Gimm's Fairy Tales

The Wolf and the Seven Little GoatsLong ago, there was once a old mother goat who had seven baby goats. She was very found of her children. One day she had to go into the woods to get them some food."My dearest children," she said,"While I am gone, be care of the wolf. If he gets inside the house he will eat you all up. He disguises himself, so look for his rough voice and black paws." "Don't worry, mother," said the kids. "We will be very careful." So, the mother goat left.A few minutes later, there was a knock at the door. A voice cried, "Your mother has come back with some presents for you. Open the door!"But the kids knew it was the wolf by the rough voice they heard."We will not open the door," they replied. "You are not our mother. You voice is too rough. You must be the wolf."Then the wolf went and bought a large piece of chalk. After he ate it, his voice became soft. He went back to the house and knocked on the door.""Open the door, my dear children. It's your mother, and I've brought you all presents."But just then he put his paws against the window and the kids saw them. " Our mother doesn't have paws like those. You must be the wolf," they screamed.So, the wolf went to a bakery."Baker," he said, " I have hurt my foot. Please give me some dough to put on it."Then , he ran to the millers and said, " Please put some white meal on my paws."The miller knew the wolf wanted to hurt someone, so he said no." If you don't , I'll eat you," said the wolf.The miller was scared and did what the wolf said. That just shows how some men are.He went back to the house a third time and knocked on the door. "Open the door, children. It's your mother, and I have a present for each of you from the woods."" Show us your paws, first, so that we are sure that you are really out mother."When the wolf put his paws against the window, the children saw they were white. They opened the door and the wolf came inside. When the kids saw the wolf they were scared and tried to hide in different places. But the wolf found them and swallowed them all except the youngest. The wolf left the house and walked into the meadow. There he lay down under a tree and fell asleep.A little while later, the mother goat came home and couldn't believe her eyes! The door was open, the dishes were all broken, and her kids were nowhere in sight. She called them all by name, and none but the youngest answered."I'm here, hiding in the clock case!"He told her what had happened, and they wandered outside crying. When they got to the meadow they saw the sleeping wolf. The mother goat looked at him closely and saw something moving inside his body." My goodness!" she thought. " Could my poor children be alive inside him?"The mother goat sent the little kid back to the house to get some scissors and needle and thread. She started to cut the wolf's body open, and out came the head of the kids. He was still alive! Soon, the six kids all jumped out of the wolf alive and well. He had been so hungry that he had swallowed them all whole!" Now go to get some good hard stones," the mother told her kids, " and we will put them into his body while he is sleeping."So, they got some stones together and filled his body with them. She sewed him up so quicklythat he never knew the difference.When the wolf woke up at last, the stones inside him made him thirsty. He went to the creek to take a drink, and they hit each other inside his body. It made a lot of noise! He cried:" What is it that sits inside meKnocking hard against my bones?How could this have happened to me?I ate some kids, but now they're stones."He got to the creek, and bent over to drink, but the stones made him heave. He fell into the water and drowned. When the seven little kids saw what had happened, they ran to the creek. "The wolf is dead!" They sang, and danced around with their mother.Notes:(be) fond of 喜欢; be careful of 小心，注意；eat up 吃光，吃完；a few minutes later 几分钟后；knock on/ at the door 敲门；put sth. on sth. 把...放...上； a third time 第三次；all except 除...以外全部；fall asleep 入睡；a little while later 一会之后；in sight 在视线之内；call sb. by name 叫某人的名字；fill A with B 用B将A装满；sew...up 缝合；wake up 醒来；at last 终于；take a drink 喝点水；happen to sb. 发生在某人身上Snow-White and Rose-RedThere was once a poor widow who lived in a small house with her two children. In front of her house was a garden with two rose trees. Once gave white roses and the other gave red, so she named her daughters Snow-White and Rose-Red. They were wonderful children.Rose-Red liked to run through the meadows to pick flowers and chase butterflies. Snow-White liked to stay at home and help her mother or read to her. The two children loved each other. They always held hands when they walked together. They agreed to share everything and never to leave each other.Often , Snow-White and Rose-Red went into the forest by themselves to gather berries. None of the animals there would ever harm them. The rabbits would eat cabbage out of their hands. Deer would eat right next to them. Goats would play around them, and the birds would stay still and sing when they walked by. They never had an accident; and if they were in the forest until late at night, they would sleep on the grass