Romantic Fairy Tales

by Carol Tully (Editor), Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Ludwig Tieck

The German Romantic movement arose in response to the turmoil of the French Revolution and to the Enlightenment's emphasis on science and reason. Nostalgia for the past and a fascination with mysticism and medivialism caused a group of writers to adopt the foremost form of the Kunstmar or "literary fairy tales". This collection, vividly illustrating the development of German Romanticism, presents four of the genre's key texts that still have the power to enchant and disturb. Goethe's The Fairy Tale (1795) -- an ethereal story of prophecy and resurrection -- helped establish of the genre. Ludwig Tieck's Eckbert the Fair (1792) is a dark story of incest and murder. Friedrich de la Motte Fouque describes the unhappy fate of a wood nymph with the soul of a woman in Undine (1811). In The Tale of Honest Casper and Fair Annie (1817), Clemens Brentano tells the tale of young couple destroyed by a false sense of honor.

Genres: Fiction, Literature, Classics, Short Stories, Fantasy, Fairy Tales, Folklore

192 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 2000

Reviews

[Jacob]

November 2011

MURDER! INCEST! MADNESS! DEATH!*

For a LIMITED TIME! READ NOW!

SEE--WACKY HIJINKS in Goethe's "The Fairy Tale," the BIGGEST, WILDEST, most BALLS-TO-THE-WALL story EVER, featuring playful will-o'-the-whisps, snakes that turn into bridges, prophetic statues, magic lamps, old women, lovesick princes, a handsome youth, a beautiful lady, and a grouchy old ferryman who loves artichokes more than gold. DOES HE GET HIS ARTICHOKES? READ and FIND OUT!

READ--"Eckbert the Fair" by Ludwig Tieck, a tale of murder, incest, madness, AND death--ALL FOUR for the price of one! DON'T MISS THIS!

CHECK OUT--"Undine" from Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué. You thought Hans Christian Anderson did mermaids and water nymphs? YOU AIN'T SEEN NOTHING til you've seen Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué's water nymphs! HURRY WHILE SUPPLIES LAST!

AND DON'T FORGET--"The Tale of Honest Caspar and Fair Annie" by Clemens Brentano! Murder, incest, madness, DEATH! (Incest not included) You want your DOOMED, STAR-CROSSED LOVERS? WE GOT your doomed, star-crossed lovers!

ALL THAT and MORE in ROMANTIC FAIRY TALES from PENGUIN CLASSICS--Penguin's SLIMMEST fairy tale collection EVER! WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? READ NOW!

*Also includes fencing, fighting, torture, poison, true love, hate, revenge, giants, hunters, bad men, good men, beautifullest ladies, snakes, spiders, beasts of all natures and descriptions, pain, death, brave men, coward men, strongest men, chases, escapes, lies, truths, passion, and miracles--but mostly just murder, madness, and death. And a little incest. Void where prohibited.

[Michał Hołda · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is very pictional four romantic fairy tales, very good ones. by four authors. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Ludwig Tieck, Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué , Clemens Brentano ( in the last is even tragedy of Ulan).
—-

Goethe's first fairy tale starts with tired fisherman that can only take people on on side of the river rever, whereas people want to go to the other to meet faithfull Lily

‘To sacrifice myself before I am sacrificed by others,’ replied the serpent. ‘Promise me that you will leave no stone on dry land.’ The old man gave her his word and then turned to Lily. ‘Touch the snake with your left hand and your beloved with the right.’ Then Lily knelt down and touched both serpent and corpse. Almost immediately, the latter seemed to come to life. He began to stir in the basket, then raised himself and sat upright; Lily wanted to embrace him there and then but the old man held her back. Instead, he helped the youth to his feet and guided him as he stepped out of the basket and moved away from the circle.

... they began to notice an odd change at work in the serpent. Her beautiful slender body had dispersed into thousands and thousands of glittering precious stones. In rushing to make a grab for her basket, the old woman had collided with her clumsily and there was nothing more to be seen of the serpent’s former shape except for a circle of beautiful glittering jewels lying in the grass.

