Jorinde und Joringel

Jorinde and Joringel

In an old castle deep in a thick forest lives an old woman alone, a powerful witch: by day she is a cat or an owl, in the evening a woman again. Whoever comes within a hundred steps of the castle must stand still until she frees him, and a maiden who comes into the circle she turns into a bird and locks in a basket; she has seven thousand such baskets. Jorinde, the most beautiful girl of all, and the handsome young Joringel are to be married. One evening they walk in the forest, and though Joringel warns her, they lose their way and come close to the castle. Jorinde sings a sad song and turns into a nightingale; an owl with glowing eyes flies around her three times, and Joringel stands like a stone. At sunset the owl becomes a crooked old woman with red eyes who carries the nightingale away. She frees Joringel with a spell, but refuses to give Jorinde back. Joringel goes to a strange village and herds sheep for a long time. One night he dreams of a blood-red flower with a large pearl in it that frees everything it touches. He searches for nine days and finds the flower with a dewdrop like a pearl. With it he walks into the circle without being held, opens the gate and finds the hall where the witch feeds the birds in seven thousand baskets. She rages but cannot come near him. Among hundreds of nightingales he cannot tell which is Jorinde, until the witch secretly carries one basket to the door; he touches it and her with the flower, she can do no more magic, and Jorinde stands before him as beautiful as before. He turns all the other birds back into maidens, and goes home with Jorinde, and they live happily together for a long time.

Retold from Kinder- und Haus-Märchen, Band 1, 7. Auflage (Ausgabe letzter Hand, 1857), KHM 69 by Brüder Grimm (public domain).