Jorinda and Jorindel

In a deep gloomy wood stood an old castle where a fairy lived who could take any shape she pleased. By day she flew as an owl or crept about the country as a cat; by night she was an old woman again. Any young man who came within a hundred paces of the walls froze where he stood until she freed him—and she freed him only after he swore never to return. Any pretty maiden who entered that space became a bird; the fairy hung her in a chamber that held seven hundred singing cages.

Jorinda and the shepherd Jorindel were soon to marry. One evening they walked in the wood to be alone. “We must take care not to go too near the fairy’s castle,” he warned. Sunset lit the long stems of the trees; turtle-doves sang from the tall birches. They sat down, suddenly sad without knowing why, as if they were about to be parted forever. When they looked for the path home they were lost.

The sun was half down behind the hill when Jorindel glanced back and saw they had settled under the castle walls. He turned pale and trembled. Jorinda was singing of a ring-dove that mourned its mate when her song broke into a mournful jug, jug—she had become a nightingale. An owl with fiery eyes circled them three times, screaming. Jorindel stood fixed as stone; he could neither weep nor speak nor stir.

Night fell. The owl slipped into a bush; a moment later the fairy came forth pale and meagre, with a fixed stare. She mumbled, seized the nightingale, and carried her off. When she returned she sang a hoarse charm—and suddenly Jorindel could move. He fell on his knees and begged for Jorinda; she laughed and said he should never see her again.

He could not go home. He kept sheep in a strange village and often walked as near the hated castle as he dared, hearing nothing of his love. At last he dreamed of a beautiful purple flower with a costly pearl at its heart—that flower would break every spell in the castle. He searched hill and dale eight days in vain; on the ninth morning he found the purple bloom with a dewdrop as big as a pearl in its center. He plucked it and travelled day and night until he stood again before the walls.

This time he walked within a hundred paces and did not freeze; he could go right up to the door. He touched the wood with the flower; it sprang open. Through the court he heard seven hundred birds singing. In the chamber the fairy sat among the cages. When she saw him she screamed with rage, but she could not come within two yards of the blossom. How should he know which nightingale was Jorinda? While he wondered, the fairy snatched one cage and fled for the door. He ran after her, touched the cage—and Jorinda stood before him, as beautiful as when they walked in the wood. He touched cage after cage until every maiden was free, then took Jorinda home. They married and spent many years together, as did other lads whose sweethearts had sung too long in those cages.

About this story

This is the Grimms’ “Jorinde und Joringel,” number 69 in Margaret Hunt’s translation. The names Jorinda and Jorindel come from the English text in Project Gutenberg’s Grimms’ Fairy Tales (#2591), which is based on the translations of Edgar Taylor and Marian Edwardes.

In Hunt’s translation the enchantress is an old witch and the magic flower is blood-red; this English text calls her a fairy and makes the flower purple, with a dewdrop like a pearl. The last line about the other freed maidens is in the source too.

Read the original: Grimms’ Fairy Tales (Project Gutenberg #2591)

Best for ages 9–12 — an eerie story of abduction, captivity and rescue, with no combat in the final escape.

Reading the story closely

Sound connects the couple’s walk to the captivity: Jorinda’s song becomes a nightingale’s call, and seven hundred singing birds later conceal seven hundred people. The flower removes the spell, but Jorindel still needs to notice the fairy’s action to identify the cage she most wants to keep.

List what the flower can do and what Jorindel must work out himself. Then consider why the ending frees every captive rather than stopping after Jorinda. His private search becomes a wider rescue, giving the final repeated touches of the flower a different purpose from the first.

Talk about it

• Why do you think Jorindel stayed near the castle instead of going home?
• How did the dream help Jorindel find a way to break the spell?
• What do you think the seven hundred freed girls did when they found themselves human again?

Related stories

• The Seven Ravens — a Grimm girl travels far to free her brothers from a bird enchantment
• Lily and the Lion — a Grimm heroine searches for years to rescue her enchanted husband
• The White Snake — a Grimm hero helped by birds and animals to win his bride