This used to be a den of evil. The men who lived here were thieves and murderers. They went out into the world under charming guises and sought out pretty young ladies with whom to be betrothed. After that, the robbers lured the maidens back to this place, overtook them, and cooked and ate them.
As for me, I am but an old woman. I wandered into this place years ago with no other place to go after some hardships in my life. When the men saw me, they scoffed. I had heard of their reputation, but I placated them, saying I would keep their secret if they would let me stay with them. And so it had been for several years.
One day, a fair maiden--prettier than all the rest--came by this place. I had watched as she made her way down the winding path, looking wholly uneasy the entire way. As she walked, she left a trail of beans and lentils. When she made her way into the shack, my trusty pet bird called out a warning to her: turn back; this is a place of evil. She was visibly shaken, but continued to explore the rooms. Luckily, the men had gone into town for the day, so she was not seen by anyone.
She made her way throughout the house and finally reached the room where I was sitting. When I saw her full fairness and grace, I took pity on her and told her of the dangers of this place. As I was doing this, we heard the thieves barge through the door, hollering with excitement with what I was sure was another helpless maiden. I instructed the lost bride to hide behind a large pot until she could get the chance to escape.
What happened next must have been traumatizing for anyone watching: the men overpowered their victim and cut her into pieces. She had a ring on her little finger, and the thieves tried to remove it to no avail. After a while, they gave up and simply cut the finger off. It flew right into the poor maiden's lap behind the pot, and as I looked over, she was frozen in shock and I realized that she had seen the entire thing.
The thieves with the maidens in the den.
Illustrator: Helen Stratton. 1903. Source.
The drunkards seemed to lose interest in the finger, and shortly after their merriment were passed out. The young bride-to-be took her opportunity and bolted out of the den, taking the finger with her.
A few days later, some officials came to the door and arrested all of the men in this band of thieves. Apparently, at her wedding toast, the cunning bride revealed the robbers' secret and proved it with the finger. The men were all condemned for their actions and executed.
Looking back at this place now, I remember all of the horrors that took place in this kitchen, and am thankful that I never have to witness such things again.
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Author's note: This week, I retold the story of the Robber Bridegroom. The original story is in the third person omniscient, but I wanted to tell it from the point of view of the old woman who helps the maiden. Not much background is given about her, so it was fun to develop her character and explain where she comes from.
The plot of my retelling is very closely related to that of the original. I changed a few details in the behavior of the old woman as she helps the young woman. In the original story, the robbers want to find the finger with the ring after it is chopped off and lands in the girl's lap, but the old woman deters them from doing so, calling them to dinner and saying that "the finger cannot run away." She also slips a sleeping draught into their wine so that they will pass out and so the girl can escape. In my story, I left out these details and just attributed the girl's safety to the men's carelessness and drunkenness. As I was reading this story, I did not understand why the old woman would go to such lengths to rescue this particular girl when she had previously seen so many deaths. I tried to explain her pity in my story, but I didn't think she would take many more measures to prevent the girl's death than simply telling her to hide. I didn't want to portray her as totally heartless, however--even though she might have been systematically desensitized to the idea of death throughout the years, there is still residual trauma as she goes back to the place where she used to live and reflects on the terrible things that had happened there.
Bibliography:
The Robber Bridegroom.
Household Stories by the Brothers Grimm.
Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm.
Translated by Lucy Crane.
Illustrated by Walter Crane.
1886.
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