The Complete Brothers Grimm Fairy Tales
This collection of "classics" certainly is a departure from the Disney versions. The tales are mostly very dark and pessimistic, as originally recorded by the Brothers. For the more "colourful" children's stories it is better to buy the specific tales from the bookstore instead of a collective book.
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This story is available in the following languages
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English
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THE CRYSTAL SPHERE
There was once an enchantress, who had three sons who loved each other
as brothers, but the old woman did not trust them, and thought they wanted
to steal her power from her. So she changed the eldest into an eagle,
which was forced to dwell in the rocky mountains, and often was seen
flying in great circles in the sky. The second, she changed into a whale,
which lived in the deep sea, and all that was seen of it was that it
sometimes spouted a great jet of water into the air. Each of them bore
his human form for only two hours daily. The third son, who was afraid
she might change him into a raging wild beast--a bear perhaps, or a wolf,
went secretly away. He had heard that a King's daughter who was
bewitched, was imprisoned in the Castle of the Golden Sun, and was waiting
to be set free. Those, however, who tried to free her risked their lives;
three-and- twenty youths had already died a miserable death and now only
one other might make the attempt, after which no more must come. And as
his heart was without fear, he made up his mind to seek out the Castle of
the Golden Sun. He had already traveled about for a long time without
being able to find it, when he came by chance into a great forest, and did
not know the way out of it. All at once he saw in the distance two
giants, who made a sign to him with their hands, and when he came to them
they said, "We are quarreling about a cap, and which of us it is to belong
to, and as we are equally strong, neither of us can get the better of the
other. The small men are cleverer than we are, so we will leave the
decision to you."
"How can you dispute about an old cap?" said the youth.
"You do not know what properties it has! It is a wishing-cap;
whosoever puts it on, can wish himself away wherever he likes, and in an
instant he will be there."
"Give me the cap," said the youth. "I will go a short distance off,
and when I call you, you must run a race, and the cap shall belong to the
one who gets first to me." He put it on and went away and thought of the
King's daughter, forgot the giants, and walked continually onwards. At
length he sighed from the bottom of his heart, and cried: "Ah, if I were
but at the Castle of the Golden Sun," and hardly had these words passed
from his lips than he was standing on a high mountain before the gate of
the castle.
He entered and went through all the rooms, until in the last he found
the King's daughter. But how shocked he was when he saw her! She had an
ashen-gray face full of wrinkles, bleary eyes, and red hair. "Are you the
King's daughter, whose beauty the whole world praises?" cried he.
"Ah," she answered, "this is not my form; human eyes can only see me in
this state of ugliness, but that you may know what I am like, look in the
mirrorÑit does not let itself be misledÑit will show you my image as it is
in truth." She gave him the mirror in his hand, and he saw therein the
likeness of the most beautiful maiden on earth, and saw, too, how the
tears were rolling down her cheeks in grief. Then said he:
"How can you be set free? I fear no danger."
She said, "He who gets the crystal ball, and holds it before the
enchanter, will destroy his power with it, and I shall resume my true
shape. Ah," she added, "so many have already gone to meet death for this,
and you are so young; I grieve that you should encounter such great
danger."
"Nothing can keep me from doing it," said he, "but tell me what I must
do."
"You shall know everything," said the King's daughter. "When you
descend the mountain on which the castle stands, a wild bull will stand
below by a spring and you must fight with it and if you have the luck to
kill it, a fiery bird will spring out of it, which bears in its body a
red-hot egg, and in the egg the crystal sphere lies as its yolk. The
bird, however, will not let the egg fall until forced to do so. And if it
falls on the ground, it will flame up and burn everything that is near,
and even the egg itself will melt, and with it the crystal sphere and then
all your trouble will have been in vain."
The youth went down to the spring, where the bull snorted and bellowed
at him. After a long struggle he plunged his sword in the animal's body
and it fell down. Instantly, a fiery bird arose from it and was about to
fly away, but the young man's brother, the eagle, who was passing above
between the clouds, swooped down, hunted it away to the sea, and struck it
with its beak until, in its extremity, it let the egg fall. The egg,
however, did not fall into the sea, but on a fisherman's hut which stood
on the shore. The hut began at once to smoke and was about to break into
flames. Then arose in the sea waves as high as a house, which streamed
over the hut and subdued the fire. The other brother, the whale, had come
swimming to them, and had driven the water up on high. When the fire was
extinguished, the youth sought for the egg and happily found it. It was
not yet melted, but the shell was broken by being so suddenly cooled with
water, and he could take out the crystal sphere unhurt.
When the youth went to the enchanter and held it before him, the
enchanter said, "My power is destroyed, and from this time forth you are
the King of the Castle of the Golden Sun. With this you can likewise give
back to your brothers their human form." Then the youth hastened to the
King's daughter, and when he entered the room, she was standing there in
the full splendor of her beauty. Joyfully they exchanged rings with each
other and lived on together in the Castle of the Golden Sun for as long as
I can tell.
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