We commit these tales to
gracious
hands, and think the
while of the kindly power that lies in them, and wish that our
book may be forever hidden from those who grudge these crumbs
of poetry to the poor and simple.
while of the kindly power that lies in them, and wish that our
book may be forever hidden from those who grudge these crumbs
of poetry to the poor and simple.
Warner - World's Best Literature - v12 - Gre to Hen
6726 (#102) ###########################################
6726
HERMAN GRIMM
history of Athens and Florence. The glowing images now grow
cold, and become dull and empty. Here as everywhere we see
the strife of common passions, the martyrdom and ruin of the
best citizens, the demon-like opposition of the multitude to all
that is pure and elevated, and the disinterestedness of the noblest
patriots suspiciously misunderstood and arrogantly rejected. Vex-
ation, sadness, and sorrow steal over us, instead of the admira-
tion which at first moved us. And yet, what is it all? Turning
away, we cast back one glance from afar; and the old glory lies
again on the picture, and a light in the distance seems to reveal
to us the Paradise which attracts us afresh, as if we set foot on
it for the first time.
Athens was the first city of Greece. Rich, powerful, with a
policy which extended almost over the entire world of that age,
we can conceive that from her emanated all the great things that
were done. Florence, however, in her fairest days was never
the first city of Italy, and in no respect possessed extraordinary
advantages. She lies not on the sea, not even on a river at any
time navigable; for the Arno, on both sides of which the city
rises, often affords in summer scarcely water sufficient to cover
the soil of its broad bed, at that point of its course where it
emerges from narrow valleys into the plain situated between the
diverging arms of the mountain range. The situation of Naples.
is more beautiful, that of Genoa more royal, than Florence;
Rome is richer in treasures of art; Venice possessed a political
power in comparison with which the influence of the Florentines
appears small.
Lastly, these cities and others, such as Pisa and
Milan, have gone through an external history compared with
which that of Florence contains nothing extraordinary; and yet,
notwithstanding, all else that happened in Italy between 1250
and 1530 is colorless when placed side by side with the history
of this one city. Her internal life surpasses in splendor the
efforts of the others at home and abroad. The events through
the intricacies of which she worked her way with vigorous deter-
mination, and the men whom she produced, raised her fame.
above that of the whole of Italy besides, and place Florence as
a younger sister by the side of Athens.
The earlier history of the city before the days of her highest
splendor, stands in the same relation to the subsequent events as
the contests of the Homeric heroes to that which happened in
the historic ages in Greece. The incessant strife between the
## p. 6727 (#103) ###########################################
HERMAN GRIMM
6727
hostile nobles, which lasted for centuries and ended with the
annihilation of all, presents to us, on the whole as well as in
detail, the course of an epic poem. These contests, in which the
whole body of the citizens became involved, began with the strife
of two families, brought about by a woman, with murder and
revenge in its train; and it is ever the passion of the leaders
which fans the dying flames into new life. From their ashes at
length arose the true Florence. She had now no longer a war-
like aristocracy like Venice; no popes nor nobles like Rome; no
fleet, no soldiers,-scarcely a territory. Within her walls was a
fickle, avaricious, ungrateful people of parvenus, artisans, and
merchants; who had been subdued, now here and now there, by
the energy or the intrigues of foreign and native tyranny, until
at length, exhausted, they had actually given up their liberty.
And it is the history of these very times which is surrounded
with such glory, and the remembrance of which awakens such
enthusiasm among her own people at the present day, at the
remembrance of their past.
Whatever attracts us in nature and in art,- that higher nature
which man has created,- may be felt also of the deeds of individ-
uals and of nations. A melody, incomprehensible and enticing,
is breathed forth from the events, filling them with importance
and animation. Thus we should like to live and to act,- to have
joined in obtaining this, to have assisted in the contest there. It
becomes evident to us that this is true existence. Events follow
each other like a work of art; a marvelous thread unites them;
there are no disjointed convulsive shocks which startle us as at
the fall of a rock, making the ground tremble which for centu-
ries had lain tranquil, and again, perhaps for centuries, sinks
back into its old repose. For it is not repose, order, and a law-
ful progress on the smooth path of peace which we desire, nor
the fearful breaking-up of long-established habits, and the chaos
that succeeds; but we are struck by deeds and characters whose
outset promises results, and allows us to augur an end where the
powers of men and nations strive after perfection, and our feel-
ings aspire toward a harmonious aim which we hope for or
dread, and which we see reached at length.
Our pleasure in these events in no degree resembles the sat-
isfaction with which, perchance, a modern officer of police would
express himself respecting the excellent condition of a country.
There are so-called quiet times, within which, nevertheless, the
## p. 6728 (#104) ###########################################
6728
HERMAN GRIMM
best actions appear hollow and inspire a secret mistrust; when
peace, order, and impartial administration of justice are words.
with no real meaning, and piety sounds even like blasphemy;
while in other epochs open depravity, errors, injustice, crime, and
vice form only the shadows of a great and elevating picture, to
which they impart the just truth. The blacker the dark places,
the brighter the light ones. An indestructible power seems to
necessitate both. We are at once convinced that we are not
deceived: it is all so clear, so plain, so intelligible. We are struck
with the strife of inevitable dark necessity-with the will, whose
freedom nothing can conquer. On both sides we see great
powers rising, shaping events, and perishing in their course, or
maintaining themselves above them. We see blood flowing; the
rage of parties flashes before us like the sheet lightning of storms
that have long ceased; we stand here and there, and fight once
more in the old battles. But we want truth: no concealing of
aims, or the means with which they desired to obtain them.
Thus we see the people in a state of agitation, just as the lava
in the crater of a volcanic mountain rises in itself; and from the
fermenting mass there sounds forth the magic melody which we
call to mind when the names "Athens" or "Florence" are pro-
nounced.
Yet how poor seem the treasures of the Italian city, compared
with the riches of the Greek! A succession of great Athenians
appear where only single Florentines could be pointed out.
Athens surpassed Florence as far as the Greeks surpassed the
Romans. But Florence touches us the more closely. We tread
less certain ground in the history of Athens; and the city herself
has been swept away from her old rocky soil, leaving only insig-
nificant ruins behind. Florence still lives. If at the present day
we look down from the height of old Fiesole on the mountain-
side north of the city, the cathedral of Florence, Santa Maria
del Fiore, or Santa Liparata, as it is called,-with its cupola
and slender bell tower, and the churches, palaces, and houses, and
the walls that inclose them, still lie in the depth below as they
did in years gone by. All is standing, upright and undecayed.
The city is like a flower, which when fully blown, instead of
withering on its stalk, turned as it were into stone. Thus she
stands at the present day; and to him who forgets the former
ages, life and fragrance seem not to be lacking. Many a time.
we could fancy it is still as once it was; just as when traversing
## p. 6729 (#105) ###########################################
HERMAN GRIMM
6729
the canals of Venice under the soft beams of the moon, we are
delusively carried back to the times of her ancient splendor. But
freedom has vanished; and that succession of great men has long
ceased which year by year, of old, sprung up afresh.
Yet the remembrance of these men and of the old freedom
still lives. Their remains are preserved with religious care. To
live with consciousness in Florence is, to a cultivated man,
nothing else than the study of the beauty of a free people, in its
very purest instincts. The city possesses something that pene-
trates and sways the mind. We lose ourselves in her riches.
While we feel that everything drew its life from that one free-
dom, the past obtains an influence, even in its most insignificant
relations, which almost blinds us to the rest of Italy. We become
fanatical Florentines, in the old sense. The most beautiful pict-
ures of Titian begin to be indifferent to us, as we follow the
progress of Florentine art in its almost hourly advance from the
most clumsy beginnings up to perfection. The historians carry
us into the intricacies of their age, as if we were initiated into
the secrets of living persons. We walk along the streets where
they walked; we step over the thresholds which they trod; we
look down from the windows at which they have stood. Florence
has never been taken by assault, nor destroyed, nor changed by
some all-devastating fire. The buildings of which they tell us
stand there almost as if they had grown up, stone by stone, to
charm and gratify our eyes. If I, a stranger, am attracted with
such magnetic power, how strong must have been the feeling
with which the free old citizens clung to their native city, which
was the world to them! It seemed to them impossible to live
and die elsewhere. Hence the tragic and often frantic attempts
of the exiled to return to their home. Unhappy was he who at
eventide might not meet his friends in her squares,- who was
not baptized in the church of San Giovanni, and could not have
his children baptized there. It is the oldest church in the town,
and bears in its interior the proud inscription that it will not be
thrown down until the Day of Judgment,- a belief as strong as
that of the Romans, to whom eternity was to be the duration of
their Capitol. Horace sang that his songs would last as long as
the priestess ascended the steps there.
Athens and Florence owed their greatness to their freedom.
We are free when our longing to do all that we do for the good
of our country is satisfied; but it must be independently and
## p. 6730 (#106) ###########################################
6730
HERMAN GRIMM
voluntarily. We must perceive ourselves to be a part of a whole,
and that while we advance, we promote the advance of the whole
at the same time. This feeling must be paramount to any other.
With the Florentines, it rose above the bloodiest hostility of
parties and families. Passions stooped before it. The city and
her freedom lay nearest to every heart, and formed the end and
aim of every dispute. No power without was to oppress them;
none within the city herself was to have greater authority than
another; every citizen desired to co-operate for the general good;
no third party was to come between to help forward their inter-
So long as this jealousy of a personal right in the State
ruled in the minds of the citizens, Florence was a free city.
With the extinguishing of this passion freedom perished; and in
vain was every energy exerted to maintain it.
ests.
That which, however, exhibits Athens and Florence as raised
above other States which likewise flourished through their free-
dom, is a second gift of nature, by which freedom was either cir-
cumscribed or extended,- for both may be said of it; namely,
the capability in their citizens for an equal development of all
human power.
One-sided energy may do much, whether men or
nations possess it. Egyptians, Romans, Englishmen, are grand
examples of this; the one-sidedness of their character, however,
discovers itself again in their undertakings, and sometimes robs
that which they achieve of the praise of beauty. In Athens and
Florence, no passion for any time gained such ascendency over
the individuality of the people as to preponderate over others. If
it happened at times for a short period, a speedy subversion of
things brought back the equilibrium. The Florentine Constitu-
tion depended on the resolutions of the moment, made by an
assembly of citizens entitled to vote. Any power could be legally
annulled, and with equal legality another could be raised up in
its stead. Nothing was wanting but a decree of the great par-
liament of citizens. A counter-vote was all that was necessary.
