Philip Grote Johann, The Girl Without Hands, before 1892
A certain miller had little by little fallen into poverty, and had nothingleft but his mill and a large apple-tree behind it. Once when he had goneinto the forest to fetch wood, an old man stepped up to him whom he hadnever seen before, and said, "Why dost thou plague thyself with cuttingwood, I will make thee rich, if thou wilt promise me what is standingbehind thy mill?" "What can that be but my apple-tree?" thought themiller, 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, "Tellme, miller, from whence comes this sudden wealth into our house? Allat once every box and chest was filled; no one brought it in, and Iknow not how it happened." He answered, "It comes from a stranger whomet me in the forest, and promised me great treasure. I, in return,have promised him what stands behind the mill; we can very well givehim 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 ourdaughter, who was standing behind the mill sweeping the yard."
The miller's daughter was a beautiful, pious girl, and lived throughthe three years in the fear of God and without sin. When therefore thetime was over, and the day came when the Evil-one was to fetch her, shewashed herself clean, and made a circle round herself with chalk. Thedevil appeared quite early, but he could not come near to her. Angrily, hesaid to the miller, "Take all water away from her, that she may no longerbe able to wash herself, for otherwise I have no power over her." Themiller 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 couldnot get near her, and furiously said to the miller, "Cut her hands off, orelse 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 threatenedhim and said, "If thou dost not do it thou art mine, and I will take theethyself." The father became alarmed, and promised to obey him. So he wentto 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 doit. 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." Thereuponshe laid down both her hands, and let them be cut off. The devil camefor 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 hadlost all right over her.
The miller said to her, "I have by means of thee received such greatwealth that I will keep thee most delicately as long as thou livest." Butshe replied, "Here I cannot stay, I will go forth, compassionate peoplewill give me as much as I require." Thereupon she caused her maimed armsto be bound to her back, and by sunrise she set out on her way, and walkedthe whole day until night fell. Then she came to a royal garden, andby the shimmering of the moon she saw that trees covered with beautifulfruits grew in it, but she could not enter, for there was much water roundabout 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 Imight 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 towardsher, who made a dam in the water, so that the moat became dry and shecould walk through it. And now she went into the garden and the angelwent with her. She saw a tree covered with beautiful pears, but theywere all counted. Then she went to them, and to still her hunger, ateone 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 wasa spirit, and was silent, neither did he dare to cry out, or to speak tothe spirit. When she had eaten the pear, she was satisfied, and went andconcealed 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 pearswas missing, and asked the gardener what had become of it, as it was notlying beneath the tree, but was gone. Then answered the gardener, "Lastnight, a spirit came in, who had no hands, and ate off one of the pearswith 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, andkept back the water, that the spirit might walk through the moat. And asit must have been an angel, I was afraid, and asked no questions, and didnot cry out. When the spirit had eaten the pear, it went back again." TheKing 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 withhim, who was to speak to the spirit. All three seated themselves beneaththe tree and watched. At midnight the maiden came creeping out of thethicket, 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 wentout to them and said, "Comest thou from heaven or from earth? Art thou aspirit, or a human being?" She replied, "I am no spirit, but an unhappymortal deserted by all but God." The King said, "If thou art forsaken byall the world, yet will I not forsake thee." He took her with him intohis royal palace, and as she was so beautiful and good, he loved herwith 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 hisyoung Queen to the care of his mother and said, "If she is brought tobed take care of her, nurse her well, and tell me of it at once in aletter." Then she gave birth to a fine boy. So the old mother made hasteto write and announce the joyful news to him. But the messenger restedby 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 injurethe good Queen, and exchanged the letter for another, in which waswritten that the Queen had brought a monster into the world. When theKing read the letter he was shocked and much troubled, but he wrote inanswer that they were to take great care of the Queen and nurse her welluntil his arrival. The messenger went back with the letter, but restedat 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 thatthey were to put the Queen and her child to death. The old mother wasterribly shocked when she received the letter, and could not believeit. She wrote back again to the King, but received no other answer,because each time the Devil substituted a false letter, and in the lastletter it was also written that she was to preserve the Queen's tongueand 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, andkept them. Then said she to the Queen, "I cannot have thee killedas the King commands, but here thou mayst stay no longer. Go forthinto the wide world with thy child, and never come here again." Thepoor woman tied her child on her back, and went away with eyes fullof tears. She came into a great wild forest, and then she fell on herknees and prayed to God, and the angel of the Lord appeared to her andled her to a little house on which was a sign with the words, "Here alldwell free." A snow-white maiden came out of the little house and said,"Welcome, Lady Queen," and conducted her inside. Then they unbound thelittle 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 Queenstayed seven years in the little house, and was well cared for, and byGod'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 wasto see his wife and the child. Then his aged mother began to weep andsaid, "Thou wicked man, why didst thou write to me that I was to takethose two innocent lives?" and she showed him the two letters whichthe 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 toweep for his poor wife and his little son so much more bitterly thanshe 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 backand bade her go forth into the wide world, and made her promise never tocome back here again, because thou wert so angry with her." Then spokethe King, "I will go as far as the sky is blue, and will neither eatnor drink until I have found again my dear wife and my child, if in themeantime they have not been killed, or died of hunger."
Thereupon the King travelled about for seven long years, and sought herin 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 heneither ate nor drank, but God supported him. At length he came intoa great forest, and found therein the little house whose sign was,"Here all dwell free." Then forth came the white maiden, took him by thehand, led him in, and said, "Welcome, Lord King," and asked him fromwhence he came. He answered, "Soon shall I have travelled about forthe space of seven years, and I seek my wife and her child, but cannotfind them." The angel offered him meat and drink, but he did not takeanything, 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 herson, whom she usually called "Sorrowful," and said to her, "Go out withthy child, thy husband hath come." So she went to the place where helay, and the handkerchief fell from his face. Then said she, "Sorrowful,pick up thy father's handkerchief, and cover his face again." The childpicked it up, and put it over his face again. The King in his sleepheard what passed, and had pleasure in letting the handkerchief fallonce more. But the child grew impatient, and said, "Dear mother, howcan I cover my father's face when I have no father in this world? I havelearnt to say the prayer, 'Our Father, which art in Heaven,' thou hasttold me that my father was in Heaven, and was the good God, and how canI know a wild man like this? He is not my father." When the King heardthat, 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 mynatural hands to grow again;" and the angel went into the inner room,and brought the silver hands, and showed them to him. Hereupon he knewfor a certainty that it was his dear wife and his dear child, and hekissed them, and was glad, and said, "A heavy stone has fallen fromoff 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 weregreat rejoicings everywhere, and the King and Queen were married again,and lived contentedly to their happy end.
zpostcode
Recruit
weather
mreligion
Yellowpages
sport
constellation
shopping
name
game
directory
literature
Word
tour
furnish
Lottery
tftnews
lyrics
News
digital
car
dir
Edu
Finance
