Written and photographed by Jasmine Durst
Every year, the Monday before Halloween, German Club gathers around Degenstein’s firepit to honor its annual Halloween tradition of reading Grimms’ fairy tales around the fire. This year, seven stories were shared.
The first story was “Good Bowling and Card Playing.” In the story, a king challenges knights to watch his kingdom for three nights to be able to marry his daughter. A poor boy steps up to this challenge. He successfully makes it through the first night without any difficulties. He tells the king that the next two nights will end with the same result. As per his words, the boy makes it through the three nights watching the king’s castle, finally being able to marry the king’s daughter.
The second story was “The Twelve Brothers,” in which, a king had twelve sons, and his wife was pregnant with their thirteenth. The king said that if the thirteenth child was a girl, the twelve brothers would die. If the thirteenth child was a boy, the other twelve could live, and they can stay together. The wife told her sons to watch when she raises a flag, determining the gender. If it turned out to be a girl, they had to escape. The queen ended up having a girl, and the sons escaped into the forest to hide. After many years, the daughter grew up. She eventually wandered into the forest, reuniting with her twelve brothers. One day, she plucked twelve white flowers from a field, turning her brothers into ravens. In order to turn them back, she was not allowed to utter a word for twelve years. She ended up marrying a king, but her mother-in-law despised her, sentencing her to death. It just so happened to be the same day her brothers were to change back, just mere moments from her execution. She stood in open flames to be burned alive, and she made it to the twelve-year mark of silence. The ravens dropped down, changing into handsome princes in time to save their sister.
The next story told was, “The Little Donkey” a tale where a noble had a baby donkey as his son. One day, the donkey played the lute outside the castle. He is offered to come in and is told to sit with the commoners. He told them he was of noble birth, so he was instructed to sit with the knights. He again refused, insisting that he sit with the kin. The king allowed it and was intrigued by the donkey. Yet, when offered valuables, land, or goods, the donkey shot the offers down. He only accepted when the king offered his daughter as the donkey’s bride. The king ordered a knight to watch over the donkey and his daughter that night, and he did, hiding in the closet. The donkey tore off his donkey skin, revealing to the princess and hidden knight a handsome man. The knight reported to the king of the last night’s events, and the king took his place, seeing the handsome man himself. To force his son-in-law to show his true form, the king burned his donkey skin the night he was hidden in the closet. The next day, the ‘little donkey’ showed his true form.
“The Wolf and the Seven Kids” was another classic story told. In the story, a mother goat went out to get food one day and she warned her seven kids about the wolf. He had large black paws and a gruff voice. It wasn’t long after that the wolf tried to get inside the home after the mother goat left. At first, he tried to convince the kids that he was their mother, but they didn’t believe him because of his gruff voice. The wolf goes to the store and buys chalk, medicine, and honey to make his voice soft and tender. When he tries again to sway the kids, they notice his black paws. The wolf ran to the baker to get his feet rubbed in dough, then he ran to the miller to get white meal over his paws. The miller initially refused but finally complied when the wolf threatened to devour him. On the third attempt, the wolf successfully tricked the kids into opening the door, and each hid in a separate spot when they realized. The wolf then swallows the children, but he does not find the youngest hiding in the clock case. When the mother goat came home, she grieved at the loss of her children until the youngest came out of the clock case, explaining what had happened. They went to where the wolf was napping, cutting him open, and saving the other six. They filled his stomach with stones before sewing him back up. When the wolf awoke, he went to get a drink from the well, but the heavy rocks tipped him into the well instead.
There was the sad tale, “The Children of Famine” in which a hungry mother wanted to kill her two daughters because they were starving on the streets. The first daughter was told this, and she suggested to let her try to find some food. She searched and came back with a piece of bread. They split the bread, but it wasn’t enough to still their hunger. The mother turned to the second daughter and told her she was to be eaten, and the second daughter said to let her try to find some food. She left and came back with two pieces of bread, splitting it between them. Unfortunately, it still wasn’t enough to appease their hunger. The mother said they had to die, and the girls said fine. They fell into a deep sleep, never to be woken again, as they waited for their judgement day.
Then there was, “Faithful Ferdinand and Unfaithful Ferdinand.” In this story, Faithful Ferdinand’s caretaker was given a key for him to keep and give to Ferdinand when he turned 14. It was said to open a heath to a castle. The caregiver gave him the present early when he was 7 because other kids were showing off what their families got them. He went in search of the ‘castle’ at 7, but he never found it. When he went again at 14 years old, the castle was there. There was a white horse waiting in the castle for him. They went for a ride and bypassed a pen. He was going to leave it, but something told him to go back for it, and he did. He also saved a fish stuck in mud, putting him back in water. The fish gave him a flute, promising to be at his aid whenever he played it. Along the way, he met Unfaithful Ferdinand, who practiced all sorts of dark magic. Unfaithful Ferdinand went to the king’s castle and fell in love with the king’s daughter. In an attempt to get rid of Faithful Ferdinand, Unfaithful Ferdinand convinced the king to send him on a treacherous mission to save the queen, and the king agreed. Faithful Ferdinand’s horse told him to bring lots of meat for the giants and lots of bread for the birds. He then travelled to “Such and Such a Place”, successfully bringing back the queen. Unfortunately, had had to repeat the endeavor to retrieve the queen’s papers, but he was still successful in the journey. In the end, the white horse given to Unfaithful Ferdinand turned into a prince, ending the story.
The final Grimm tale was, “The Nightingale and the Blind Worm” In this story, the nightingale asked the worm (both who had one eye each) to borrow her eye for an event that evening. When the nightingale returned, it decided not to give the eye back, claiming it loved being able to see with two eyes. The now-blind worm promised to curse the nightingale’s bloodline for all of eternity. Ever since then, the generations of nightingales all had two eyes while the worms had none. They tried to climb trees to reach the birds, but they were always shaken off.
Even through a cold night, the German club laughed and shared candy as the members took turns picking a story and reading it. The stories were fun, though they didn’t make complete sense – further adding to their humor. The German Club looks forward to the Fall of 2025 for another spooky season to tell the Brothers Grimm fairy tales.