So long as the great bell sounded which called all the citizens
together to the square in front of the palace of the government,
any revenge borne by one towards another might be decided by
open force in the public street. Parliament was the lawfully
appointed scene of revolution, in case the will of the people no
longer accorded with that of the government. The citizens in
that case invested a committee with dictatorial authority; the
offices were newly filled; all offices were accessible to all citizens;
## p. 6731 (#107) ###########################################
HERMAN GRIMM
6731
any man was qualified and called upon for any position. What
sort of men must these citizens have been who formed a stable
and flourishing State with institutions so variable? Sordid mer-
chants and manufacturers? -yet how they fought for their free-
dom! Selfish policy and commerce their sole interest? —yet were
they the poets and historians of their country! Avaricious shop-
keepers and money-changers? -but dwelling in princely palaces,
and these palaces built by their own masters and adorned with
paintings and sculptures which had been likewise produced within
the city! Everything put forth blossom, every blossom bore
fruit. The fate of the country is like a ball, which in its eternal
motion still rests ever on the right point. Every Florentine work
of art carries the whole of Florence within it. Dante's poems are
the result of the wars, the negotiations, the religion, the philoso-
phy, the gossip, the faults, the vice, the hatred, the love, and the
revenge of the Florentines: all unconsciously assisted; nothing
might be lacking. From such a soil alone could such a work
spring forth; from the Athenian mind alone could the tragedies
of Sophocles and Eschylus proceed. The history of the city has
as much share in them as the genius of the men in whose minds
imagination and passion sought expression in words.
It makes a difference whether an artist is the self-conscious
citizen of a free land, or the richly rewarded subject of a ruler
in whose ears liberty sounds like sedition and treason.
A people
is free, not because it obeys no prince, but because of its own
accord it loves and supports the highest authority, whether this
be a prince, or an aristocracy who hold the government in their
hands. A prince there always is; in the freest republics, one
man gives, after all, the casting vote. But he must be there
because he is the first, and because all need him. It is only
where each single man feels himself a part of the common basis
upon which the commonwealth rests, that we can speak of free-
dom and art. What have the statues in the villa of Hadrian
to do with Rome and the desires of Rome? what the mighty
columns of the Baths of Caracalla with the ideal of the people
in whose capital they arose? In Athens and Florence, however,
we could say that no stone was laid on another,—no picture, no
poem, came forth,- but the entire population was its sponsor.
Whether Santa Maria del Fiore was rebuilt; whether the church
of San Giovanni gained a couple of golden gates; whether Pisa
was besieged, peace concluded, or a mad carnival procession
## p. 6732 (#108) ###########################################
6732
HERMAN GRIMM
celebrated, every one was concerned in it, the same general
interest was evinced in it. The beautiful Simoneta, the most beau-
tiful young maiden in the city, is buried: the whole of Florence
follow her with tears in their eyes, and Lorenzo Medici, the
first man in the State, writes an elegiac sonnet on her loss, which
is on the lips of all. A newly painted chapel is opened; no one
may be missing. A foot-race through the streets is arranged;
carpets hang out from every window. Contemplated from afar,
the two cities stand before us like beautiful human figures,— like
women with dark sad glances, and yet laughing lips; we step
nearer, it seems one great united family; we pass into the midst
of them, it is like a beehive of human beings. Athens and her
destiny is a symbol of the whole life of Greece; Florence is a
symbol of the prime of Roman Italy. Both, so long as their lib-
erty lasted, are a reflection of the Golden Age of their land and
people; after liberty was lost, they are an image of the decline
of both until their final ruin.
-
## p. 6733 (#109) ###########################################
6733
THE GRIMM BROTHERS
(1785-1863) (1786-1859)
BY BENJAMIN W. WELLS
RIMM, JACOB LUDWIG CARL (1785-1863), and WILHELM CARL
(1786-1859), whose names are inseparably connected in the
history of German antiquities, philology, and literature, were
the oldest sons of a petty official then stationed at Hanau in Hesse-
Cassel. Their father died in 1796; but though poor, they were able
to study for the law at the University of Marburg, where Professor
Savigny gave them their first inspiration and directed their minds
to early German literature and institutions. After their graduation,
JACOB GRIMM
WILHELM GRIMM
Jacob occupied for a time subordinate civil and diplomatic positions,
and after 1816 both were connected with the Library at Cassel; which
they exchanged in 1828 for the University Library at Göttingen,
where Jacob also lectured, though without popular success, until they
were ejected from office for a manly protest (1837) against the broken.
pledges of the King of Hanover. "With no desire of applause, or
fear of blame when he had acted as he must," - words that show his
whole character, Jacob withdrew with his brother to Cassel, and
thence in 1840 to Berlin, where they had been appointed professors
and members of the Academy. Here they passed a life of tireless
investigation, interrupted only by Jacob's brief and not very happy
share in the National Assembly at Frankfort in 1848.
Here they
## p. 6734 (#110) ###########################################
6734
THE GRIMM BROTHERS
died, and here they were buried, as they had lived, together. The
brothers had passed their whole lives in common labor, of which the
elder thus spoke in a memorial oration:—
"In the slow-gliding school years, one bed and one study held us. There
we sat working at the same table, and afterward in our student years two
beds and two tables stood in the same room; in later life, still two tables in
the same room; and at last, to the very end, two rooms beside one another,
always under one roof, in undisturbed and untroubled community of our
money, and books except for a few that each must have immediately at hand,
and which were therefore bought in duplicate; and so also our last beds will
be laid, it seems, close by one another. Let one consider, then, whether in
speaking of him I can avoid speaking of myself. » ((Minor Writings,' i. 166. )
The work may be treated as a unit, though Jacob's was the
most dominant spirit. He had an “iron industry," a clear vision, an
unfailing cheerfulness in labor. His style has a peculiar rugged ear-
nestness. It is not unpolished, but picturesque and full of a woodland
savor; while Wilhelm had a frailer constitution and a gentler nature,
that showed itself in the graceful naïveté of those legends and tales
to which he gave literary form.
The genius of their common studies was a noble patriotism. One
could say of both what Jacob said of himself, that nearly all their
labors were "directed to the investigation of early German language,
laws, and poetry"; labors which might seem useless to some, but
were to them "inseparably connected with the Fatherland, and cal-
culated to foster the love of it. " Again, he says, "I strove to pene-
trate into the wild forests of our ancestors, listening to their noble
language, watching their pure customs," recognizing their “ancient
freedom and their rational and hearty faith. "
These labors took the form of studies in early law (Rechtsalter-
thümer or Legal Antiquities: 1828), mythology (Deutsche Mytholo-
gie': 1835), legends (Sagen' or Legends: 1816; revised 1868), essays
on old German poetry (Altdeutscher Meistergesang': 1811), and
numerous editions of old German, Danish, Norse, and English texts.
Most important to the scientific world, however, were the 'Deutsche
Grammatik (1819, 1822-1840) and the still unfinished Dictionary,
perhaps the most vast undertaking of modern philologists. But mon-
umental as these works are, they belong only indirectly to literature.
nor is there much of general interest in the eight volumes of Jacob
Grimm's 'Minor Writings' (1864-1890). On the other hand, all the
world knows the brothers for their Household Tales' (1812-1815),
and often for these alone. They were meant for a contribution to
folk-lore, as may be seen from the volume of notes that accompany
them, of which the extracts that follow contain two specimens. But
in a single generation they became one of the most popular books of
## p. 6735 (#111) ###########################################
THE GRIMM BROTHERS
6735
the world; they were translated into every civilized tongue, and may
be found to-day tattered and in a million nurseries, but never
outworn in the hearts of Nature's children. Artists like Walter Crane
have illustrated them, critics like Andrew Lang have introduced
them to English readers, noteworthy German scholars and critics-
Scherer, Curtius, Berndt-have bestowed on them the tribute of
learning. But perhaps no one has spoken better of them than Wil-
helm Grimm in his preface, a part of which is translated below; and
none has paid a nobler tribute to the fraternal love of their authors
than Jacob Grimm in the first volume of his 'Minor Writings. '
Banj 2. Walle
A WORD TO THE READER
From the Preface to the Household Tales'
WⓇ
E SOMETIMES find, when a whole cornfield has been beaten
down by a storm, that a little place has sheltered itself
by the low hedges or bushes, and a few ears remain
upright. Then, if the sun shines kindly again, they grow alone
and unnoticed. No early sickle cuts them for the great grana-
ries; but late in summer, when they are ripe and full, come poor
hands that glean them and carry them home, laid ear to ear,
bound carefully, and more highly treasured than whole sheaves;
and they are food all winter long, — perhaps also the only seed
for the future.
-
So it seemed to us, when we saw how nothing was left of so
much that had bloomed in old times; how even the memory of
it was almost lost, except among the people in songs, a few
books, legends, and these innocent Household Tales. The fire-
side, the hearth, the attic stairs, ancient holidays, mountain paths
and forests in their silence, but above all an untroubled fantasy,
have been the hedges that have guarded them and transmitted
them from one age to another.
It was high time to seize these tales, for their guardians grow
ever rarer. To be sure, those who know them usually know
## p. 6736 (#112) ###########################################
6736
THE GRIMM BROTHERS
many; for it is men who are dead to them, not they to men.
That which has given such manifold and repeated joy and
emotion and instruction bears in it its own excuse for being,
and has surely come from that eternal spring that bedews all
life; and though it were only a single drop that has caught on
a little crumpled leaf, yet it sparkles in the first blush of dawn.
Hence it is, that all these fancies are pervaded with that
purity by which children seem to us so wonderful and blessed.
They have the same blue-white, immaculate, bright eyes.
And so by our collection we thought to serve not only the study
of poetry and mythology, but also to let the poetry itself that
palpitates in it touch and delight whomsoever it can delight, so
that it may serve also as a book of education. For this we
seek not such purity as is obtained by an anxious exclusion of
all that bears on certain conditions and relations, such as occur
daily and cannot possibly be hidden, which also produces the
deception that what is possible in a book can be practiced in real
life. We seek purity in the truth of a straightforward narra-
tion.
Nothing defends us better than Nature herself,
who has let these plants grow in just this color and form. He
whose special needs they may not suit has no right to ask that
they should be differently cut and colored. Or again: rain and
dew fall to benefit all that grows; if any one does not dare to
put his plants under the rain and dew because they are too
delicate and might be hurt, if he prefers to give them lukewarm
water in the house, yet he must not demand tha there shall be
no rain and dew. All that is natural may be helpful, and it is at
this that we ought to aim.
We have been collecting these stories from oral tradition for
about thirteen years. If one is accustomed to heed such things,
one has more chances than one would suppose.
. But it
was a piece of special good fortune that we made the acquaint-
ance of a peasant woman of Niederzwehrn, a village near Cassel,
who told us most of the tales in the second volume, and the most
beautiful of these. Frau Viehmännin was still active, and not
much over fifty years old. Her features were firm, sensible, and
agreeable, and she cast clear keen glances from her great eyes.
