After they had traveled about for a long time, they came to a town in
which was a beautiful but proud princess, who had caused it to be
proclaimed that whosoever should set her a riddle which she could not
guess, that man should be her husband; but if she guessed it, his head
must be cut off. She had three days to guess it in, but was so clever
that she always found the answer to the riddle given her, before the
appointed time. Nine suitors had already perished in this manner, when
the King’s son arrived, and blinded by her great beauty, was willing to
stake his life for it. Then he went to her and laid his riddle before
her. “What is this?” said he, “One slew none, and yet slew twelve.” She
did not know what that was, she thought and thought, but she could not
find out, she opened her riddle-books, but it was not in them—in short,
her wisdom was at an end. As she did not know how to help herself, she
ordered her maid to creep into the lord’s sleeping-chamber, and listen
to his dreams, and thought that he would perhaps speak in his sleep and
discover the riddle. But the clever servant had placed himself in the
bed instead of his master, and when the maid came there, he tore off
from her the mantle in which she had wrapped herself, and chased her
out with rods. The second night the King’s daughter sent her
maid-in-waiting, who was to see if she could succeed better in
listening, but the servant took her mantle also away from her, and
hunted her out with rods. Now the master believed himself safe for the
third night, and lay down in his own bed. Then came the princess
herself, and she had put on a misty-grey mantle, and she seated herself
near him. And when she thought that he was asleep and dreaming, she
spoke to him, and hoped that he would answer in his sleep, as many do,
but he was awake, and understood and heard everything quite well. Then
she asked, “One slew none, what is that?” He replied, “A raven, which
ate of a dead and poisoned horse, and died of it.” She inquired
further, “And yet slew twelve, what is that?” He answered, “That means
twelve murderers, who ate the raven and died of it.”

When she knew the answer to the riddle she wanted to steal away, but he
held her mantle so fast that she was forced to leave it behind her. Next morning, the King’s daughter announced that she had guessed the
riddle, and sent for the twelve judges and expounded it before them. But the youth begged for a hearing, and said, “She stole into my room
in the night and questioned me, otherwise she could not have discovered
it.” The judges said, “Bring us a proof of this.” Then were the three
mantles brought thither by the servant, and when the judges saw the
misty-grey one which the King’s daughter usually wore, they said, “Let
the mantle be embroidered with gold and silver, and then it will be
your wedding-mantle. 23 The Mouse, the Bird, and the Sausage

Once on a time a mouse, a bird, and a sausage became companions, kept
house together, lived well and happily with each other, and wonderfully
increased their possessions. The bird’s work was to fly every day into
the forest and bring back wood. The mouse had to carry water, light the
fire, and lay the table, but the sausage had to cook. He who is too well off is always longing for something new. One day,
therefore, the bird met with another bird, on the way, to whom it
related its excellent circumstances and boasted of them. The other
bird, however, called it a poor simpleton for his hard work, but said
that the two at home had good times. For when the mouse had made her
fire and carried her water, she went into her little room to rest until
they called her to lay the table. The sausage stayed by the pot, saw
that the food was cooking well, and, when it was nearly time for
dinner, it rolled itself once or twice through the broth or vegetables
and then they were buttered, salted, and ready. When the bird came home
and laid his burden down, they sat down to dinner, and after they had
had their meal, they slept their fill till next morning, and that was a
splendid life. Next day the bird, prompted by the other bird, would go no more into
the wood, saying that he had been servant long enough, and had been
made a fool of by them, and that they must change about for once, and
try to arrange it in another way. And, though the mouse and the sausage
also begged most earnestly, the bird would have his way, and said it
must be tried. They cast lots about it, and the lot fell on the sausage
who was to carry wood, the mouse became cook, and the bird was to fetch
water. What happened? The little sausage went out towards the wood, the little
bird lighted the fire, the mouse stayed by the pot and waited alone
until little sausage came home and brought wood for next day. But the
little sausage stayed so long on the road that they both feared
something was amiss, and the bird flew out a little way in the air to
meet it. Not far off, however, it met a dog on the road who had fallen
on the poor sausage as lawful booty, and had seized and swallowed it. The bird charged the dog with an act of barefaced robbery, but it was
in vain to speak, for the dog said he had found forged letters on the
sausage, on which account its life was forfeited to him. The bird sadly took up the wood, flew home, and related what he had
seen and heard. They were much troubled, but agreed to do their best
and remain together. The bird therefore laid the cloth, and the mouse
made ready the food, and wanted to dress it, and to get into the pot as
the sausage used to do, and roll and creep amongst the vegetables to
mix them; but before she got into the midst of them she was stopped,
and lost her skin and hair and life in the attempt. When the bird came to carry up the dinner, no cook was there. In its
distress the bird threw the wood here and there, called and searched,
but no cook was to be found! Owing to his carelessness the wood caught
fire, so that a conflagration ensued, the bird hastened to fetch water,
and then the bucket dropped from his claws into the well, and he fell
down with it, and could not recover himself, but had to drown there. 24 Mother Holle

There was once a widow who had two daughters—one of whom was pretty and
industrious, whilst the other was ugly and idle. But she was much
fonder of the ugly and idle one, because she was her own daughter; and
the other, who was a step-daughter, was obliged to do all the work, and
be the Cinderella of the house. Every day the poor girl had to sit by a
well, in the highway, and spin and spin till her fingers bled. Now it happened that one day the shuttle was marked with her blood, so
she dipped it in the well, to wash the mark off; but it dropped out of
her hand and fell to the bottom. She began to weep, and ran to her
step-mother and told her of the mishap.