until the morning came. Their mother knew this, and did not worry about them.Snow-White and Rose-Red kept their mother's cottage so clean that it was very pretty to look at. In the summer, Rose-Red would clean the house every morning. She would always give her mother a rose from each tree. In the winter, Snow-White would light a fire and put a teapot on to boil in the morning. Although the teapot was made of copper, she made it so clean that it shone like gold. In the evening, when it was snowing, the mother would say, " Lock the door, Snow-White." They would all sit in front of the fireplace and the mother would read to them out of a large book.One evening, when they were sitting this way comfortably, someone knocked on the door. " Hurry, Rose-Red," said the mother. "There must be a traveler who wants to come inside to get warm."Rose-Red went and opened the door, expecting to see a poor man. But it was not. It was a bear that put his big black head in. Rose-Red screamed and ran from it. Snow-White hid behind her mother's bed. Then the bear began to speak. He said," Don't be afraid. I won't harm you. I am almost frozen, and want to come in to get warm.""Poor bear!" the mother said. "Come right in and lie down in front of the fire. Be careful not to burn your coat." Then she said,"Come out, Snow-White and Rose-Red! The bear will not hurt you. He means well.""Children," the bear said, come here and knock the snow off my coat." They brought the broom and swept him clean. Then he lay down in front of the fire and growled with satisfaction.Soon, the children felt comfortable with their new guest. They started to play tricks on him.they pulled his hair, put their feet on his back, and even hit him with a stick. He did not get angry with their games. If they hit him too hard, he would cry:" Leave me alive, children,Snow-White and Rose-Red,Or you will never wed."When it was bedtime and the children were asleep, the mother told the bear, " You may stay here if you like, safe from the cold weather."Early in the morning, the children let him out, and he ran across the snow into the forest. After that, the bear came to the house every night at the same time. He would lie in front of the fire and let the children play with him as much as they wanted. They became so used to him that they never locked the door until he had arrived.When spring came, and everything outside was green again, one morning the bear told Snow-White he had to leave, and wouldn't be back for the rest of the summer."Where are you going, dear Bear?" asked Snow-White."I have to go into the forest to guard my treasures from the evil Little People who live there. In the winter, when the ground is frozen, they can't come up from underground. But now, because the earth is warm, they come out to steal. They live in caves, and hide their stolen treasures inside them"Snow-White was very sad to see him leave, and as she unbolted the door for him he rushed out.A piece of his hairy coat was torn by the latch, and Snow-White thought she saw the shine of gold through it.Some time later, the mother sent her children into the forest to get firewood. They came to a big tree lying across the path. Near the trunk something was jumping backwards and forwards in the grass. They could not see what it was. When they got close they saw it was a Little Person, or a Dwarf. He had an old wrinkled face and a long white beard. The end of his beard was caught in a crevice in the tree and he was jumping around like a dog tied to a rope. He didn't know what to do to get free from the tree.The Dwarf glared at the girls with his red eyes and screamed ," Why are you just standing there? Come and help me.""What is the matter, little man?" asked Rose-Red." You stupid goose!" he said. " I was trying to split the tree for a small piece of wood forcooking. Our little bit of food is burned if we use big logs. We don't eat as much as you greedy people. I had just driven the wedge in, as I wanted, but it was too smooth and it suddenly flew out. The tree closed so quickly that my beard was caught in it and I can't get out. I am stuck, and you are laughing at me. Are you amazed?"The children tried as hard as they could to pull the beard out, but they couldn't."I'll run and get help," Rose-Red finally said."You senseless goose!" growled the Dwarf. "Why should you bring other people? There are two too many here already. Can't you think of something better?""Don't be impatient," replied Snow-White, " I will help you." she took some scissors from her pocket and cut off the end of the beard.As soon as the Dwarf could move, he picked up his bag which lay near the roots of the tree and was filled with gold. He lift it onto his shoulder and went off, mumbling," You stupid people, to cut off a piece of my fine beard! Bad luck to you!"He didn't even look back at the children.Some time later, Snow-white and Rose-Red went to catch some fish. When they got close to the pond, they saw something that looked like a large grasshopper hopping around on the bank. It looked like it would jump into the water. They ran to it and found it was the Dwarf. "What are you doing?" asked Rose-Red. "You are about to fall in the water.""I am