[First published as no. 7 in the edition of 1815, renumbered 93 in the 1819 edition. From an unknown informant in the Leine River valley, 7 April 1813. About the Grimm Collection.]
There was once a queen who had a daughter, still little and a babe in arms. On one occasion the child was naughty and, no matter what the mother said, wouldn’t be quiet. Then the mother got impatient and, since ravens were flying about the castle, opened the window and said, “I wish you were a raven and would fly away, then I’d have some peace.” No sooner had she spoken these words than the child was changed into a raven and flew out of her arms and out the window. She flew into a dark forest and stayed there a long time, and her parents had no news of her.
Some time later a man who was wending his way through this forest heard the raven call and followed the voice. As he drew nearer, the raven said, “By birth I’m a king’s daughter and have been enchanted; you, however, can disenchant me.” “What shall I do?” he asked. “Go deeper into the forest,” she said, “and you’ll find a house and an old woman sitting in it. She’ll proffer you food and drink, but you must accept nothing. If you eat and drink anything, you’ll fall asleep and will not be able to disenchant me. In the garden behind the house is a big pile of tanbark; you’re to stand on it and wait for me. Three days running I’ll come to you every afternoon at two o’clock driven in a coach, drawn first by four white stallions, then by four bay stallions, at last by four black stallions. If, however, you’re not awake but asleep, I shan’t be disenchanted.” The man promised to do everything she requested, but the raven said, “Oh, I’m quite sure you won’t disenchant me; you’ll accept something from the woman.” Again the man promised that he’d surely touch neither food nor drink.
When he entered the house, however, the old woman stepped up to him and said, “Poor man, how worn out you are! Come and refresh yourself. Have something to eat and drink.” “No,” said the man, “I’ll neither eat nor drink.” But she gave him no peace and said, “Well, if you won’t eat, then take a drink from the glass. Once doesn’t count.” Then he let himself be persuaded and took a drink.
About two o’clock in the afternoon, he went out in the garden and onto the pile of tanbark, intending to wait for the raven. As he was standing there, he suddenly got very tired, couldn’t overcome his feeling of fatigue, and lay down for a bit. Yet he didn’t want to go to sleep. Hardly had he stretched out, however, when his eyes closed of themselves and he fell asleep and slept so soundly that nothing in the world could have waked him. At two o’clock the raven came driving up drawn by four white stallions, but she was already in full mourning and said, “I know he’s asleep,” and when she went into the garden, there he was lying asleep on the pile of tanbark. She got out of the coach, went up to him, shook him, and called out to him, but he didn’t wake up.
At noon the next day the old woman came again and brought him food and drink, but he wouldn’t take it. She gave him no peace, however, and talked to him so long that again he took a drink from the glass. Toward two o’clock he went into the garden and onto the pile of tanbark, intending to wait for the raven. Suddenly he felt so very tired that his limbs no longer supported him; he could do nothing about it, had to lie down, and fell into a deep sleep. When the raven drove up, drawn by four brown stallions, she was already in full mourning and said, “I know he’s asleep.” She went up to him, but he was lying there asleep and couldn’t be awakened.
The next day the old woman said, “What’s the matter? You’re not eating or drinking anything; do you want to die?” “I won’t and mustn’t eat or drink,” he answered. Just the same, she put a dish of food and a glass of wine in front of him, and when the fragrance of the wine mounted to his nostrils, he couldn’t resist it and took a deep draught. When the time came, he went out into the garden and onto the pile of tanbark and waited for the king’s daughter. Then he got even wearier than on the preceding days, lay down, and slept like a log. At two o’clock the raven came and had four black stallions, and the coach and everything was black. She was already in full mourning and said, “I know he’s asleep and can’t disenchant me.” When she got to him, he was lying there fast asleep. She shook him and called him but couldn’t wake him up. Then she put a loaf of bread beside him, also a piece of meat, and thirdly a bottle of wine; and however much of this he might consume, it wouldn’t become less. Afterward she took a gold ring from her finger and put it on his finger, and her name was engraved in it. Finally she laid a letter there which stated what she’d given him and that it would never be used up, and it also said, “I see clearly that you can’t disenchant me here. But if you still want to unspell me, come to the Golden Castle of Stromberg; it’s within your power, I well know.” When she had given him all that, she got into her coach and drove to the Golden Castle of Stromberg.
When the man woke up and saw that he’d been asleep, he was sad of heart and said, “She’s surely driven by, and I haven’t disenchanted her.” Then his eye fell on the objects beside him, and he read the letter which told how things had gone. Accordingly, he got up and went away and wanted to go to the Golden Castle of Stromberg, though he didn’t know where it was.
