The King of the Golden Mountain

A merchant had only one child, a son named Heinel, still barely able to run alone. He had embarked all his wealth in two richly laden ships; news came that both were lost. From riches he fell to owning only one small plot of land, where he walked of an evening to ease his mind.

One day, roaming in dark thoughts of what he had been and what he was, a mysterious dwarf stood before him and asked why he looked so sorrowful. The merchant said that if the stranger could help he would tell him. “Who knows but I may?” said the dwarf. So the merchant told how his wealth lay at the bottom of the sea and nothing remained but that plot. “Trouble not yourself,” said the dwarf—“only undertake to bring me here, twelve years hence, whatever meets you first on going home, and I will give you as much as you please.” The merchant thought that no great ask—most likely a dog or cat—and forgot little Heinel; he agreed, signed and sealed the bond.

Near home his little boy was so glad that he crept behind him, seized his legs, and looked up laughing. The father started in fear, seeing what he had bound himself to do; but as no gold had come he told himself it was only a dwarf’s joke, and that when money came he would refuse the bearer. About a month later, searching a lumber-room for old iron to sell, he found instead a large pile of gold on the floor. Overjoyed, he forgot his son, went into trade again, and grew richer than before.

Heinel grew up. As the twelve years neared, the merchant remembered the bond and grew sad; care was written on his face. At last he told the boy he had, without knowing it, sold him for gold to a dwarf, and the time to keep the word was coming. “Father,” said Heinel, “give yourself little trouble—I shall be too much for the little man.”

When the day came, father and son went to the place; the son drew a circle on the ground and set them both inside it. The dwarf came and walked round and round but could not enter, and dared not jump the line. Heinel asked what he wanted. A good fairy who loved the boy had told him what to do and what luck waited if he kept his course. “Have you brought what you promised?” the dwarf asked the merchant. The old man held his tongue; Heinel pressed again. The dwarf said he came to talk with the father, not the son. “You cheated my father,” said Heinel—“give up the bond.”

“Fair and softly,” said the dwarf: “right is right; I paid my money, your father spent it; let me have what I paid for.”

“You must have my consent first,” said Heinel—“step in and let us talk it over.” The dwarf grinned, wishing he could cross the circle. After a long talk they settled a drawn bargain: the father must give the boy up so far, yet Heinel would not be handed to the dwarf. Instead Heinel would be put in an open boat on the shore; the father would push him off with his own hand, and leave him to wind and weather. Heinel took leave, sat in the boat; a wave struck it and it heeled so that the merchant thought him lost and went home sorrowing, while the dwarf went away thinking he had at least his revenge.

The boat did not sink; the fairy raised it and it ran ashore on an unknown land. Heinel saw a beautiful castle, empty and dreary—enchanted. Here, he thought, must be the prize the fairy promised. Searching the palace he found a white snake coiled on a cushion. She was an enchanted princess, and glad to see him. “Are you come at last to set me free?” she said. “Twelve years have I waited for the fairy to bring you, for you alone can save me. This night twelve men will come, wearing chain armour. They will ask what you do here; give no answer. Let them beat, whip, pinch, prick or torment you; bear it all and speak not a word, and at twelve o’clock they must go. The second night twelve others will come, and the third night twenty-four, who will even cut off your head. But at the twelfth hour of that night their power ends, and I shall be free. I will wash you with the Water of Life and bring you back to life and health.” All came to pass as she said; Heinel bore all and spoke not a word; the third night the princess came, fell on his neck, and kissed him. Joy burst through the castle; they wed, and he was crowned king of the Golden Mountain.

They lived happily; the queen bore a son. After eight years the king longed to see his father. The queen opposed it, sure misfortune would follow, but he gave her no rest until she agreed. She gave him a wishing-ring. “Put it on,” she said, “and whatever you wish it will bring you. Only promise never to use it to bring me to your father’s house.” He promised, put on the ring, and wished himself near his father’s town.

He stood at the gates in a moment, but the guards would not let him in, so strangely clad. He borrowed a shepherd’s old frock on a neighbouring hill and passed unknown into the town. At his father’s house he said he was the son; the merchant would not believe—he had had but one son, poor Heinel, long dead—and, seeing only a shepherd’s dress, would give him nothing to eat. The king still vowed he was the son and asked if any mark would prove it. “Yes,” said his mother—“our Heinel had a raspberry mark on his right arm.” He showed it; they knew him.

