It's been a little over a week of slightly stressful, memory challenging mythdom. And I'm still kicking. Though I am contemplating changing the site name so that I don't have to post an entry every day (lazy, huh?).
This one I found a little while back in a collection of Brothers Grimm fairy tales. The title struck me as completely awesome, and just a little...odd for a fairy tale: The Maiden Without Hands.
There once lived an old miller, who gradually lost his business and was rendered penniless. All he had left was his mill and an old apple tree which grew behind it. One day, he went to gather wood in the forest, and an elderly stranger approached him, saying that he would offer the miller great riches if the miller would give the man whatever stands behind the mill. The miller thought, hey, why not? All I have to lose is the apple tree. So he agreed to the bargain. The old man smiled and said that he'd be back in three years to collect his payment, and was gone.
When he came home with his wood, the miller found his wife staring at a mountain of treasure beside the hearth. She asked him if he had any idea where it could have come from, and the miller said, "Oh, an old man promised me riches in exchange for what stood behind the mill. The woman's face paled when she heard this, and she gasped, "It was a wizard who came to you. He was not talking about the apple tree. He meant our daughter, who was sweeping behind the mill." The miller was shocked and saddened at the news, but there was nothing either of them could do; the maiden had been promised to the wizard.
Three years passed, and the day came when the maiden was to go with the wizard. Washing until she was cleansed and purified, she drew a circle of white chalk and stood within it. When the wizard came to collect her, he was enraged to find her there, clean as fresh snow. He ordered the miller to take away all the water so that she couldn't clean herself, because when she washed, he had no power over her.
The miller did as he was told, but when the wizard came for the daughter the next morning, he discovered that her hands were clean--she had wept on them. Still unable to touch her, he ordered that the maiden's hands be cut off. The miller protested, but again did as he was bid when the wizard threatened to carry him off instead of his daughter.
The wizard came the next day, but the girl had wept over the stumps of her arms, cleansing them. The wizard was livid, but he knew that he had lost all claim to the girl. When he had gone, the girl told her father that she wasn't safe in the mill any longer. So, with some well wishes and a bit of gauze, she set off into the world.
She wandered for a time until she came to one of the royal gardens. Across a river she spotted an orchard of pear trees. Not having eaten all day, she wished desperately for just one fruit. A fairy heard her prayer and opened a channel in the river, so that the maiden could pass on dry land (as she had no hands, she could not swim across). Reaching a tree, and having no hands to pick a fruit, she leaned in and ate the pear right off the branch. The gardener saw this, thought that the maiden was a ghost, and hid in fright.
When the King came the next morning and counted the pears on the tree, he discovered that one was missing and demanded to know what became of it. The gardener recounted the previous night's sighting. That night, the King lay in wait for the "spectre," accompanied by a priest. The girl arrived for another pear. The priest stepped forth, and asked her if she was a ghost or a human being. The girl answered that she was human, and needed help.
The King brought her to the castle, where he had her fitted with silver hands. He soon fell in love with her, and they were married. They conceived a son, and shortly after the pregnancy was announced, the King had to go away to war. He left his Queen under the care of his mother, and asked that they write to him.
When the child was born, the Queen sent her husband a letter. The messenger, however, stopped to rest and the wizard (yes, the self-same wizard who had attempted to claim the maiden all those years ago) swapped the letter with one of his own, which said that the child was a changeling. This was the letter that the King received, and though he was distressed, he loved his Queen so, and wrote that the Queen and their heir be well taken care of. However, the wizard intercepted this letter, too, and replaced it with one that ordered the death of the Queen and young Prince.
The King's mother received this letter and wrote a reply, but all the letters sent back and forth were thus intercepted by the wizard, and eventually the "King" altered his order so that instead of being put to death, the changeling son's tongue was to be cut out and the Queen's eyes removed. The old mother could not do this, however, and so she sent Queen and child away.
The Queen traveled a ways, and reached a cottage. A sign out front announced, "Every one who dwells here is safe." Here she sought refuge for a number of years. Meanwhile, the King returned to the castle and asked about his wife and son. The old mother wept and raved and shouted at him and showed him all the letters she'd received. Upon seeing that he'd been tricked, the King wept so bitterly that his mother told him she'd sent Queen and Prince away rather than kill them. The King vowed that he would not rest until he was reunited with his family.
He traveled for seven years in despair, before he found the cottage. The King entered, and the landlady sent for the Queen, who was still unaware that she'd been tricked by the wizard. When the Queen walked into the room, the covering fell off of the sleeping King's face, and the Queen told her son to replace it. The King, being a light sleeper, heard the voice, and turned his head so that the covering fell off again. The Queen again said to her son, "Cover the face of thy father." The boy replied that he thought he had no mortal father, and that God was his father. The King awoke and asked them who they were. The Queen replied, "I am your wife, and this is your child." The King was skeptical, and said that his wife had silver hands. Her hands (which had somehow miraculously grown back) were normal. The Queen went and brought out her old silver hands to show him.
They embraced each other, made amends and lived happily ever after.
Source:
http://pinkmonkey.com/dl/library1/story091.pdf
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