She remembered the old stories exactly, and said herself that
this gift was not granted to all, and that many a one could keep
nothing in its proper connection. She told her stories deliber-
ately, confidently, with much life and self-satisfaction: first, quite
## p. 6737 (#113) ###########################################
THE GRIMM BROTHERS
6737
naturally; then, if you wished, slowly, so that with a little prac-
tice you could take them down. A good deal has been preserved.
verbally in this way, and will be unmistakable in its truth to
nature. One who believes in the easy alteration of tradition, in
negligence in guarding it, and hence as a rule in the impossi-
bility of its long continuance, should have heard how exact she
always was in her story, and how eager for its accuracy. In
repeating she never changed anything in the substance, and cor-
rected an oversight as soon as she observed it, while she was
speaking.
As for the way in which we have collected, our first care
was for faithfulness and truth. So we have added nothing of
our own, have embellished no circumstance or trait in the story,
but have rendered its contents just as we received it. That the
style and development of detail are largely ours is a matter of
course; but we have tried to preserve every peculiarity that we
noticed, so as to leave in our collection, in this regard also, the
endless variety of nature.
In this sense there is, so far as we know, no collection of
legends in Germany. Either a few, preserved by chance, have
been printed, or they are looked at as raw material from which
to form longer stories. Against such treatment we declare our-
selves absolutely. The practiced hand in such reconstructions is
like that unhappily gifted hand that turned all it touched, even
meat and drink, to gold, and cannot for all its wealth still our
hunger or quench our thirst. For when mythology with all its
pictures is to be conjured out of mere imagination, how bare,
how empty, how formless does all seem, in spite of the best and
strongest words! However, this is said only of such so-called
reconstructions as pretend to beautify and poetize the legends,
not toward a free appropriation of them for modern and individ-
ual purposes; for who would seek to set limits to poetry?
We commit these tales to gracious hands, and think the
while of the kindly power that lies in them, and wish that our
book may be forever hidden from those who grudge these crumbs
of poetry to the poor and simple.
CASSEL, July 3d, 1819.
XII-422
## p. 6738 (#114) ###########################################
6738
THE GRIMM BROTHERS
LITTLE BRIAR-ROSE
From Household Tales >
L
ONG ago there was a king and a queen. They said every day,
<< Oh, if we only had a child! " and still they never got one.
Then it happened when once the queen was bathing, that a
frog crept ashore out of the water, and said to her, "Your wish
shall be fulfilled. Before a year passes you shall bring a daugh-
ter into the world. "
What the frog said, happened, and the queen had a little girl
that was so beautiful that the king could not contain himself for
joy, and made a great feast. He invited not only his relatives,
friends, and acquaintances, but also the wise women, that they
might be gracious and kind to the child. Now, there were thir-
teen of them in his kingdom; but because he had only twelve
gold plates for them to eat from, one of them had to stay at
home. The feast was splendidly celebrated, and when it was over
the wise women gave the child their wonderful gifts.
One gave
her virtue, another beauty, another wealth, and so with everything
that people want in the world. But when eleven had spoken,
suddenly the thirteenth came in. She wished to avenge herself,
because she had not been asked; and without greeting or looking
at any one, she cried out, "In her fifteenth year the king's
daughter shall wound herself on a spindle, and fall down dead. "
And without saying another word, she turned around and left
the hall. All were frightened. When the twelfth came up, who
had her wish still to give, since she could not remove the sen-
tence but only soften it, she said: "Yet it shall not be a real
death, but only a hundred years' deep sleep, into which the king's
daughter shall fall. ”
The king, who wanted to save his dear child from harm, sent
out an order that all the spindles in the kingdom should be
burned. But in the girl the gifts of the wise women were all
fulfilled; for she was so beautiful, good, kind, and sensible, that
nobody who saw her could help loving her. It happened that just
on the day when she was fifteen years old the king and queen
were not at home, and the little girl was left quite alone in the
castle. Then she went wherever she pleased, looked in the
rooms and chambers, and at last she got to an old tower. She
went up the narrow winding stairs, and came to a little door.
## p. 6739 (#115) ###########################################
THE GRIMM BROTHERS
6739
In the keyhole was a rusty key, and when she turned it the
door sprang open, and there in a little room sat an old woman
with a spindle, and spun busily her flax. "Good-day, Aunty,"
said the king's daughter: "what are you doing there? "
"I am
spinning," said the old woman, and nodded. "What sort of a
thing is that that jumps about so gayly? " said the girl. She took
the spindle and wanted to spin too. But she had hardly touched
the spindle before the spell was fulfilled, and she pricked her
finger with it.
At the instant she felt the prick she fell down on the bed
that stood there, and lay in a deep sleep. And this sleep spread
over all the castle. The king and queen, who had just come
home and entered the hall, began to go to sleep, and all the
courtiers with them. The horses went to sleep in the stalls, the
dogs in the yard, the doves on the roof, the flies on the wall,
yes, the fire that was flickering on the hearth grew still and went
to sleep. And the roast meat stopped sputtering, and the cook,
who was going to take the cook-boy by the hair because he had
forgotten something, let him go and slept. And the wind was
still, and no leaf stirred in the trees by the castle.
But all around the castle a hedge of briars grew, that got
higher every year and at last surrounded the whole castle and
grew up over it, so that nothing more could be seen of it, not
even the flag on the roof. But the story went about in the
country of the beautiful sleeping Briar-Rose (for so the king's
daughter was called); so that from time to time kings' sons came
and tried to get through the hedge into the castle.
But they
could not; for the briars, as though they had hands, clung fast
together, and the young men, stuck fast in them, could not get
out again, and died a wretched death. After long, long years,
there came again a king's son to that country, and heard how
an old man told about the briar hedge; that there was a castle
behind it, in which a wonderfully beautiful king's daughter called
Briar-Rose had been sleeping for a hundred years, and that the
king and the queen and all the court were sleeping with her.
He knew too from his grandfather that many kings' sons had
already come and tried to get through the briar hedge, but had all
been caught in it and died a sad death. Then the young man
said, "I am not afraid. I will go and see the beautiful Briar-
Rose. " The good old man might warn him as much as he
pleased: he did not listen to his words.
## p. 6740 (#116) ###########################################
6740
THE GRIMM BROTHERS
But now the hundred years were just passed, and the day was
come when Briar-Rose was to wake gain. So when the king's
son went up to the briars, they were just great beautiful flowers
that opened of their own accord and let him through unhurt;
and behind him they closed together as a hedge again. In the
yard he saw the horses and the mottled hounds lying and sleep-
ing; on the roof perched the doves, their heads stuck under their
wings; and when he came into the house the flies were sleeping
on the wall, in the kitchen the cook still held up his hand as
though to grab the boy, and the maid was sitting before the black
hen that was to be plucked. Then he went further, and in the
hall he saw all the courtiers lying and sleeping, and upon their
throne lay the king and the queen. Then he went further, and
all was so still that you could hear yourself breathe; and at last
he came to the tower and opened the door of the little room
where Briar-Rose was sleeping. There she lay, and she was so
beautiful that he could not take his eyes off her; and he bent
down and gave her a kiss. But just as he touched her with the
kiss, Briar-Rose opened her eyes, awoke, and looked at him very
kindly. Then they went down-stairs together; and the king
awoke, and the queen, and all the courtiers, and made great eyes
at one another. And the horses in the yard got up and shook
themselves, the hounds sprang about and wagged their tails, the
doves on the roof pulled out their heads from under their wings,
looked around and flew into the field, the flies on the wall went
on crawling, the fire in the kitchen started up and blazed and
cooked the dinner, the roast began to sputter again, and the cook
gave the boy such a box on the ear that he screamed, and the
maid finished plucking the hen. Then the wedding of the king's
son with Briar-Rose was splendidly celebrated, and they lived
happy till their lives' end.
NOTE BY THE GRIMMS. - From Hesse. The maid who sleeps in the
castle, surrounded by a hedge until the right prince releases her, be-
fore whom the flowers part, is the sleeping Brunhild, according to the
old Norse saga, whom a wall of flame surrounds which Sigurd alone
can penetrate to wake her. The spindle on which she pricks herself,
and from which she falls asleep, is the slumber thorn with which
Odin pricks Brunhiid. In the Pentameron it is a flax-root. In Per-
rault, La Belle au Bois Dormant. ' Similar is the sleep of "Schnee-
witchen. " The Italian and French stories both have the conclusion
that is wanting in the German, but occurs in our fragment 'Of the
## p. 6741 (#117) ###########################################
THE GRIMM BROTHERS
6741
Wicked Stepmother. ' It is noteworthy that in the important devia-
tions of Perrault from Basile (who alone preserves the pretty trait
that the nursling sucks the bit of flax from the finger of the sleeping
mother), both agree so far as to the names of the children that the
twins in the Pentameron are called Sun and Moon; in Perrault, Day
and Dawn. These names recall the compounds of Day, Sun, and
Moon, in the genealogy of the 'Edda. '
THE THREE SPINNERS
From the Household Tales'
T"
HERE was a lazy girl who would not spin; and her mother
might say what she would, she could not make her do it.
At last anger and impatience overcame the mother so that
she struck the girl, and at that she began to cry aloud. Now,
the queen was just driving by, and when she heard the crying.
she had the carriage stop, went into the house, and asked the
mother why she beat her daughter so that one could hear the
crying out on the street? Then the woman was ashamed to con-
fess the laziness of her daughter, and said, "I cannot keep her
from spinning. She wants to spin all the time, and I am poor
and can't get the flax. " Then the queen answered, "There is
nothing I like to hear so much as spinning, and I am never
happier than when the wheels hum. Let me take your daughter
to the castle. I have flax enough. There she shall spin as much
as she will. "
The mother was well pleased at it, and the queen took the
girl with her. When they came to the castle she took her up to
three rooms, which lay from top to bottom full of the finest
flax. "Now spin me this flax," said she; "and if you finish it
you shall have my eldest son for a husband. Though you are
poor, I don't mind that: your cheerful diligence is dowry enough. "
The girl was secretly frightened; for she could not have spun
the flax if she had lived three hundred years, and had sat at it
every day from morning till evening. When she was alone she
began to cry, and sat so three days without lifting a hand. On
the third day the queen came, and when she saw that nothing
was spun yet she was surprised; but the girl excused herself by
saying that she had not been able to begin on account of her
great sorrow at leaving her mother's house. The queen was
## p. 6742 (#118) ###########################################
6742
THE GRIMM BROTHERS
satisfied with that, but she said as she went away, "To-morrow
you must begin to work. "
When the girl was alone again she did not know what to
think or to do; and in her trouble she went up to the window,
and there she saw three women coming along. The first had a
broad paddle-foot, the second had such a big under-lip that it
hung down over her chin, and the third had a broad thumb.