He told them he was king of the Golden Mountain, married to a princess, with a son of seven. The merchant scoffed—a fine king who travels in a shepherd’s frock! Vexed, forgetting his word, Heinel turned the ring and wished for his queen and son. Instantly they stood before him; the queen wept that he had broken his word and bad luck would follow. He soothed her until she seemed appeased, yet she was only thinking how to punish him.

One day he walked her out of town to the place where the boat was pushed into the wide water. Tired, he laid his head in her lap to sleep. The moment he slept she slipped the ring from his finger, crept away, and wished herself and her son home to their kingdom. He awoke alone, the ring gone. “I can never go back to my father’s house,” he said—“they would call me a sorcerer; I will journey until I come to my kingdom.”

He travelled until he found three giants sharing their father’s goods. Seeing him, they cried, “Little men have sharp wits; he shall part the goods between us.” There was a sword that cut off an enemy’s head at the words “Heads off!”; a cloak that made the owner invisible or any shape he pleased; and boots that carried the wearer wherever he wished. Heinel said he must try the wonders before valuing them. They gave the cloak; he wished himself a fly and was one. “The cloak is very well,” he said. “Now give me the sword.” “Not unless you promise not to say ‘Heads off!’,” they said, “or we are all dead men.” They gave it, charging him to try it on a tree. He asked for the boots too; the moment he had all three he wished himself at the Golden Mountain, and left the giants with nothing to share.

Near his castle he heard merry music; people said his queen was about to marry another husband. He threw on the cloak, passed unseen through the hall, and stood by the queen. Whatever meat was set on her plate he took and ate; whatever wine was handed he drank; so though they kept serving her, plate and cup stayed empty. Fear and remorse came over her; she went alone to her chamber weeping; he followed. “Alas,” she said to herself—“am I free or still bound by some spell?”

“False and fickle one!” said he. “Someone set you free, and that someone stands close by; but how have you used him? Ought he to have met such treatment from you?” Then he went out, sent the company away, and said the wedding was at an end, for he was come back to the kingdom. Princes and peers mocked him. He asked only if they would go in peace or not. They tried to seize him; he drew the sword—“Heads off!”—and the assembled men’s heads fell before him. Thus Heinel held the Golden Mountain as king.

Where this story comes from

This long German wonder tale comes from the Brothers Grimm and is not Indian. Margaret Hunt’s 1884 translation gives it as number 92, Der König vom goldenen Berg; our text keeps close to the Project Gutenberg edition based on Taylor and Edwardes.

The Grimms say a soldier told it to them. They also print a version from Zwehrn in which a fisherman who cannot catch his quota promises his son to the Devil; the boy sits inside a circle with a Bible, and the Devil cannot reach him, much as Heinel’s protective circle keeps the dwarf out here.

The magic sword’s “Heads off!” ending is kept as in the source, told in a single line.

Read the original: Grimms’ Fairy Tales, tr. Edgar Taylor and Marian Edwardes (Project Gutenberg #2591, The King of the Golden Mountain)

For older readers: a child pledged for money and cast adrift, repeated torture and beheading with magical revival, marital betrayal and a mass killing. The final recovery of a kingdom is a violent outcome, not a simple happy ending.

Reading the story closely

Heinel insists that his consent is needed when his father bargains him away, yet later summons his wife against her express condition and takes the giants’ possessions under a false pretext. These scenes make consent a recurring question rather than a virtue the hero consistently possesses. His endurance frees the princess, but that service does not cancel her stated boundary.

Make a list of the bargains: the father’s bond, the boat compromise, the ring’s condition and the giants’ request for a fair division. Identify who agrees, who bears the danger and who later changes the terms. Finally compare the opening father’s concern for wealth with the ending king’s use of force to retain power. The closing sentence establishes who rules; it does not settle whether his conduct is just.

Talk about it

• How does Heinel keep the dwarf from taking him?
• Why do you think the queen was so angry when Heinel used the ring to bring her to his father’s house?
• Heinel tricks the three giants out of their treasures. Was that fair? What would you have done?

Related stories

• The Blue Light — another Grimm hero whose magic servant helps him punish those who wronged him
• Rumpelstiltskin — a little man who demands a child in return for gold, from Grimm
• The Water of Life — a Grimm prince who must reach an enchanted castle and free a princess