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In. Grimms' Fairy Tales.
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Dec 16, 2014 01:02
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The Story Thieves Prompt: Grimms' Fairy Tales Words: 1199 Once upon a time there were three brothers, who were thieves. They were the worst kind of thieves, for they went from place to place and stole from poor folk who had nothing. The way that they stole was this: they entered the house of a poor family, and were made welcome; and by and by, after sharing their bread and ale with their hosts, they begged a story from the woman of the house. But as the woman told the story, piece by piece she forgot it; and when the tale was done, the three brothers had all of it, and their hosts had none of it, and were so much the poorer. The brothers then left, laughing amongst themselves; and the housewife wept, for the lost story was poorly bought with a meal of bread and ale. There came a time when the three brothers were travelling in the deep woods. They feared no wild beast, for they had only to relate a story from their hoard, and the beast became docile and sleepy, whereupon they killed it and roasted it upon their fire. By and by, the three brothers chanced upon a house covered all over with brambles, with drooping eaves and crooked rafters, and black smoke spilling from the chimney. Now the two elder brothers were clever and studious, but the younger said little, and always walked about with his head in the clouds, so the other two looked down on him and called him Dummling. The elder brothers were much afraid of the strange house, so they said to the younger brother: "Go, Dummling, and knock upon that door; for surely a poor family lives there, from whom we can steal a story." "Very well," said Dummling, who was not at all afraid, and he went and knocked upon the door. When it opened, there stood a slattern of fearful aspect, with her great brow lowering over her face, her teeth all higgledy-piggledy, and her hair tangled up with twigs like a bird's nest. "Beauteous maiden," said Dummling "Will you spare us a space by your fire? For we are footsore and hungry." "Call me not beauteous," the slattern replied, "for I know well I am not so; yet you are welcome to share our fire." And so Dummling entered the house, and his brothers, being ashamed of their fear, followed also. By the fire they found a crone of aspect ten times more fearful than the woman's, with skin the colour of rancid butter, hair like a mat of dead brambles, and fangs like a snake's. Seeing her, Dummling's brothers were much afraid, and would have run; but the slattern closed the door behind them, and the crone cried out "Ai! Come to my fire, you wretches, and share in its warmth, and hear the stories I have to tell." The brothers were ever eager to steal new stories, and this crone surely had many, so they overcame their fear and sat by the fire. "Ai! Ai!" said the crone. "Three stories I have to tell; but three things first must you share with me; I ask only your bread, your ale and your names." "Willingly," said the eldest brother; "I am called Jacob." And he broke in half the loaf they had brought and gave one half to the crone, who devoured it on the spot. "And I am called Wilhelm," said the second brother, pouring out a stein of ale; this the crone drank down in a single gulp. "I am called Dummling," said the youngest brother; "and I am eager to hear your stories," for he loved nothing so much as a well-told tale. "Ai! Ai! Ai!" cried the old woman. "Three stories you shall have, so listen well." Then she related a tale of such length that the moon set and rose again as she told it, which the brothers scarce noticed; and at the end of it, the eldest brother Jacob was held spellbound; for she was a witch, and he had given over his name into her power. Then she related a second tale, and this was of such length that the moon set and rose, and set and rose again before it ended; and the second brother Wilhelm was held spellbound, for he too had given her his name. Finally she told a third tale, and this was of such length that the moon set and rose, and set and rose, and set and rose once more; and at the end of it, the crone cackled with glee, for she believed she had them all in her power. She called to her daughter to heat up the great cooking-pot, for she had worked up a powerful hunger in the telling of her tales, and desired to feast upon the brothers' flesh. "Nay, this I cannot allow!" cried Dummling, starting up; for he had not given his true name, and so had not been spellbound like the others. But the sly witch seized a besom and threw a handful of its twigs about him, and they sprang up and tangled him until he could not move an inch. When the pot was near to boiling, the witch went out into the woods to gather herbs to season it; and Dummling cried to the slattern, who had stayed to tend the pot: "Beautiful maiden! Have pity on me and let me free!" "Twice now have you called me beautiful," said the slattern, "when all can see that I am not; why do you do so?" "Why," said Dummling, "I speak only as I see; to me it seems you are the loveliest maid I ever beheld." "Again you lie," said the slattern, "but it pleases mine ears; I will free you." And so she pulled the twigs away from him, and with a great struggle he came free. Then Dummling hid himself in a dark corner and waited. When the witch returned with a great bundle of herbs, she cried "Ai! My granddaughter, hast thou freed one of these wretches?" for the twigs lay scattered upon the floor. "Nay," replied the maiden, "Only that I grew hungry while you were gone, and ate him." "That you should not have done," said the old witch, and she approached the cauldron to throw in the herbs; whereon Dummling came behind and pushed her, and she toppled into the cauldron with a great cry, and was boiled alive. Then Dummling's brothers came free of the spell, and looked about them astonished. And lo! The slattern too was freed of the hag's spell, and became a beautiful maiden before their eyes, and she blessed them for rescuing her. Thereafter the three brothers mended their ways, and Jacob and Wilhelm returned home and wrote down all the stories they had stolen, that they might become known to all; and if some of those stories changed a little in the telling, and gained an unlikely hero named Dummling, why, I am sure they are much the better for it. As for Dummling, he married the maiden forthwith, and the two of them stayed in that house in contentment to the end of their days.
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Dec 20, 2014 03:46
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docbeard posted:I feel like critting some stories this week. Three of 'em, first come, first served. I'd be much obliged for an extra crit on The Story Thieves. Sledgehammer's was mostly positive, which is great for my ego (thanks Sledge!) but maybe not so great for improving my writing.
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Dec 23, 2014 13:37
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My random thought: in the Dwarf Fortress Let's Play threads, there are usually custom-made banners for "overseer updates" (OP) and the "journals" written by dwarfed goons. People put these at the top of their posts. Maybe it'd be nice to have something like that for the different story categories "Weekly Prompt Entry" / "Interprompt Entry" / "Brawl Entry", as it's frequently not obvious at a glance which is which.
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Dec 29, 2014 11:48
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Thank you, docbeard - much appreciated.
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Dec 30, 2014 16:59
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