They stopped before the window, looked up, and asked the girl
what was the matter. She told them her trouble. Then they
offered her their help and said, "If you will invite us to your
wedding, not be ashamed of us, and call us your cousins, and
seat us at your table too, then we will spin your flax up, and
that quickly. " "Gladly," said she: "come in and set to work im-
mediately. " So she let the three queer women in, and cleared
a little space in the first room, where they could sit down and
begin their spinning. One of them drew the thread and trod the
wheel, the second wet the thread, the third twisted it and struck
with her finger on the table; and as often as she struck, a skein
of yarn fell to the floor, and it was of the finest. She hid the
three spinners from the queen, and showed her as often as she
came the pile of spun yarn, so that the queen could not praise
her enough. When the first room was empty, they began on the
second, and then on the third, and that was soon cleared up too.
Now the three women took their leave, and said to the girl, "Do
not forget what you promised us. It will be your good fortune. "
When the girl showed the queen the empty rooms and the
great heap of yarn, she prepared for the wedding; and the bride-
groom was delighted to get such a clever and industrious wife,
and praised her very much. "I have three cousins," said the
girl; "and since they have been very kind to me, I should not
like to forget them in my happiness. Permit me to invite them
to the wedding and to have them sit with me at the table. " The
queen and the bridegroom said, "Why should not we permit it? "
Now when the feast began, the three women came in queer
dress, and the bride said, "Welcome, dear cousins. " "Oh! " said
the bridegroom: "how did you get such ill-favored friends? "
Then he went to the one with the broad paddle-foot and asked,
"Where did you get such a broad foot? " "From the treadle,"
she answered, "from the treadle. " Then the bridegroom went to
the second and said, "Where did you get that hanging lip? "
"From wetting yarn," she answered, "from wetting yarn. "
## p. 6743 (#119) ###########################################
THE GRIMM BROTHERS
6743
he asked the third, "Where did you get the broad thumb? "
"From twisting thread," she answered, "from twisting thread. "
Then the king's son was frightened and said, "Then my fair
bride shall never, never touch a spinning-wheel again. "
so she was rid of the horrid spinning.
And
NOTE BY THE GRIMMS. - From a tale from the duchy of Corvei; but
that there are three women, each with a peculiar fault due to spin-
ning, is taken from a Hessian story. In the former they are two
very old women, who have grown so broad by sitting that they can.
hardly get into the room; from wetting the thread they had thick
lips; and from pulling and drawing it, ugly fingers and broad thumbs.
The Hessian story begins differently, too; namely, that a king liked
nothing better than spinning, and so, at his farewell before a jour-
ney, left his daughters a great chest of flax that was to be spun on
his return. To relieve them, the queen invited the three deformed
women and put them before the king's eyes on his return. Prätorius
in his 'Glückstopf' (pp. 404-406) tells the story thus: A mother can-
not ake her daughter spin, and so often beats her. A man who
happens to see it, asks what it means. The mother answers, "I can-
not keep her from spinning. She spins more flax than I can buy. "
The man answers, "Then give her to me for wife. I shall be satis-
fied with her cheerful diligence, though she brings no dowry. " The
mother is delighted, and the bridegroom brings the bride immediately
a great provision of flax. She is secretly frightened, but accepts it,
puts it in her room, and considers what she shall do. Then three
women come to the window, one so broad from sitting that she can-
not get in at the door, the second with an immense nose, the third
with a broad thumb. They offer their services and promise to spin
the task, if the bride on her wedding day will not be ashamed of
them, will proclaim them her cousins and set them at her table. She
consents; they spin up the flax, and the lover praises his betrothed.
When now the wedding day comes, the three horrid women present
themselves. The bride does them honor, and calls them cousins.
The bridegroom is surprised, and asks how she comes by such ill-
favored friends. "Oh! " said the bride, "it's by spinning that they
have become so deformed. One has such a broad back from sitting,
the second has licked her mouth quite off,- therefore her nose stands
out so, and the third has twisted thread so much with her thumb. "
Then the bridegroom was troubled, and said to the bride she should
never spin another thread as long as she lived, that she might not
become such a monstrosity.
A third tale from the Oberlansitz,' by Th. Pescheck, is in Büsch-
ing's Weekly News. It agrees in general with Prätorius. One of the
## p. 6744 (#120) ###########################################
6744
THE GRIMM BROTHERS
three old women has sore eyes because the impurities of the flax have
got into them, the second has a mouth from ear to ear on account of
wetting thread, the third is fat and clumsy by much sitting at the
spinning-wheel. A part of the story is in Norwegian in Asbjörnsen,
and in Swedish in Cavallius. Mademoiselle L'Heretier's 'Ricdin-
Ricdon' agrees in the introduction, and the sette colenelle of the Pen-
tameron is also connected with this tale.
THE AUTHOR TO THE READER
From the Preface to the Deutsche Grammatik'
T HAS cost me no long hesitation to prune back to the stock
the first shoots of my granaries. A second growth, firmer
and finer, has quickly followed; perhaps one may hope for
flowers and ripening fruit. With joy I give to the public this
work, now become more worthy of its attention, that I have care-
fully tended and brought to this end amid cares and privations,
in which labor was sometimes a drudgery, and sometimes, and
by God's goodness oftener, my comfort.
The fruitfulness of the field is of such a nature that it never
fails; and no leaf from the sources can be re-examined that does
not arouse by a more distant prospect or make one repent of
past errors. If now a rich booty should win me less praise than
a many-sided, careful, economical administration of a smaller
treasure, the blame may fall on me, that I have not known how
to draw from all the principles I have discovered the uses of
which they were capable, and even that important observations.
sometimes stand in obscure places. Not all my assertions will
stand; but by the discoveries of their weakness other paths will
be opened, through which will break at last the truth: the only
goal of honest labor, and the only thing that lasts when men
have ceased to care for the names of like aspirants. What was
hardest for us may be child's-play to posterity, hardly worth
speaking of. Then truth will yield herself to new solutions of
which we had yet no hint, and will struggle with obstacles where
we thought all made plain.
## p. 6745 (#121) ###########################################
6745
GEORGE GROTE
(1794-1871)
T IS a coincidence so striking as almost to put the English
university system itself on the defensive, that neither Grote
nor Gibbon owed anything to academic training. Gibbon
indeed spent fourteen months at Oxford: -"the most idle and unprof-
itable of my whole life. " George Grote, the son of a London banker,
ended his school days at sixteen, when he left the Charterhouse. He
had been grounded in Latin by a devoted mother at five years, how-
ever, and he took with him to the bank little or no mathematics, and
an enthusiastic love for metaphysics, clas-
sical literature, and history, which proved
to be lifelong. From 1810 to 1820, under his
father's roof, he devoted his early mornings
and evenings to study. His most important
older friends were the political economists
James Mill, Ricardo, and Bentham; but they
did not divert him from his historical inter-
ests. Even during his long engagement, he
guided by letter the education and reading
of his future wife, with a constant view to
his own far-reaching plans for study and
creative work.
GEORGE GROTE
With Grote's marriage to the brilliant and
devoted Harriet Lewin, in 1820, began a
happier epoch. He had now his own home and a moderate income.
Mrs. Grote drew him somewhat into society, travel, and a widened
circle of friendship on the Continent as well as in London. These
digressions only aided what would else have been too bookish and
secluded a development. Mrs. Grote, however, was mistaken in her
recollection that she herself first, in the autumn of 1823, suggested
the subject of his chief life work: at least a year previous, the plan
for the great History of Greece' had been formed. In 1830 his
father's death left Mr. Grote abundant wealth; nevertheless, the dec-
ade 1831-1841, which was spent in active political work as the leader
in Parliament of the group known as philosophic radicals, did indeed
reduce his systematic and untiring studies to mere desultory read-
ing, and seemingly endangered his literary career. Yet even this
## p. 6746 (#122) ###########################################
6746
GEORGE GROTE
experience, as he himself declares, was of indispensable use to him
in comprehending the fiercer democratic politics of ancient Athens.
Returning early in 1842 from a brief stay in Italy, and severing
altogether his relations with the bank the next year, he now first, in
his fiftieth year, devoted his whole strength to his appointed task.
His powerful review of Mitford's 'Greece' in 1843 prepared the way
for the enthusiastic welcome accorded in 1845 to the first two volumes
of his 'History of Greece. ' The twelfth and closing volume did not
appear until 1856.
Some adequate outlines of his life and character are essential to
any fair appreciation of Mr. Grote's chief work. Indefatigable as
a student, a fearless lover of truth, widely familiar with men and
affairs, a wise philanthropist and a far-sighted reformer, Mr. Grote's
noble personality gives weight to his every sentence, as an athlete's
whole frame and training goes into each blow he strikes. It seems a
trifling criticism upon such a man, to say he was not a literary artist.
This is true, indeed, as to his choice of idiom and phrase. He has
not that "curious felicity" which makes us linger lovingly over the
very words in which a Plato, a Montaigne, a Burke casts his thought.
Even in the delineation of a great scene, like the defeat at Syracuse
or the downfall of Athens, he is rarely picturesque. He does not
appeal indeed to the youthful imagination, but to the mature judg-
ment. We can well imagine that this calm, even-toned, judicious
voice made itself heard effectively in the debates of the English Com-
mons.
Of course no one man can ever write an ideal history of that
unique, creative, many-sided Hellenic race; but the work of Mr. Grote
is still, a half-century after its creation, indispensable as an account
of political institutions among the Greeks. Even here the thousands
of newly discovered inscriptions, the fortunate reappearance of Aris-
totle's treatise on the Athenian Constitution, and the ceaseless march
of special investigation, make desirable some fresh annotation upon
almost every page. The familiarity with Greek lands and folk which
gives a charm to Professor Curtius's work is missing from Mr. Grote's.
Still more do we miss any warm enthusiasm for Hellenic art, which
was so indispensable an element in their life. Even their literature
is to him less a beautiful organism quivering with life than a source
for more or less accurate information. In this and in many other
respects he is curiously like the Athenian student of history and of
truth, Thucydides, who could write, in the day of Phidias and Sopho-
cles, as if he had never heard of a myth or a statue. It is true
also that Grote is always an English liberal, finding in every page
of history fresh reason for hope and trust in modern democracy.
This indeed we do not regard as adverse criticism at all. If a man
## p. 6747 (#123) ###########################################
GEORGE GROTE
6747
be not actually blinded to truth by narrow prejudices, the more
cordially his own convictions color his writings the greater will be
their value and vitality. Posterity will bring more and more human
experience to the interpretation of the remote past. They may yet
understand Periclean Athens, out of their own similar life, infinitely
better than our century could do.