not such a fool as that," the Dwarf cried. "Can't you see this fish is pulling me in?"While the little man was sitting there fishing, the the wind had tangled up his beard with the fishing line. A moment later a big fish took the bait and the Dwarf was not strong enough to pull it out of the water. The fish was winning the battle. The Dwarf was holding on to the roots of a tree, but the fish was about to pull him into the water.His beard was so tangled with the line that one of the girls cut the beard, so he wouldn't drown. When the Dwarf saw this he shouted," You donkey, you have damaged my face. How could you cut the best part of my beard? Now I can't let anyone else see me!" Saying this, he took a sack of pearls he had hidden in the grass and disappeared behind a stone.A few days later, the the mother sent the two children into the next town to buy some needles and thread. The road went across a filed where many large rocks were lying. They saw a large bird flying around in the sky. Then they saw it land behind a rock. Immediately they heard a loud scream. They ran up and saw that the eagle had grabbed their old friend, the Dwarf and was about to carry him off. The children, full of pity, held tight to the little man until the eagle gave up and flew off. As soon as the Dwarf recovered, he exclaimed, " Couldn't you have held me more gently? You tore holes in my nice brown coat, you clumsy children!" then he took his sack of precious stones and went back into his hole under the rock.The children were by now used to the Dwarf's ungratefulness, so they went to town. On the way home they surprised the Dwarf . He had emptied out his bag of precious stones on the ground, thinking no one was nearby. The evening sun was shinning on the stones and they all glittered beautifully. As the children were gazing at them, the Dwarf got angry. " What are you staring at?" he yelled, turning red.Suddenly there was a loud growl, and a huge black bear came out of the forest. The Dwarf jumped out and tried to run to his cave, but the bear was too close. At that time he cried out, "Please spare me, Mr. Bear. I will give you all my jewels and treasures. Just give me my life. What can you do with a little man like me? You would not even feel me between your teeth. Come, takethese two bad girls. They will make a nice tender meal. Eat them instead."But, the bear gave the evil Dwarf a single blow with his paw, and he never moved again.The girls started to run away, but the bear called to them,"Snow-White and Rose-Red, don't be afraid. Wait, I will come with you." They recognized his voice and stopped. When the bear came to them his coat fell off, and he became a handsome man. He was tall, and dressed all in gold. "I am a king's son," he said, " I was bewitched by that terrible Dwarf. He had stolen all my treasures. He forced me to wander in the forest in the form of a bear, until his death. Now he has been punished."The girls and the prince all went home together. Snow-White was married to him, and Rose-Red to his brother. They divided the dwarf's great treasure between them. The old mother lived happily with her children for many years in the palace. She took the two rose trees from her garden with her. She planted them in front of her window. Every year they gave beautiful white and red roses.Notes:each other 彼此；next to 与......邻接；stay still 站着不动；walk by 走过；have an accident 发生意外；light a fire 生火；this way 用这种方式；mean well 没有恶意；mean ill 有恶意；hide behind 藏在......后面；knock ...off 除掉，消除；with satisfaction 满意地；play tricks on sb. 同某人开玩笑；let sb. out 让某人出去；become used to doing sth. 对......变得习惯了；rush out 奔出；tie sth. to sth. 将......绑在...；get free from sth. 摆脱...而获自由；backwards and forwards 来回地；be caught in 被陷入于...之中；glare at 怒目而视；cut off 切断；be filled with装满；go off 离开；a moment later 一会后；take the bait（鱼）吞饵上钩；carry off 夺去...的生命；full of pity 充满同情心的；by now 到如今；gaze at 盯住；stare at 凝视，盯住；turn red 脸色变红；be used to 习惯于；run away 跑开，逃走；in the form of... 以......的形式；be married to 与......结婚;The Frog PrinceOne evening, a young princess went into the woods and sat down next to a cool spring. She had her favorite toy with her, which was a golden ball. She liked to throw it up into the air and catch it. But once, the ball rolled along the ground and fell into the spring. She looked inside, but she could not even see the bottom. She was very sad, and said to herself, “I would give all my fine clothes and jewels, and everything I have, just to get my ball back.”Just then, a frog came out of the water.“Princess,” said he, “why are you crying?”“My golden ball has fallen into the spring,” she answered.“If you’ll love me and let me live with you, I’ll bring you your ball. But you must promise to let me eat from your little golden plate and sleep upon your little bed,” said the frog.“This cannot come true,” though the princess. “This frog can’t even get out of the spring. But I’ll promise so that I can get my favorite ball back.”“ If you bring me my ball, I’ll do whatever you want,” she said.The frog dove deep into the water. In a while , he came up again with the ball in his mouth. He threw it on the ground in front of her.The princess ran to pick it up. She was so excited to get it back that she ran home and forgot all about the frog.