After he’d wandered about the world for a long time, he came to a dark forest and walked on there for a fortnight without being able to find his way out. Then evening again came on, and he was so tired that he lay down in a thicket and fell asleep. The next day he continued farther, and in the evening when he was again about to lie down in a thicket, he heard such a howling and wailing that he couldn’t get to sleep. When the hour came when people light their candles, he saw one shining, got up and went toward it. He arrived at a house which seemed very small because a big giant was standing before it. Then he thought to himself, “If you go in and the giant spies you, it may easily be the end of you.” Finally he risked it and stepped up. On seeing him the giant said, “It is a good thing you’ve come; it’s been a long time since I’ve had anything to eat; I’m going to swallow you right down for supper.” “Better give up that idea,” said the man, “I don’t fancy being swallowed up. If it’s food you want, I have enough to satisfy you.” “If that’s true,” said the giant, “you needn’t worry. I merely wanted to eat you up because I haven’t anything else.”
They went and sat down at the table, and the man produced the inexhaustible supply of bread, wine, and meat. “I’m delighted with this,” said the giant and ate to his heart’s content. After supper the man said to him, “Can’t you tell me where the Golden Castle of Stromberg is?” “I’ll look it up on my map,” said the giant; “it shows all towns, villages, and homesteads.” He fetched the map that he had in the living room and looked for the castle, but it wasn’t on it. “No matter,” he said, “I’ve even bigger maps in the cupboard upstairs; we’ll look for it on them.” But that, too, proved futile. Now the man wanted to continue his journey, but the giant begged him to wait a few days more until his brother, who’d gone to fetch provisions, came home. When the brother got home, they asked him about the Golden Castle of Stromberg. “When I’ve eaten my fill, I’ll look it up on the map.” Then he went with them up to his room, and they looked on his map but couldn’t find it. Then he fetched still other old maps, and they didn’t give up till at last they found the Golden Castle of Stromberg.
But it was many thousand miles away. “How am I going to get there?” asked the man. “I’ve got two hours’ free time,” said the giant, “I’ll carry you to a point near the castle, but then I must go home and suckle our child.” Then the giant carried the man to within about a hundred hours’ walk of the castle and said, “You can probably walk the rest of the way alone.” Then he turned back, and the man walked on day and night until he finally reached the Golden Castle of Stromberg. The castle was up on a glass mountain, and the enchanted maiden was driving around the castle in her coach, after which she went in. He was delighted to catch a glimpse of her and wanted to climb up to her, but whatever way he started, he’d keep slipping down again on the glass. Seeing that he couldn’t reach her, he became greatly distressed and said to himself, “I’ll stay down here and wait for her.” So he built himself a cabin and stayed there a whole year, and every day he’d see the king’s daughter driving up there, yet he couldn’t get up to her.
Once from his cabin he saw three robbers hitting one another and called out to them, “God be with you!” At the cry they stopped, but not seeing anybody, started hitting one another again, and it was a thoroughly dangerous business. Again he called, “God be with you!” and again they stopped, looked about, but seeing nobody, again resumed their fight. Then he called out a third time, “God be with you!” and thinking, “I’ll have to see what the three are up to,” went to where they were and asked why they were going for one another. Then one said he’d found a stick: if he struck a door with it, it would fly open; the second said he’d found a cloak: when he put it on, he was invisible; and the third said he’d caught a horse: with it one could ride everywhere, even right up the glass mountain. Now they didn’t know whether to hold all this jointly, or whether they should part company. Then the man said’ “I’ll give you something in exchange for the three objects. Quite true, I haven’t any money, but I have other things that are more valuable. Still, I must first make a test and see whether you’ve really told the truth.” Then they let him sit on the horse, put the cloak on him, and handed him the stick, and when he had everything, they could no longer see him; then he gave them some good hard blows, crying, “Now, you lazy fellows, there you’ve got what you deserve! Are you satisfied?”
Then he rode up the glass mountain. When he got up there outside the castle, it was locked; then he struck on the gate with the stick, and it flew open immediately. He entered and went up the stairs to the big hall. There the maiden was sitting, and in front of her she had a gold goblet full of wine, but she couldn’t see him because he had the cloak on. As he stepped up to her, he drew from his finger the ring she’d given him and tossed it into the goblet so that it rang out. “That’s my ring,” she cried, “so the man, too, must be here who will disenchant me.” They searched the whole castle and didn’t find him, for he’d gone out, mounted the horse, and thrown off the cloak. On reaching the gate, they saw him and shouted for joy. Then he dismounted and took the king’s daughter in his arms. She kissed him and said, “Now you’ve disenchanted me and tomorrow we’ll celebrate our wedding.”