6726
HERMAN GRIMM
history of Athens and Florence. The glowing images now grow
cold, and become dull and empty. Here as everywhere we see
the strife of common passions, the martyrdom and ruin of the
best citizens, the demon-like opposition of the multitude to all
that is pure and elevated, and the disinterestedness of the noblest
patriots suspiciously misunderstood and arrogantly rejected. Vex-
ation, sadness, and sorrow steal over us, instead of the admira-
tion which at first moved us. And yet, what is it all? Turning
away, we cast back one glance from afar; and the old glory lies
again on the picture, and a light in the distance seems to reveal
to us the Paradise which attracts us afresh, as if we set foot on
it for the first time.
Athens was the first city of Greece. Rich, powerful, with a
policy which extended almost over the entire world of that age,
we can conceive that from her emanated all the great things that
were done. Florence, however, in her fairest days was never
the first city of Italy, and in no respect possessed extraordinary
advantages. She lies not on the sea, not even on a river at any
time navigable; for the Arno, on both sides of which the city
rises, often affords in summer scarcely water sufficient to cover
the soil of its broad bed, at that point of its course where it
emerges from narrow valleys into the plain situated between the
diverging arms of the mountain range. The situation of Naples.
is more beautiful, that of Genoa more royal, than Florence;
Rome is richer in treasures of art; Venice possessed a political
power in comparison with which the influence of the Florentines
appears small.
Lastly, these cities and others, such as Pisa and
Milan, have gone through an external history compared with
which that of Florence contains nothing extraordinary; and yet,
notwithstanding, all else that happened in Italy between 1250
and 1530 is colorless when placed side by side with the history
of this one city. Her internal life surpasses in splendor the
efforts of the others at home and abroad. The events through
the intricacies of which she worked her way with vigorous deter-
mination, and the men whom she produced, raised her fame.
above that of the whole of Italy besides, and place Florence as
a younger sister by the side of Athens.
The earlier history of the city before the days of her highest
splendor, stands in the same relation to the subsequent events as
the contests of the Homeric heroes to that which happened in
the historic ages in Greece. The incessant strife between the
## p. 6727 (#103) ###########################################
HERMAN GRIMM
6727
hostile nobles, which lasted for centuries and ended with the
annihilation of all, presents to us, on the whole as well as in
detail, the course of an epic poem. These contests, in which the
whole body of the citizens became involved, began with the strife
of two families, brought about by a woman, with murder and
revenge in its train; and it is ever the passion of the leaders
which fans the dying flames into new life. From their ashes at
length arose the true Florence. She had now no longer a war-
like aristocracy like Venice; no popes nor nobles like Rome; no
fleet, no soldiers,-scarcely a territory. Within her walls was a
fickle, avaricious, ungrateful people of parvenus, artisans, and
merchants; who had been subdued, now here and now there, by
the energy or the intrigues of foreign and native tyranny, until
at length, exhausted, they had actually given up their liberty.
And it is the history of these very times which is surrounded
with such glory, and the remembrance of which awakens such
enthusiasm among her own people at the present day, at the
remembrance of their past.
Whatever attracts us in nature and in art,- that higher nature
which man has created,- may be felt also of the deeds of individ-
uals and of nations. A melody, incomprehensible and enticing,
is breathed forth from the events, filling them with importance
and animation. Thus we should like to live and to act,- to have
joined in obtaining this, to have assisted in the contest there. It
becomes evident to us that this is true existence. Events follow
each other like a work of art; a marvelous thread unites them;
there are no disjointed convulsive shocks which startle us as at
the fall of a rock, making the ground tremble which for centu-
ries had lain tranquil, and again, perhaps for centuries, sinks
back into its old repose. For it is not repose, order, and a law-
ful progress on the smooth path of peace which we desire, nor
the fearful breaking-up of long-established habits, and the chaos
that succeeds; but we are struck by deeds and characters whose
outset promises results, and allows us to augur an end where the
powers of men and nations strive after perfection, and our feel-
ings aspire toward a harmonious aim which we hope for or
dread, and which we see reached at length.
Our pleasure in these events in no degree resembles the sat-
isfaction with which, perchance, a modern officer of police would
express himself respecting the excellent condition of a country.
There are so-called quiet times, within which, nevertheless, the
## p. 6728 (#104) ###########################################
6728
HERMAN GRIMM
best actions appear hollow and inspire a secret mistrust; when
peace, order, and impartial administration of justice are words.
with no real meaning, and piety sounds even like blasphemy;
while in other epochs open depravity, errors, injustice, crime, and
vice form only the shadows of a great and elevating picture, to
which they impart the just truth. The blacker the dark places,
the brighter the light ones. An indestructible power seems to
necessitate both. We are at once convinced that we are not
deceived: it is all so clear, so plain, so intelligible. We are struck
with the strife of inevitable dark necessity-with the will, whose
freedom nothing can conquer. On both sides we see great
powers rising, shaping events, and perishing in their course, or
maintaining themselves above them. We see blood flowing; the
rage of parties flashes before us like the sheet lightning of storms
that have long ceased; we stand here and there, and fight once
more in the old battles. But we want truth: no concealing of
aims, or the means with which they desired to obtain them.
Thus we see the people in a state of agitation, just as the lava
in the crater of a volcanic mountain rises in itself; and from the
fermenting mass there sounds forth the magic melody which we
call to mind when the names "Athens" or "Florence" are pro-
nounced.
Yet how poor seem the treasures of the Italian city, compared
with the riches of the Greek! A succession of great Athenians
appear where only single Florentines could be pointed out.
Athens surpassed Florence as far as the Greeks surpassed the
Romans. But Florence touches us the more closely. We tread
less certain ground in the history of Athens; and the city herself
has been swept away from her old rocky soil, leaving only insig-
nificant ruins behind. Florence still lives. If at the present day
we look down from the height of old Fiesole on the mountain-
side north of the city, the cathedral of Florence, Santa Maria
del Fiore, or Santa Liparata, as it is called,-with its cupola
and slender bell tower, and the churches, palaces, and houses, and
the walls that inclose them, still lie in the depth below as they
did in years gone by. All is standing, upright and undecayed.
The city is like a flower, which when fully blown, instead of
withering on its stalk, turned as it were into stone. Thus she
stands at the present day; and to him who forgets the former
ages, life and fragrance seem not to be lacking. Many a time.
we could fancy it is still as once it was; just as when traversing
## p. 6729 (#105) ###########################################
HERMAN GRIMM
6729
the canals of Venice under the soft beams of the moon, we are
delusively carried back to the times of her ancient splendor. But
freedom has vanished; and that succession of great men has long
ceased which year by year, of old, sprung up afresh.
Yet the remembrance of these men and of the old freedom
still lives. Their remains are preserved with religious care. To
live with consciousness in Florence is, to a cultivated man,
nothing else than the study of the beauty of a free people, in its
very purest instincts. The city possesses something that pene-
trates and sways the mind. We lose ourselves in her riches.
While we feel that everything drew its life from that one free-
dom, the past obtains an influence, even in its most insignificant
relations, which almost blinds us to the rest of Italy. We become
fanatical Florentines, in the old sense. The most beautiful pict-
ures of Titian begin to be indifferent to us, as we follow the
progress of Florentine art in its almost hourly advance from the
most clumsy beginnings up to perfection. The historians carry
us into the intricacies of their age, as if we were initiated into
the secrets of living persons. We walk along the streets where
they walked; we step over the thresholds which they trod; we
look down from the windows at which they have stood. Florence
has never been taken by assault, nor destroyed, nor changed by
some all-devastating fire. The buildings of which they tell us
stand there almost as if they had grown up, stone by stone, to
charm and gratify our eyes. If I, a stranger, am attracted with
such magnetic power, how strong must have been the feeling
with which the free old citizens clung to their native city, which
was the world to them! It seemed to them impossible to live
and die elsewhere. Hence the tragic and often frantic attempts
of the exiled to return to their home. Unhappy was he who at
eventide might not meet his friends in her squares,- who was
not baptized in the church of San Giovanni, and could not have
his children baptized there. It is the oldest church in the town,
and bears in its interior the proud inscription that it will not be
thrown down until the Day of Judgment,- a belief as strong as
that of the Romans, to whom eternity was to be the duration of
their Capitol. Horace sang that his songs would last as long as
the priestess ascended the steps there.
Athens and Florence owed their greatness to their freedom.
We are free when our longing to do all that we do for the good
of our country is satisfied; but it must be independently and
## p. 6730 (#106) ###########################################
6730
HERMAN GRIMM
voluntarily. We must perceive ourselves to be a part of a whole,
and that while we advance, we promote the advance of the whole
at the same time. This feeling must be paramount to any other.
With the Florentines, it rose above the bloodiest hostility of
parties and families. Passions stooped before it. The city and
her freedom lay nearest to every heart, and formed the end and
aim of every dispute. No power without was to oppress them;
none within the city herself was to have greater authority than
another; every citizen desired to co-operate for the general good;
no third party was to come between to help forward their inter-
So long as this jealousy of a personal right in the State
ruled in the minds of the citizens, Florence was a free city.
With the extinguishing of this passion freedom perished; and in
vain was every energy exerted to maintain it.
ests.
That which, however, exhibits Athens and Florence as raised
above other States which likewise flourished through their free-
dom, is a second gift of nature, by which freedom was either cir-
cumscribed or extended,- for both may be said of it; namely,
the capability in their citizens for an equal development of all
human power.
One-sided energy may do much, whether men or
nations possess it. Egyptians, Romans, Englishmen, are grand
examples of this; the one-sidedness of their character, however,
discovers itself again in their undertakings, and sometimes robs
that which they achieve of the praise of beauty. In Athens and
Florence, no passion for any time gained such ascendency over
the individuality of the people as to preponderate over others. If
it happened at times for a short period, a speedy subversion of
things brought back the equilibrium. The Florentine Constitu-
tion depended on the resolutions of the moment, made by an
assembly of citizens entitled to vote. Any power could be legally
annulled, and with equal legality another could be raised up in
its stead. Nothing was wanting but a decree of the great par-
liament of citizens. A counter-vote was all that was necessary.
