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.