“ Take me with you as you promised,” called the frog. She didn’t stop to listen.The next day, when the princess was sitting down to dinner, she heard a strange noise. It sounded like someone was coming up to the stairs. Soon, she heard a knock at the door. A voice said:“Open the door, my princess dear.Open the door for your true love here.Remember the words that you and I said.Near the cool spring in the woods and shade.”The princess ran and opened the door. There she saw the frog. She was scared. She shut the door and ran back to her seat.The princess’s father, who was the king, asked her what was wrong.“ There is a terrible frog at the door. I promised that he could live with me if he got my ball out of the spring for me. I thought he could never get away from the spring. But he’s at the door and wants to come in!”The king told hid daughter, “ You must keep your promise. Go and let him in.”When she did, the frog hopped into the room. “ Put me up on a chair, and let me sit next to you!”Then he said, “ Now put your plate close to me so I can eat from it.”After the frog had eaten as much as he could, he said, “ I am tired. Take me upstairs and put me into you little bed.”The princess put him in her hand and took him upstairs. She put him on the pillow on her bed. He slept there all night. In the morning, he hopped downstairs and left the house.“ Now,” thought the princess, “ he’s gone. I’ll have no more trouble with him.”But that night, and the night after, the frog came back and slept on her pillow.On the next morning, when the princess woke up, instead of a frog, she saw a handsome prince with beautiful eyes. He told her that a fairy had changed him into a frog, and the only way he could break the spell was to sleep beside a princess for three nights.He asked her to marry him and to come to his kingdom with him. Just then a coach pulled by four white horses came to the palace. They left together and lived happily together for many years.Notes:next to 靠近；come true 变成现实；in a while 一会儿；pick up 捡起；sound like 听起来像；get away (from)…离开……；keep one’s promise 遵守诺言；have no more trouble with sb. 不再有某人的麻烦；all night 整夜，通宵；instead of 而不是；change A into B 将A变成B；spell 符咒The Elves and the ShoemakerA long time ago, there was a shoemaker who had very bad luck. Finally, he became so poor that he had only enough leather to make one pair of shoes. At night, he cut out the shoes so that he could work on them in the morning. He said his prayers and went to sleep.In the morning, he found the pair of shoes finished on his table. He was very surprised. When he looked at them closely it seemed that they had been made by an excellent worker.A customer entered, and because the shoes fit him so well, he paid extra for them. Then the shoemaker had enough money to buy leather for two more pairs of shoes.He cut them out at night, and again they were finished when he got up in the morning. This continued until he became very rich.One night around Christmas, he said to his wife, “ Maybe we should stay up tonight and see who does this for us.”She agreed, and lit a candle. They hid in the corner. At midnight, they saw two naked little men come in and sit at the shoemaker’s table. They worked on the shoes that the shoemaker had cut out until they were finished. Then they jumped up and ran off.The next morning the shoemaker’s wife said, “ Those little men have made us rich. We should do something nice for them. They aren’t wearing any clothes, so they must be cold. I will knit them some clothes, and you can make them some shoes.”The husband agreed. They put the gifts on the table. Then they hid and waited.At midnight, the little men came in to work, but found the gifts instead. They sang and danced around the room.“ What fancy little men we are! No longer shoemaker will we be.”Then they danced out the door. They were never seen again. The shoemaker was successful for the rest of his life.Notes:cut out 裁剪；stay up 熬夜，不睡觉；run off 跑掉；at midnight 在半夜；no longer 不再；for the rest of one’s life 对于某人的余生RapunzelOnce there lived a man and his wife who had wanted a child of their own for a long time but didn’t have one. At the back of their house there was a little window from which a wonderful garden could be seen. The garden was full of beautiful vegetables and flowers. But , it was surrounded by a high wall, and it belonged to a powerful witch, so no one ever went into the garden.One day, the wife stood at the window and looked out into the garden. She saw a delicious vegetable growing there, called rapunzel. It looked so fresh and green that she began to wish to have some. This continued for days, and she became very sad and sick. The man became nervous. “ What’s wrong, dear wife?” he asked.“ If I can’t eat some of that delicious rapunzel from the garden behind our house, I think I will die!”The man loved her very much, so he thought, “ Instead of losing my wife, I will get her somerapunzel, whatever it costs.”In the evening, he climbed over the wall into the witch’s garden. He quickly picked a handful of the vegetable and brought it home. She made a salad with it and ate it all. It was so good that the next day she wanted some even more than before. Her husband had to go into the garden again.In the evening, the man climbed the wall, but once inside the garden he suddenly saw the witch in front of him. He was very scared.