So long as the great bell sounded which called all the citizens
together to the square in front of the palace of the government,
any revenge borne by one towards another might be decided by
open force in the public street. Parliament was the lawfully
appointed scene of revolution, in case the will of the people no
longer accorded with that of the government. The citizens in
that case invested a committee with dictatorial authority; the
offices were newly filled; all offices were accessible to all citizens;
## p. 6731 (#107) ###########################################
HERMAN GRIMM
6731
any man was qualified and called upon for any position. What
sort of men must these citizens have been who formed a stable
and flourishing State with institutions so variable? Sordid mer-
chants and manufacturers? -yet how they fought for their free-
dom! Selfish policy and commerce their sole interest? —yet were
they the poets and historians of their country! Avaricious shop-
keepers and money-changers? -but dwelling in princely palaces,
and these palaces built by their own masters and adorned with
paintings and sculptures which had been likewise produced within
the city! Everything put forth blossom, every blossom bore
fruit. The fate of the country is like a ball, which in its eternal
motion still rests ever on the right point. Every Florentine work
of art carries the whole of Florence within it. Dante's poems are
the result of the wars, the negotiations, the religion, the philoso-
phy, the gossip, the faults, the vice, the hatred, the love, and the
revenge of the Florentines: all unconsciously assisted; nothing
might be lacking. From such a soil alone could such a work
spring forth; from the Athenian mind alone could the tragedies
of Sophocles and Eschylus proceed. The history of the city has
as much share in them as the genius of the men in whose minds
imagination and passion sought expression in words.
It makes a difference whether an artist is the self-conscious
citizen of a free land, or the richly rewarded subject of a ruler
in whose ears liberty sounds like sedition and treason.
A people
is free, not because it obeys no prince, but because of its own
accord it loves and supports the highest authority, whether this
be a prince, or an aristocracy who hold the government in their
hands. A prince there always is; in the freest republics, one
man gives, after all, the casting vote. But he must be there
because he is the first, and because all need him. It is only
where each single man feels himself a part of the common basis
upon which the commonwealth rests, that we can speak of free-
dom and art. What have the statues in the villa of Hadrian
to do with Rome and the desires of Rome? what the mighty
columns of the Baths of Caracalla with the ideal of the people
in whose capital they arose? In Athens and Florence, however,
we could say that no stone was laid on another,—no picture, no
poem, came forth,- but the entire population was its sponsor.
Whether Santa Maria del Fiore was rebuilt; whether the church
of San Giovanni gained a couple of golden gates; whether Pisa
was besieged, peace concluded, or a mad carnival procession
## p. 6732 (#108) ###########################################
6732
HERMAN GRIMM
celebrated, every one was concerned in it, the same general
interest was evinced in it. The beautiful Simoneta, the most beau-
tiful young maiden in the city, is buried: the whole of Florence
follow her with tears in their eyes, and Lorenzo Medici, the
first man in the State, writes an elegiac sonnet on her loss, which
is on the lips of all. A newly painted chapel is opened; no one
may be missing. A foot-race through the streets is arranged;
carpets hang out from every window. Contemplated from afar,
the two cities stand before us like beautiful human figures,— like
women with dark sad glances, and yet laughing lips; we step
nearer, it seems one great united family; we pass into the midst
of them, it is like a beehive of human beings. Athens and her
destiny is a symbol of the whole life of Greece; Florence is a
symbol of the prime of Roman Italy. Both, so long as their lib-
erty lasted, are a reflection of the Golden Age of their land and
people; after liberty was lost, they are an image of the decline
of both until their final ruin.
-
## p. 6733 (#109) ###########################################
6733
THE GRIMM BROTHERS
(1785-1863) (1786-1859)
BY BENJAMIN W. WELLS
RIMM, JACOB LUDWIG CARL (1785-1863), and WILHELM CARL
(1786-1859), whose names are inseparably connected in the
history of German antiquities, philology, and literature, were
the oldest sons of a petty official then stationed at Hanau in Hesse-
Cassel. Their father died in 1796; but though poor, they were able
to study for the law at the University of Marburg, where Professor
Savigny gave them their first inspiration and directed their minds
to early German literature and institutions. After their graduation,
JACOB GRIMM
WILHELM GRIMM
Jacob occupied for a time subordinate civil and diplomatic positions,
and after 1816 both were connected with the Library at Cassel; which
they exchanged in 1828 for the University Library at Göttingen,
where Jacob also lectured, though without popular success, until they
were ejected from office for a manly protest (1837) against the broken.
pledges of the King of Hanover. "With no desire of applause, or
fear of blame when he had acted as he must," - words that show his
whole character, Jacob withdrew with his brother to Cassel, and
thence in 1840 to Berlin, where they had been appointed professors
and members of the Academy. Here they passed a life of tireless
investigation, interrupted only by Jacob's brief and not very happy
share in the National Assembly at Frankfort in 1848.
Here they
## p. 6734 (#110) ###########################################
6734
THE GRIMM BROTHERS
died, and here they were buried, as they had lived, together. The
brothers had passed their whole lives in common labor, of which the
elder thus spoke in a memorial oration:—
"In the slow-gliding school years, one bed and one study held us. There
we sat working at the same table, and afterward in our student years two
beds and two tables stood in the same room; in later life, still two tables in
the same room; and at last, to the very end, two rooms beside one another,
always under one roof, in undisturbed and untroubled community of our
money, and books except for a few that each must have immediately at hand,
and which were therefore bought in duplicate; and so also our last beds will
be laid, it seems, close by one another. Let one consider, then, whether in
speaking of him I can avoid speaking of myself. » ((Minor Writings,' i. 166. )
The work may be treated as a unit, though Jacob's was the
most dominant spirit. He had an “iron industry," a clear vision, an
unfailing cheerfulness in labor. His style has a peculiar rugged ear-
nestness. It is not unpolished, but picturesque and full of a woodland
savor; while Wilhelm had a frailer constitution and a gentler nature,
that showed itself in the graceful naïveté of those legends and tales
to which he gave literary form.
The genius of their common studies was a noble patriotism. One
could say of both what Jacob said of himself, that nearly all their
labors were "directed to the investigation of early German language,
laws, and poetry"; labors which might seem useless to some, but
were to them "inseparably connected with the Fatherland, and cal-
culated to foster the love of it. " Again, he says, "I strove to pene-
trate into the wild forests of our ancestors, listening to their noble
language, watching their pure customs," recognizing their “ancient
freedom and their rational and hearty faith. "
These labors took the form of studies in early law (Rechtsalter-
thümer or Legal Antiquities: 1828), mythology (Deutsche Mytholo-
gie': 1835), legends (Sagen' or Legends: 1816; revised 1868), essays
on old German poetry (Altdeutscher Meistergesang': 1811), and
numerous editions of old German, Danish, Norse, and English texts.
Most important to the scientific world, however, were the 'Deutsche
Grammatik (1819, 1822-1840) and the still unfinished Dictionary,
perhaps the most vast undertaking of modern philologists. But mon-
umental as these works are, they belong only indirectly to literature.
nor is there much of general interest in the eight volumes of Jacob
Grimm's 'Minor Writings' (1864-1890). On the other hand, all the
world knows the brothers for their Household Tales' (1812-1815),
and often for these alone. They were meant for a contribution to
folk-lore, as may be seen from the volume of notes that accompany
them, of which the extracts that follow contain two specimens. But
in a single generation they became one of the most popular books of
## p. 6735 (#111) ###########################################
THE GRIMM BROTHERS
6735
the world; they were translated into every civilized tongue, and may
be found to-day tattered and in a million nurseries, but never
outworn in the hearts of Nature's children. Artists like Walter Crane
have illustrated them, critics like Andrew Lang have introduced
them to English readers, noteworthy German scholars and critics-
Scherer, Curtius, Berndt-have bestowed on them the tribute of
learning. But perhaps no one has spoken better of them than Wil-
helm Grimm in his preface, a part of which is translated below; and
none has paid a nobler tribute to the fraternal love of their authors
than Jacob Grimm in the first volume of his 'Minor Writings. '
Banj 2. Walle
A WORD TO THE READER
From the Preface to the Household Tales'
WⓇ
E SOMETIMES find, when a whole cornfield has been beaten
down by a storm, that a little place has sheltered itself
by the low hedges or bushes, and a few ears remain
upright. Then, if the sun shines kindly again, they grow alone
and unnoticed. No early sickle cuts them for the great grana-
ries; but late in summer, when they are ripe and full, come poor
hands that glean them and carry them home, laid ear to ear,
bound carefully, and more highly treasured than whole sheaves;
and they are food all winter long, — perhaps also the only seed
for the future.
-
So it seemed to us, when we saw how nothing was left of so
much that had bloomed in old times; how even the memory of
it was almost lost, except among the people in songs, a few
books, legends, and these innocent Household Tales. The fire-
side, the hearth, the attic stairs, ancient holidays, mountain paths
and forests in their silence, but above all an untroubled fantasy,
have been the hedges that have guarded them and transmitted
them from one age to another.
It was high time to seize these tales, for their guardians grow
ever rarer. To be sure, those who know them usually know
## p. 6736 (#112) ###########################################
6736
THE GRIMM BROTHERS
many; for it is men who are dead to them, not they to men.
That which has given such manifold and repeated joy and
emotion and instruction bears in it its own excuse for being,
and has surely come from that eternal spring that bedews all
life; and though it were only a single drop that has caught on
a little crumpled leaf, yet it sparkles in the first blush of dawn.
Hence it is, that all these fancies are pervaded with that
purity by which children seem to us so wonderful and blessed.
They have the same blue-white, immaculate, bright eyes.
And so by our collection we thought to serve not only the study
of poetry and mythology, but also to let the poetry itself that
palpitates in it touch and delight whomsoever it can delight, so
that it may serve also as a book of education. For this we
seek not such purity as is obtained by an anxious exclusion of
all that bears on certain conditions and relations, such as occur
daily and cannot possibly be hidden, which also produces the
deception that what is possible in a book can be practiced in real
life. We seek purity in the truth of a straightforward narra-
tion.
Nothing defends us better than Nature herself,
who has let these plants grow in just this color and form. He
whose special needs they may not suit has no right to ask that
they should be differently cut and colored. Or again: rain and
dew fall to benefit all that grows; if any one does not dare to
put his plants under the rain and dew because they are too
delicate and might be hurt, if he prefers to give them lukewarm
water in the house, yet he must not demand tha there shall be
no rain and dew. All that is natural may be helpful, and it is at
this that we ought to aim.
We have been collecting these stories from oral tradition for
about thirteen years. If one is accustomed to heed such things,
one has more chances than one would suppose.
. But it
was a piece of special good fortune that we made the acquaint-
ance of a peasant woman of Niederzwehrn, a village near Cassel,
who told us most of the tales in the second volume, and the most
beautiful of these. Frau Viehmännin was still active, and not
much over fifty years old. Her features were firm, sensible, and
agreeable, and she cast clear keen glances from her great eyes.
