A story retold from the Brothers Grimm folktales.

Five minute reading time for beginning readers.

A poor, hardworking woodcutter lived with his wife and three daughters in a cottage on the edge of a great forest. 

One morning, as he was going to his work, he said to his wife, “Let our youngest daughter bring me my lunch into the wood, and so that she shall not lose her way, I will take a bag of millet with me, and sprinkle the seed on the path.”

When the sun had risen high over the forest, the girl set out with a lunch basket for her father. The sparrows, larks, finches, and blackbirds had picked up all the millet, and the girl could not find her way.

The woodcutter's daughter in our update from the Brothers Grimm folktales

She went on and on until the sun set and night came. The trees rustled in the darkness, the owls hooted, and she began to be very much frightened.  A glimmer of light in the distance caught her eye, and she followed it to a small hut.

The enchanted hut in an update of the Brothers Grimm folktales

As the little maiden knocked at the door, a gruff voice called, “Just walk in!” As she did, an old gray-haired man sat at the table.

By the stove rested a hen, a rooster, and a brindled cow. The girl told the old man her story, and asked to stay the night.

The man said, “Pretty cock, Pretty hen, And you, pretty brindled cow, What do you say now?”

They replied, “Duks,” which must have meant “Yes”

“We are quite willing, the old man went on, “Go into the back kitchen and cook us a supper.”

The girl found plenty of everything in the kitchen and cooked a good meal, but she did not think of the beasts.

She placed the full dishes on the table, sat down opposite the gray-haired man, and ate till her hunger was satisfied; she said, “Now I am so tired, where is a bed in which I can sleep?”

The animals answered “You have eaten with him, You have drunk with him, Of us, you have not thought, Sleep then as you ought!”

The old man said, “Go upstairs, and there you will find a bedroom; shake the bed, and put clean sheets on, and go to sleep.”

The maiden went upstairs, and when she had made the bed, she lay down.

After some time, the gray-haired man came and looked at the girl by the light of his candle as she slept. He shook his head and sighed sadly. Knowing that her lack of kindness towards the animals meant she could not leave the enchanted hut until the spell was broken.

The old man of the hut watches the young girl sleep

The next day, the woodcutter sent his second daughter to bring him his lunch, this time leaving a trail of lentils. But again, the birds ate the lentils, and the second daughter found herself lost in the woods. She, too, ended up at the old man’s house and suffered the same fate as her sister.

On the third day, the woodcutter sent his eldest daughter, a kind and clever girl, to bring him his lunch. He left a trail of peas, but the birds ate those as well. The maiden, losing her way, worried about her hungry father and eventually found herself at the old man’s hut. She prepared dinner, but before eating, she made sure to feed the animals, offering them barley, hay, and water.

That night, the animals invited her to sleep in the house. At midnight, the house began to shake and tremble, by morning, it had transformed into a magnificent dwelling! The old man was now a handsome young man, and the animals were his brothers. The young man explained that a wicked witch had cast a spell on him, and only the kindness of a maiden to both humans and animals could break it.

The young man pledged to assist the woodcutter and his family from that day forward. They celebrated with a grand feast, and the woodcutter and his wife rejoiced. Through this experience the two younger sisters came to understand the importance of extending compassion towards all living beings.

And so, the eldest daughter’s compassion and generosity had not only saved herself and her sisters but also freed the young man and his brothers from a terrible curse. They all lived happily together, surrounded by the beauty of the forest.

The spell is broken and all is well

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