“How dare you come into my garden and steal my plants like a thief! I’ll punish you!”“Oh, dear,” he said, “ please have mercy on me. I only did it because I had to. You see, my wife saw your rapunzel from the window and would have died if she did not eat some.”With this explanation, the witch became less angry. “ If it’s true, you may take as much rapunzel as you like. But there is one condition. Your wife will have a child soon, but you must give it to me. I’ll care for it well.”The man was so afraid that he agreed to everything.When the child was born, the witch came to the house and took it away. She named the child Rapunzel, after the vegetable.Rapunze grew into the most beautiful child in the whole world. When she turned twelve, the witch locked her into a tower in the forest. The tower had no stairs or door, only a little window at the top. When the witch wanted to get inside, she would stand under the window and cry: “Papunzel, Rapunzel,Let down your hair!”Rapunzel had long pretty hair that looked as if it was made of gold. When she heard the witch’s voice she would open the window, undo the braids in her hair, and let it down to the ground. Then the witch would climb up the hair and into the tower.A few years later, the king’s son was riding through the forest one day and passed the tower. He heard a song. It was so sweet that he stopped and listened. Rapunzel was singing to herself, trying to relieve her loneliness.The prince wanted to climb up to her, and looked a door to the tower, but couldn’t find one. He was struck deeply by her song, and from then on rode into the forest every day to hear her sing. Once, when the prince was standing nearby under a tree, he saw the witch arrive. He heard her call:“ Papunzel, Rapunzel,Let down your hair!”Then Rapunzel let down her hair. He saw the witch climbed up into the tower. He said to himself, “ If that is the ladder, I, too, will climb it.”The next day, when it began to get dark, he went to the tower and cried:“ Papunzel, Rapunzel,Let down your hair!”The hair fell down and the king’s son climbed up.At first, Rapunzel was frightened. She had never seen a man before. But the king’s son began to speak to her kindly, like a friend. He told her how her singing had made him happy, so that he had to see her for himself. The Rapunzel lost her fear of him. When he asked her to be his wife, she thought about how handsome he was and said to herself, “ He will love me much more than the old woman does.” She said yes and gave him her hand.“ I want to go away with you,” she told him, “ but I do not know how to get down from thistower. Each time you come here, bring a silk rope so I can weave a ladder with it. When it was finished, I will climb down from here and you can take me away on your horse.”Rapunzel and the prince agreed that he would visit her every night, since the old woman only came in the daytime. The witch knew nothing of this, until Rapunzel once said to her unwittingly, “ You are much heavier for me to pull up than the king’s son. He will be here soon.”“You wicked child,” the witch cried. “ What did hear you say? I thought I had hidden you from the world, and yet you have tricked me!”She grabbed Rapunzel by her beautiful hair and cut it off with a pair of scissors. She was so ruthless that she took poor Rapunzel into the desert to live a hard life of misery alone.That night the witch went back to the tower and put the severed locks of hair near the window. Soon, the king’s son came and cried:“ Papunzel, Rapunzel,Let down your hair!”The witch let the hair down and the king’s son climbed up. Instead of finding his dear Rapunzel, he found the evil witch gazing at him.“Ha, ha,”she mocked him, “you have come for your dearest, but the lovely bird sings no longer in the nest. The cat has forgotten it, and will scratch your eyes out, too. Rapunzel is gone, you will never see her again.”The king’s son was overcome with grief, and in despair he leapt from the tower. He survived, but the thorns on which he fell pierced his eyes. He wandered blind through the forest eating only roots and berries and weeping for the loss of his dear wife.After several years of wandering in misery the prince came to the desert where Rapunzel lived with the twins to which she had given birth, a boy and a girl. He heard a familiar voice and went towards it. When he approached, Rapunzel recognized him and ran to him weeping. Her tears fell into his eyes and they grew clear again. Suddenly, he could see with them as before.He led her to his kingdom, where he was joyfully received. They lived there together happily for a long time.Notes:of one’s own 属于某人自己的；(be) surrounded by 被……所包围或围绕；belong to属于……；a handful of 一把……; have mercy on sb. 可怜某人；care for 照顾，关心；be born 出生；take sth. away 拿走，带走……；name A after B 以B 给A 命名；from then on 从那时起；try to do sth. 试图做某事；at first 起先；for oneself 亲自地；go away 离去；take…away…带走…；in the daytime 在白天；live a hard life of misery 过艰难悲惨的生活；gaze at 注视；in despair 在绝望中；in misery 痛苦地；give birth to 生孩子。