She remembered the old stories exactly, and said herself that
this gift was not granted to all, and that many a one could keep
nothing in its proper connection. She told her stories deliber-
ately, confidently, with much life and self-satisfaction: first, quite
## p. 6737 (#113) ###########################################
THE GRIMM BROTHERS
6737
naturally; then, if you wished, slowly, so that with a little prac-
tice you could take them down. A good deal has been preserved.
verbally in this way, and will be unmistakable in its truth to
nature. One who believes in the easy alteration of tradition, in
negligence in guarding it, and hence as a rule in the impossi-
bility of its long continuance, should have heard how exact she
always was in her story, and how eager for its accuracy. In
repeating she never changed anything in the substance, and cor-
rected an oversight as soon as she observed it, while she was
speaking.
As for the way in which we have collected, our first care
was for faithfulness and truth. So we have added nothing of
our own, have embellished no circumstance or trait in the story,
but have rendered its contents just as we received it. That the
style and development of detail are largely ours is a matter of
course; but we have tried to preserve every peculiarity that we
noticed, so as to leave in our collection, in this regard also, the
endless variety of nature.
In this sense there is, so far as we know, no collection of
legends in Germany. Either a few, preserved by chance, have
been printed, or they are looked at as raw material from which
to form longer stories. Against such treatment we declare our-
selves absolutely. The practiced hand in such reconstructions is
like that unhappily gifted hand that turned all it touched, even
meat and drink, to gold, and cannot for all its wealth still our
hunger or quench our thirst. For when mythology with all its
pictures is to be conjured out of mere imagination, how bare,
how empty, how formless does all seem, in spite of the best and
strongest words! However, this is said only of such so-called
reconstructions as pretend to beautify and poetize the legends,
not toward a free appropriation of them for modern and individ-
ual purposes; for who would seek to set limits to poetry?
We commit these tales to gracious hands, and think the
while of the kindly power that lies in them, and wish that our
book may be forever hidden from those who grudge these crumbs
of poetry to the poor and simple.
CASSEL, July 3d, 1819.
XII-422
## p. 6738 (#114) ###########################################
6738
THE GRIMM BROTHERS
LITTLE BRIAR-ROSE
From Household Tales >
L
ONG ago there was a king and a queen. They said every day,
<< Oh, if we only had a child! " and still they never got one.
Then it happened when once the queen was bathing, that a
frog crept ashore out of the water, and said to her, "Your wish
shall be fulfilled. Before a year passes you shall bring a daugh-
ter into the world. "
What the frog said, happened, and the queen had a little girl
that was so beautiful that the king could not contain himself for
joy, and made a great feast. He invited not only his relatives,
friends, and acquaintances, but also the wise women, that they
might be gracious and kind to the child. Now, there were thir-
teen of them in his kingdom; but because he had only twelve
gold plates for them to eat from, one of them had to stay at
home. The feast was splendidly celebrated, and when it was over
the wise women gave the child their wonderful gifts.
One gave
her virtue, another beauty, another wealth, and so with everything
that people want in the world. But when eleven had spoken,
suddenly the thirteenth came in. She wished to avenge herself,
because she had not been asked; and without greeting or looking
at any one, she cried out, "In her fifteenth year the king's
daughter shall wound herself on a spindle, and fall down dead. "
And without saying another word, she turned around and left
the hall. All were frightened. When the twelfth came up, who
had her wish still to give, since she could not remove the sen-
tence but only soften it, she said: "Yet it shall not be a real
death, but only a hundred years' deep sleep, into which the king's
daughter shall fall. ”
The king, who wanted to save his dear child from harm, sent
out an order that all the spindles in the kingdom should be
burned. But in the girl the gifts of the wise women were all
fulfilled; for she was so beautiful, good, kind, and sensible, that
nobody who saw her could help loving her. It happened that just
on the day when she was fifteen years old the king and queen
were not at home, and the little girl was left quite alone in the
castle. Then she went wherever she pleased, looked in the
rooms and chambers, and at last she got to an old tower. She
went up the narrow winding stairs, and came to a little door.
## p. 6739 (#115) ###########################################
THE GRIMM BROTHERS
6739
In the keyhole was a rusty key, and when she turned it the
door sprang open, and there in a little room sat an old woman
with a spindle, and spun busily her flax. "Good-day, Aunty,"
said the king's daughter: "what are you doing there? "
"I am
spinning," said the old woman, and nodded. "What sort of a
thing is that that jumps about so gayly? " said the girl. She took
the spindle and wanted to spin too. But she had hardly touched
the spindle before the spell was fulfilled, and she pricked her
finger with it.
At the instant she felt the prick she fell down on the bed
that stood there, and lay in a deep sleep. And this sleep spread
over all the castle. The king and queen, who had just come
home and entered the hall, began to go to sleep, and all the
courtiers with them. The horses went to sleep in the stalls, the
dogs in the yard, the doves on the roof, the flies on the wall,
yes, the fire that was flickering on the hearth grew still and went
to sleep. And the roast meat stopped sputtering, and the cook,
who was going to take the cook-boy by the hair because he had
forgotten something, let him go and slept. And the wind was
still, and no leaf stirred in the trees by the castle.
But all around the castle a hedge of briars grew, that got
higher every year and at last surrounded the whole castle and
grew up over it, so that nothing more could be seen of it, not
even the flag on the roof. But the story went about in the
country of the beautiful sleeping Briar-Rose (for so the king's
daughter was called); so that from time to time kings' sons came
and tried to get through the hedge into the castle.
But they
could not; for the briars, as though they had hands, clung fast
together, and the young men, stuck fast in them, could not get
out again, and died a wretched death. After long, long years,
there came again a king's son to that country, and heard how
an old man told about the briar hedge; that there was a castle
behind it, in which a wonderfully beautiful king's daughter called
Briar-Rose had been sleeping for a hundred years, and that the
king and the queen and all the court were sleeping with her.
He knew too from his grandfather that many kings' sons had
already come and tried to get through the briar hedge, but had all
been caught in it and died a sad death. Then the young man
said, "I am not afraid. I will go and see the beautiful Briar-
Rose. " The good old man might warn him as much as he
pleased: he did not listen to his words.
## p. 6740 (#116) ###########################################
6740
THE GRIMM BROTHERS
But now the hundred years were just passed, and the day was
come when Briar-Rose was to wake gain. So when the king's
son went up to the briars, they were just great beautiful flowers
that opened of their own accord and let him through unhurt;
and behind him they closed together as a hedge again. In the
yard he saw the horses and the mottled hounds lying and sleep-
ing; on the roof perched the doves, their heads stuck under their
wings; and when he came into the house the flies were sleeping
on the wall, in the kitchen the cook still held up his hand as
though to grab the boy, and the maid was sitting before the black
hen that was to be plucked. Then he went further, and in the
hall he saw all the courtiers lying and sleeping, and upon their
throne lay the king and the queen. Then he went further, and
all was so still that you could hear yourself breathe; and at last
he came to the tower and opened the door of the little room
where Briar-Rose was sleeping. There she lay, and she was so
beautiful that he could not take his eyes off her; and he bent
down and gave her a kiss. But just as he touched her with the
kiss, Briar-Rose opened her eyes, awoke, and looked at him very
kindly. Then they went down-stairs together; and the king
awoke, and the queen, and all the courtiers, and made great eyes
at one another. And the horses in the yard got up and shook
themselves, the hounds sprang about and wagged their tails, the
doves on the roof pulled out their heads from under their wings,
looked around and flew into the field, the flies on the wall went
on crawling, the fire in the kitchen started up and blazed and
cooked the dinner, the roast began to sputter again, and the cook
gave the boy such a box on the ear that he screamed, and the
maid finished plucking the hen. Then the wedding of the king's
son with Briar-Rose was splendidly celebrated, and they lived
happy till their lives' end.
NOTE BY THE GRIMMS. - From Hesse. The maid who sleeps in the
castle, surrounded by a hedge until the right prince releases her, be-
fore whom the flowers part, is the sleeping Brunhild, according to the
old Norse saga, whom a wall of flame surrounds which Sigurd alone
can penetrate to wake her. The spindle on which she pricks herself,
and from which she falls asleep, is the slumber thorn with which
Odin pricks Brunhiid. In the Pentameron it is a flax-root. In Per-
rault, La Belle au Bois Dormant. ' Similar is the sleep of "Schnee-
witchen. " The Italian and French stories both have the conclusion
that is wanting in the German, but occurs in our fragment 'Of the
## p. 6741 (#117) ###########################################
THE GRIMM BROTHERS
6741
Wicked Stepmother. ' It is noteworthy that in the important devia-
tions of Perrault from Basile (who alone preserves the pretty trait
that the nursling sucks the bit of flax from the finger of the sleeping
mother), both agree so far as to the names of the children that the
twins in the Pentameron are called Sun and Moon; in Perrault, Day
and Dawn. These names recall the compounds of Day, Sun, and
Moon, in the genealogy of the 'Edda. '
THE THREE SPINNERS
From the Household Tales'
T"
HERE was a lazy girl who would not spin; and her mother
might say what she would, she could not make her do it.
At last anger and impatience overcame the mother so that
she struck the girl, and at that she began to cry aloud. Now,
the queen was just driving by, and when she heard the crying.
she had the carriage stop, went into the house, and asked the
mother why she beat her daughter so that one could hear the
crying out on the street? Then the woman was ashamed to con-
fess the laziness of her daughter, and said, "I cannot keep her
from spinning. She wants to spin all the time, and I am poor
and can't get the flax. " Then the queen answered, "There is
nothing I like to hear so much as spinning, and I am never
happier than when the wheels hum. Let me take your daughter
to the castle. I have flax enough. There she shall spin as much
as she will. "
The mother was well pleased at it, and the queen took the
girl with her. When they came to the castle she took her up to
three rooms, which lay from top to bottom full of the finest
flax. "Now spin me this flax," said she; "and if you finish it
you shall have my eldest son for a husband. Though you are
poor, I don't mind that: your cheerful diligence is dowry enough. "
The girl was secretly frightened; for she could not have spun
the flax if she had lived three hundred years, and had sat at it
every day from morning till evening. When she was alone she
began to cry, and sat so three days without lifting a hand. On
the third day the queen came, and when she saw that nothing
was spun yet she was surprised; but the girl excused herself by
saying that she had not been able to begin on account of her
great sorrow at leaving her mother's house. The queen was
## p. 6742 (#118) ###########################################
6742
THE GRIMM BROTHERS
satisfied with that, but she said as she went away, "To-morrow
you must begin to work. "
When the girl was alone again she did not know what to
think or to do; and in her trouble she went up to the window,
and there she saw three women coming along. The first had a
broad paddle-foot, the second had such a big under-lip that it
hung down over her chin, and the third had a broad thumb.
