in the last letter it was also written that she was to preserve the
Queen's tongue and eyes as a token that she had obeyed.

But the old mother wept to think such innocent blood was to be shed,
and had a hind brought by night and cut out her tongue and eyes, and
kept them. Then said she to the Queen, "I cannot have thee killed as
the King commands, but here thou mayst stay no longer. Go forth into
the wide world with thy child, and never come here again." The poor
woman tied her child on her back, and went away with eyes full of
tears. She came into a great wild forest, and then she fell on her
knees and prayed to God, and the angel of the Lord appeared to her and
led her to a little house on which was a sign with the words, "Here all
dwell free." A snow-white maiden came out of the little house and said,
"Welcome, Lady Queen," and conducted her inside. Then they unbound the
little boy from her back, and held him to her breast that he might
feed, and laid him in a beautifully-made little bed. Then said the poor
woman, "From whence knowest thou that I was a queen?" The white maiden
answered, "I am an angel sent by God, to watch over thee and thy
child." The Queen stayed seven years in the little house, and was well
cared for, and by God's grace, because of her piety, her hands which
had been cut off, grew once more.

At last the King came home again from the war, and his first wish was
to see his wife and the child. Then his aged mother began to weep and
said, "Thou wicked man, why didst thou write to me that I was to take
those two innocent lives?" and she showed him the two letters which the
Evil-one had forged, and then continued, "I did as thou badest me," and
she showed the tokens, the tongue and eyes. Then the King began to weep
for his poor wife and his little son so much more bitterly than she was
doing, that the aged mother had compassion on him and said, "Be at
peace, she still lives; I secretly caused a hind to be killed, and took
these tokens from it; but I bound the child to thy wife's back and bade
her go forth into the wide world, and made her promise never to come
back here again, because thou wert so angry with her." Then spoke the
King, "I will go as far as the sky is blue, and will neither eat nor
drink until I have found again my dear wife and my child, if in the
meantime they have not been killed, or died of hunger."

Thereupon the King travelled about for seven long years, and sought her
in every cleft of the rocks and in every cave, but he found her not,
and thought she had died of want. During the whole of this time he
neither ate nor drank, but God supported him. At length he came into a
great forest, and found therein the little house whose sign was, "Here
all dwell free." Then forth came the white maiden, took him by the
hand, led him in, and said, "Welcome, Lord King," and asked him from
whence he came. He answered, "Soon shall I have travelled about for the
space of seven years, and I seek my wife and her child, but cannot find
them." The angel offered him meat and drink, but he did not take
anything, and only wished to rest a little. Then he lay down to sleep,
and put a handkerchief over his face.

Thereupon the angel went into the chamber where the Queen sat with her
son, whom she usually called "Sorrowful," and said to her, "Go out with
thy child, thy husband hath come." So she went to the place where he
lay, and the handkerchief fell from his face. Then said she,
"Sorrowful, pick up thy father's handkerchief, and cover his face
again." The child picked it up, and put it over his face again. The
King in his sleep heard what passed, and had pleasure in letting the
handkerchief fall once more. But the child grew impatient, and said,
"Dear mother, how can I cover my father's face when I have no father in
this world? I have learnt to say the prayer, 'Our Father, which art in
Heaven,' thou hast told me that my father was in Heaven, and was the
good God, and how can I know a wild man like this? He is not my
father." When the King heard that, he got up, and asked who they were.
Then said she, "I am thy wife, and that is thy son, Sorrowful." And he
saw her living hands, and said, "My wife had silver hands." She
answered, "The good God has caused my natural hands to grow again;" and
the angel went into the inner room, and brought the silver hands, and
showed them to him. Hereupon he knew for a certainty that it was his
dear wife and his dear child, and he kissed them, and was glad, and
said, "A heavy stone has fallen from off mine heart." Then the angel of
God gave them one meal with her, and after that they went home to the
King's aged mother. There were great rejoicings everywhere, and the
King and Queen were married again, and lived contentedly to their happy
end.
