King Grisly-Beard

A great king in a far eastern land had a daughter who was very beautiful, but so proud and conceited that no prince who asked for her hand seemed good enough, and she only made sport of them.

Once the king held a great feast and seated all her suitors in a row by rank—kings, princes, dukes, earls, counts, barons, and knights. The princess walked past and had something spiteful for each. The first was too fat—“round as a tub.” The next too tall—“what a maypole!” The next too short—“what a dumpling!” She called a pale man Wallface, a red one Coxcomb, and a crooked one a green stick dried over a baker’s oven. She laughed most of all at a good king who was there: “Look at him—his beard is like an old mop; he shall be called Grisly-beard.” So that nickname stuck.

Her father was furious at how she treated his guests. He vowed that, willing or not, she should marry the first man who came to the door, prince or beggar. Two days later a travelling fiddler stopped to sing under the windows. When the king heard him he said, “Let him come up.” The fiddler entered in dirty patched clothes and sang for the court; then he asked for a gift. The king said, “You have sung so well that I will give you my daughter for a wife.” The princess shrieked, but the king said a king must keep his word; he took her hand, had her married to the fiddler at once, and said she must now go with her husband.

The fiddler led her away. Outside the town he asked why she was crying—she was married to a fine musician. On the road they passed fine woods; she asked whose they were. “They belong to King Grisly-beard,” he said; “had you taken him, they would have been yours.” “Ah, miserable girl that I am,” she sighed; “if I had but taken King Grisly-beard!” They passed fine meadows; the same answer. They passed a great city; the same answer—and each time she wept that she had not taken Grisly-beard.

At last they came to a small hut. “What is this mean place?” she asked. “This is our house,” said the fiddler; “here we are to live.” She had to stoop to enter. “Where are the servants?” “You must do for yourself what you want done,” he said. “Make a fire, set water on, and cook my supper—I am tired.” She knew nothing of cooking; he had to help, or they would have gone hungry. The next morning he woke her early: she must work, for they were poor. He made her weave baskets, but the tough willow cut her soft hands. Then he made her spin; the hard thread cut her fingers too. He said she was no good at work and must try selling pots and earthenware in the market—she might sit in a corner and offer wares.

She did as she was told and, because she was fine-looking, customers bought, and she and her husband lived on the gains. Then he said she must take a better stand in the middle of the market to sell more. She set out her crockery—and a drunken hussar came galloping through and smashed all her pots to bits. She cried that she was ruined. “Who would have thought of this?” said her husband. “Go into the king’s palace and ask for kitchen work; they will give you leftover food.”

So she became a kitchen-maid, helped the cook, and hid scraps in a little pot to take home. One day the king’s eldest son was to marry; lights, music, and guests filled the halls. She stood at the kitchen door and looked in with a heavy heart. The smell of the feast made her sadder. Then the bridegroom—King Grisly-beard himself—came in, took her by the hand, and would dance with her. She shrank back; he pulled her into the hall. The string that held her pot broke; scraps of food rolled over the floor while the guests laughed. She flushed with shame and sprang for the door—but on the steps King Grisly-beard overtook her and brought her back.

“Fear me not,” he said. “I am the fiddler who lived with you in the hut. I brought you there because I truly loved you. I am also the soldier who overturned your stall. I did all this only to cure you of your silly pride and show you the folly of how you treated me. Now it is over: you have learnt wisdom, and it is time to hold our marriage feast.” Chamberlains brought beautiful robes; her father and the whole court welcomed her home. They danced and sang, and everyone was merry.

About this story

“King Grisly-beard” is from Project Gutenberg’s Grimms’ Fairy Tales (#2591), whose English is based on the translations of Edgar Taylor and Marian Edwardes. In German it is “König Drosselbart,” and Margaret Hunt, who numbers it 52, translates the name as “King Thrushbeard.”

In this English text the princess mocks the good king because his beard is “like an old mop,” and the nickname sticks. The retelling keeps the forced marriage, staged poverty and public humiliation. The king describes these acts as loving instruction, but that is his justification; a reader can reject both the princess’s cruelty to suitors and his coercive response.

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

Reading guidance: older readers. Includes forced marriage, a husband’s deception and deliberate sabotage of his wife’s work, and public humiliation presented as correction.

Reading the story closely

The princess begins by judging people through their bodies and appearance. Her husband then controls how she appears to others: poor worker, failed trader and embarrassed kitchen servant. The revelation changes the meaning of the smashed pots from an accident to planned sabotage. It also means her apparent inability to support herself was partly manufactured.

List the moments when she lacks information the king possesses. At the final speech, separate his stated intention from the actions he admits. Write an apology the princess could offer the mocked guests, then ask what accountability the kings themselves owe her.

Talk about it

• Why did the king make his daughter marry the first beggar who came to the door?
• Do you think King Grisly-beard was right to teach the princess a lesson in this way? Why or why not?
• How did the princess change from the beginning of the story to the end?

Related stories

• The Goose-Girl — a Grimm princess who has to work in the fields before she is restored
• Cat-Skin — a Grimm princess who hides in a royal kitchen and works among the cooks
• The Fisherman and His Wife — a Grimm tale about pride and never being satisfied