They stopped before the window, looked up, and asked the girl
what was the matter. She told them her trouble. Then they
offered her their help and said, "If you will invite us to your
wedding, not be ashamed of us, and call us your cousins, and
seat us at your table too, then we will spin your flax up, and
that quickly. " "Gladly," said she: "come in and set to work im-
mediately. " So she let the three queer women in, and cleared
a little space in the first room, where they could sit down and
begin their spinning. One of them drew the thread and trod the
wheel, the second wet the thread, the third twisted it and struck
with her finger on the table; and as often as she struck, a skein
of yarn fell to the floor, and it was of the finest. She hid the
three spinners from the queen, and showed her as often as she
came the pile of spun yarn, so that the queen could not praise
her enough. When the first room was empty, they began on the
second, and then on the third, and that was soon cleared up too.
Now the three women took their leave, and said to the girl, "Do
not forget what you promised us. It will be your good fortune. "
When the girl showed the queen the empty rooms and the
great heap of yarn, she prepared for the wedding; and the bride-
groom was delighted to get such a clever and industrious wife,
and praised her very much. "I have three cousins," said the
girl; "and since they have been very kind to me, I should not
like to forget them in my happiness. Permit me to invite them
to the wedding and to have them sit with me at the table. " The
queen and the bridegroom said, "Why should not we permit it? "
Now when the feast began, the three women came in queer
dress, and the bride said, "Welcome, dear cousins. " "Oh! " said
the bridegroom: "how did you get such ill-favored friends? "
Then he went to the one with the broad paddle-foot and asked,
"Where did you get such a broad foot? " "From the treadle,"
she answered, "from the treadle. " Then the bridegroom went to
the second and said, "Where did you get that hanging lip? "
"From wetting yarn," she answered, "from wetting yarn. "
## p. 6743 (#119) ###########################################
THE GRIMM BROTHERS
6743
he asked the third, "Where did you get the broad thumb? "
"From twisting thread," she answered, "from twisting thread. "
Then the king's son was frightened and said, "Then my fair
bride shall never, never touch a spinning-wheel again. "
so she was rid of the horrid spinning.
And
NOTE BY THE GRIMMS. - From a tale from the duchy of Corvei; but
that there are three women, each with a peculiar fault due to spin-
ning, is taken from a Hessian story. In the former they are two
very old women, who have grown so broad by sitting that they can.
hardly get into the room; from wetting the thread they had thick
lips; and from pulling and drawing it, ugly fingers and broad thumbs.
The Hessian story begins differently, too; namely, that a king liked
nothing better than spinning, and so, at his farewell before a jour-
ney, left his daughters a great chest of flax that was to be spun on
his return. To relieve them, the queen invited the three deformed
women and put them before the king's eyes on his return. Prätorius
in his 'Glückstopf' (pp. 404-406) tells the story thus: A mother can-
not ake her daughter spin, and so often beats her. A man who
happens to see it, asks what it means. The mother answers, "I can-
not keep her from spinning. She spins more flax than I can buy. "
The man answers, "Then give her to me for wife. I shall be satis-
fied with her cheerful diligence, though she brings no dowry. " The
mother is delighted, and the bridegroom brings the bride immediately
a great provision of flax. She is secretly frightened, but accepts it,
puts it in her room, and considers what she shall do. Then three
women come to the window, one so broad from sitting that she can-
not get in at the door, the second with an immense nose, the third
with a broad thumb. They offer their services and promise to spin
the task, if the bride on her wedding day will not be ashamed of
them, will proclaim them her cousins and set them at her table. She
consents; they spin up the flax, and the lover praises his betrothed.
When now the wedding day comes, the three horrid women present
themselves. The bride does them honor, and calls them cousins.
The bridegroom is surprised, and asks how she comes by such ill-
favored friends. "Oh! " said the bride, "it's by spinning that they
have become so deformed. One has such a broad back from sitting,
the second has licked her mouth quite off,- therefore her nose stands
out so, and the third has twisted thread so much with her thumb. "
Then the bridegroom was troubled, and said to the bride she should
never spin another thread as long as she lived, that she might not
become such a monstrosity.
A third tale from the Oberlansitz,' by Th. Pescheck, is in Büsch-
ing's Weekly News. It agrees in general with Prätorius. One of the
## p. 6744 (#120) ###########################################
6744
THE GRIMM BROTHERS
three old women has sore eyes because the impurities of the flax have
got into them, the second has a mouth from ear to ear on account of
wetting thread, the third is fat and clumsy by much sitting at the
spinning-wheel. A part of the story is in Norwegian in Asbjörnsen,
and in Swedish in Cavallius. Mademoiselle L'Heretier's 'Ricdin-
Ricdon' agrees in the introduction, and the sette colenelle of the Pen-
tameron is also connected with this tale.
THE AUTHOR TO THE READER
From the Preface to the Deutsche Grammatik'
T HAS cost me no long hesitation to prune back to the stock
the first shoots of my granaries. A second growth, firmer
and finer, has quickly followed; perhaps one may hope for
flowers and ripening fruit. With joy I give to the public this
work, now become more worthy of its attention, that I have care-
fully tended and brought to this end amid cares and privations,
in which labor was sometimes a drudgery, and sometimes, and
by God's goodness oftener, my comfort.
The fruitfulness of the field is of such a nature that it never
fails; and no leaf from the sources can be re-examined that does
not arouse by a more distant prospect or make one repent of
past errors. If now a rich booty should win me less praise than
a many-sided, careful, economical administration of a smaller
treasure, the blame may fall on me, that I have not known how
to draw from all the principles I have discovered the uses of
which they were capable, and even that important observations.
sometimes stand in obscure places. Not all my assertions will
stand; but by the discoveries of their weakness other paths will
be opened, through which will break at last the truth: the only
goal of honest labor, and the only thing that lasts when men
have ceased to care for the names of like aspirants. What was
hardest for us may be child's-play to posterity, hardly worth
speaking of. Then truth will yield herself to new solutions of
which we had yet no hint, and will struggle with obstacles where
we thought all made plain.
## p. 6745 (#121) ###########################################
6745
GEORGE GROTE
(1794-1871)
T IS a coincidence so striking as almost to put the English
university system itself on the defensive, that neither Grote
nor Gibbon owed anything to academic training. Gibbon
indeed spent fourteen months at Oxford: -"the most idle and unprof-
itable of my whole life. " George Grote, the son of a London banker,
ended his school days at sixteen, when he left the Charterhouse. He
had been grounded in Latin by a devoted mother at five years, how-
ever, and he took with him to the bank little or no mathematics, and
an enthusiastic love for metaphysics, clas-
sical literature, and history, which proved
to be lifelong. From 1810 to 1820, under his
father's roof, he devoted his early mornings
and evenings to study. His most important
older friends were the political economists
James Mill, Ricardo, and Bentham; but they
did not divert him from his historical inter-
ests. Even during his long engagement, he
guided by letter the education and reading
of his future wife, with a constant view to
his own far-reaching plans for study and
creative work.
GEORGE GROTE
With Grote's marriage to the brilliant and
devoted Harriet Lewin, in 1820, began a
happier epoch. He had now his own home and a moderate income.
Mrs. Grote drew him somewhat into society, travel, and a widened
circle of friendship on the Continent as well as in London. These
digressions only aided what would else have been too bookish and
secluded a development. Mrs. Grote, however, was mistaken in her
recollection that she herself first, in the autumn of 1823, suggested
the subject of his chief life work: at least a year previous, the plan
for the great History of Greece' had been formed. In 1830 his
father's death left Mr. Grote abundant wealth; nevertheless, the dec-
ade 1831-1841, which was spent in active political work as the leader
in Parliament of the group known as philosophic radicals, did indeed
reduce his systematic and untiring studies to mere desultory read-
ing, and seemingly endangered his literary career. Yet even this
## p. 6746 (#122) ###########################################
6746
GEORGE GROTE
experience, as he himself declares, was of indispensable use to him
in comprehending the fiercer democratic politics of ancient Athens.
Returning early in 1842 from a brief stay in Italy, and severing
altogether his relations with the bank the next year, he now first, in
his fiftieth year, devoted his whole strength to his appointed task.
His powerful review of Mitford's 'Greece' in 1843 prepared the way
for the enthusiastic welcome accorded in 1845 to the first two volumes
of his 'History of Greece. ' The twelfth and closing volume did not
appear until 1856.
Some adequate outlines of his life and character are essential to
any fair appreciation of Mr. Grote's chief work. Indefatigable as
a student, a fearless lover of truth, widely familiar with men and
affairs, a wise philanthropist and a far-sighted reformer, Mr. Grote's
noble personality gives weight to his every sentence, as an athlete's
whole frame and training goes into each blow he strikes. It seems a
trifling criticism upon such a man, to say he was not a literary artist.
This is true, indeed, as to his choice of idiom and phrase. He has
not that "curious felicity" which makes us linger lovingly over the
very words in which a Plato, a Montaigne, a Burke casts his thought.
Even in the delineation of a great scene, like the defeat at Syracuse
or the downfall of Athens, he is rarely picturesque. He does not
appeal indeed to the youthful imagination, but to the mature judg-
ment. We can well imagine that this calm, even-toned, judicious
voice made itself heard effectively in the debates of the English Com-
mons.
Of course no one man can ever write an ideal history of that
unique, creative, many-sided Hellenic race; but the work of Mr. Grote
is still, a half-century after its creation, indispensable as an account
of political institutions among the Greeks. Even here the thousands
of newly discovered inscriptions, the fortunate reappearance of Aris-
totle's treatise on the Athenian Constitution, and the ceaseless march
of special investigation, make desirable some fresh annotation upon
almost every page. The familiarity with Greek lands and folk which
gives a charm to Professor Curtius's work is missing from Mr. Grote's.
Still more do we miss any warm enthusiasm for Hellenic art, which
was so indispensable an element in their life. Even their literature
is to him less a beautiful organism quivering with life than a source
for more or less accurate information. In this and in many other
respects he is curiously like the Athenian student of history and of
truth, Thucydides, who could write, in the day of Phidias and Sopho-
cles, as if he had never heard of a myth or a statue. It is true
also that Grote is always an English liberal, finding in every page
of history fresh reason for hope and trust in modern democracy.
This indeed we do not regard as adverse criticism at all. If a man
## p. 6747 (#123) ###########################################
GEORGE GROTE
6747
be not actually blinded to truth by narrow prejudices, the more
cordially his own convictions color his writings the greater will be
their value and vitality. Posterity will bring more and more human
experience to the interpretation of the remote past. They may yet
understand Periclean Athens, out of their own similar life, infinitely
better than our century could do.
