The Raven

A queen had a little daughter still too young to run alone. One day the child was so troublesome the mother could not quiet her. Growing impatient, and seeing ravens about the castle, she opened the window and said she wished the child were a raven and would fly away, so she might have peace. Scarcely were the words spoken when the child in her arms became a raven and flew into a dark wood. There the bird remained a long time; the parents grieved.

One day a man was travelling through that wood and heard a raven call. Looking up he saw the bird, which said it was by birth a king’s daughter under a spell, and he could set her free. “What must I do?” he asked. “Go farther to a house where an old woman lives,” said the raven. “She will offer you food and drink. Take neither, or you will fall into a deep sleep and cannot help me. In the garden behind is a large tan-heap; stand on it and watch. I shall drive there at two in the afternoon three days running: first with four white horses, then four chestnut, then four black. If you sleep and I find you sleeping, I shall not be freed.” He promised; she sighed that she knew he would take something from the woman and fail. He swore he would touch nothing.

At the house the old woman met him. “Poor man, how tired you are! Come, rest and eat and drink.” “No,” he said, “I will neither eat nor drink.” She would not leave him alone. “If you will not eat, at least take a draught of wine; one drink counts for nothing.” At last he drank. Toward the hour he mounted the tan-heap. Fatigue overcame him; he lay down determined to stay awake, but his eyes closed and he slept so deeply all the world’s noise would not wake him. At two the raven drove up with four white horses; even before she arrived she sighed that she knew he slept. She found him, called, shook him—in vain.

Next noon the old woman brought food and drink again; he refused, then yielded to her urging and drank. On the heap he soon could not stand; he lay down and slept. The chestnut team came; she found him sleeping and could not wake him.

The third day she asked if he meant to kill himself by taking nothing. He said he might not eat or drink; she set dish and glass before him, and the smell of the wine broke his will—he drank deep. On the heap he was more overcome than ever and slept like a log. The raven came all in black, sadder than ever, knowing he slept. She could not wake him. Beside him she laid a loaf, meat, and a flask of wine that would never grow less however much he took; drew a gold ring engraved with her name from her finger onto his; and left a letter telling him of the food and saying that as long as he stayed here he would never free her—if he still wished to, he must come to the golden castle of Stromberg. Then she drove away.

When he woke and saw he had slept, he grieved that she had come and gone and it was too late. Then he saw the gifts, read the letter, and knew all. He rose at once to find Stromberg, but knew no direction. He wandered long, fourteen days in a dark forest without finding a way out. One night, worn out under a bush, he heard howling and wailing; when house-lights appeared he went toward a glimmer.

The light came from a house that looked small beside an immense giant at the door. “If the giant sees me,” he thought, “my life is worth little.” Yet he went forward. “Lucky you came,” cried the giant—“I have had nothing to eat a long time; I can have you for supper.” “I would rather you let that alone,” said the man. “If you want food, I have enough.” “If that is so,” said the giant, “I will leave you in peace; I only thought of eating you because I had nothing else.” Indoors the man brought out the never-ending bread, meat, and wine; the giant ate and drank his fill. Could he direct the man to Stromberg? He would look on his map of towns and villages—but the castle was not marked. Larger maps upstairs failed too. The giant begged him to wait for a brother out seeking provisions. When the brother returned and had eaten, they searched his maps and older ones until at last they found Stromberg many thousand miles away. “How shall I get there?” asked the man. “I have two hours to spare,” said the giant. “I will carry you near the castle, then come back to the child in our care.” He set the man within about a hundred leagues; the rest he must walk.

Day and night the man journeyed until he reached the golden castle of Stromberg—set on a glass mountain. From the foot he saw the enchanted maiden drive round and go inside. Overjoyed, he longed for the top, but the sides were so slippery he fell back every try. Grieved, he built a little hut and watched a whole year; every day he saw her drive round, still unable to get nearer.

One day he saw three robbers fighting and called, “God be with you.” They paused, saw nobody, fought harder. Twice more he called; the third time he went out and asked why they fought so angrily. One had found a stick that opened any door it struck; another a cloak that made its wearer invisible; the third a horse that carried its rider over any obstacle, even up the glass mountain. They could not decide whether to share or part. The man offered something of more value than money in exchange—first he must prove their claims. They set him on the horse with stick and cloak; in the cloak he vanished, then beat them with the stick for idle vagabonds.

He rode up the glass mountain. At the closed gate he struck with the stick; it flew open. He entered the room where the maiden sat with a golden goblet of wine. Still cloaked, unseen, he threw her ring into the goblet so it rang on the bottom. “That is my own ring,” she cried, “and if that is so, the man who is to free me must be here.” She sought him through the castle and found him nowhere. Meanwhile he had gone out, mounted, and thrown off the cloak. At the gate she saw him and cried aloud for joy. He dismounted and took her in his arms; she kissed him and said that now he had indeed set her free, and tomorrow they would celebrate their marriage.

Where this story comes from

The Brothers Grimm recorded “The Raven” in the Leine district of Lower Saxony, in Germany; it is not an Indian tale. It is number 93 in Margaret Hunt’s 1884 translation (Die Rabe), and the English here follows the Project Gutenberg text built on Taylor and Edwardes.

The Grimms’ note connects it with old Norse legend: the golden castle on the glass mountain recalls the hall of flames where Brynhild is shut away, and the old woman’s sleepy drink is like Grimhild’s potion of forgetfulness. They also point out a likeness to “The Seven Ravens”.

The giants threaten to eat the traveler before accepting food. The later taking of the robbers’ treasures also includes a beating; the quest’s success does not settle whether that conduct is justified.

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

Best for ages 9–12 with discussion: a parent’s curse, repeated magical sleep, threats of being eaten and a violent theft. The talking bird and enchanted food belong to fairy-tale rules.

Reading the story closely

The woman’s drink interrupts the rescue, but the raven’s own wine helps sustain the next attempt. The contrast is between gifts used to obstruct and gifts used to help, not a rule that all food offered by strangers is dangerous. The raven supplies the ring, instructions and provisions after the man fails; she is actively planning her own release.

Draw the three barriers—sleep, distance and the glass slope—and place the relevant help beside each. Maps and a giant solve distance only partly; the magical horse solves the slope. Then consider the stick and cloak: does needing those tools excuse beating the people who let him test them?

Talk about it

• Why does the man keep falling asleep, even though he promised to stay awake?
• The raven-princess leaves him gifts instead of giving up on him. What does that tell you about her?
• The man tricks the three robbers out of their treasures. Do you think he was right to do it? Why?

Related stories

• The Seven Ravens — a Grimm sister who travels to a glass mountain to free enchanted brothers
• The King of the Golden Mountain — a Grimm hero who wins a magic cloak from quarrelling giants
• The Six Swans — a Grimm sister who breaks a spell on her brothers by enduring a hard test