Four kings came into view, illuminated by the flickering lights as the procession entered the shrine. They all bowed before the honourable rulers, particularly the will-o’-the-wisps, who bowed lowest of all. Golden,Silver, Iron, Alloy king's - ‘Who shall rule the world?’ he asked in a stammering voice. ‘Whosoever stands upright,’ replied the old man. ‘That is me!’ said the alloy king.

The ferryman’s little hut, which had been torn from the ground and consumed by the temple as it rose upwards, now sank gradually to the floor, burying the youth and the old man beneath it.

The old woman, whose hand continued to grow smaller in the absence of the lamp, cried out, ‘Am I still doomed to be unhappy? In the midst of so many miracles, is there no miracle that will save my hand?’

‘Just go and do as I say,’ said the old man. ‘All debts are now cancelled.’

Old man stepped between the youth and the maiden and cried in a loud voice: ‘There are three things that rule this earth: wisdom, light and power.’ At the mention of the first of these, the golden king stood up; at the second, the silver; and, at the mention of the third, the iron king slowly raised himself up as the alloy king sat down awkwardly.
---
And that is just merely fragment of this story that is so very well written for imaginative minds

Fun, merrily squandering the gold from the limbs of the fallen king. The people ran greedily back and forth for a while longer, pushing and tearing at each other even after the gold coins had ceased to fall. Eventually, the crowd dispersed, each going their separate way. To this day the bridge still swarms with travellers and the temple is the most visited in the whole wide world.

Love educates and the man and Lilly are husbend and wife. -The Green Snake and the Beautiful Lil.

—-

Ludwig Tieck's

Eckbert the Fair led a peaceful, solitary life, never becoming involved in his neighbours’ quarrels, and was seldom seen beyond the boundary walls of his small castle. His wife was equally fond of such solitude, and they seemed to love each other dearly, yet they often bemoaned the fact that Heaven had not seen fit to bless their marriage with children.

‘Dear friend, you must allow my wife to recount to you the tale of her youth – it is most odd.’...

‘My father was always angry with me for being such a useless burden on the household. ... Such had been my life when, at roughly the age of eight, serious efforts began to be made for me to do or learn something. ... When these bore no fruit, he beat me in the most cruel way, saying that the punishment would be repeated every day, for I was little more than a useless creature. ... ‘I wept bitterly the whole night through, I felt so completely abandoned and so sorry for myself that I wanted to die. I feared the break of day and simply did not know what course of action to take.

At the same time I felt a torturous hunger. I sat down and made up my mind to die. After some time, however, the will to live won me over. I pulled myself to my feet and, in tears, carried on walking, sobbing intermittently, the whole day long. By the end I barely knew who I was.

I once more saw woods and meadows and distant mountains before me.

I went closer and, at the edge of the wood, I could make out the form of an old woman, who seemed to be resting. She was dressed almost entirely in black, and a black hood covered her head and a large part of her face. In her hand she held a walking-stick. ‘I approached her and asked for her help. She let me sit down at her side and gave me some bread and wine. While I ate, she sang a hymn in a screeching voice. When she had finished she asked me to follow her. ‘
...
She finally trusted me enough to reveal a secret to me. Every day the bird laid an egg, which contained a pearl or a jewel. I had certainly noticed that she dealt with the cage in secret but had never really concerned myself with it any further. She now gave me the task of removing the eggs in her absence, and of keeping them safe in the odd receptacles. She left me food and stayed away for longer periods – weeks or even months.

I awoke with the firm intention of taking the bird and leaving the hut to seek out the so-called world. My thoughts were oppressive and troubled me greatly. I wanted to stay on there but yet the very thought repulsed me. There was a strange battle in my soul, like the struggle between two opposing spirits within me. One minute the peaceful isolation seemed quite beautiful to me, the next I was enticed by the prospect of a new world with all its wonderful variety.

A crooked old woman, leaning on a stick and coughing, approached the mound stealthily. ‘Have you brought my bird? My pearls? My dog?’ she screamed at him. ‘You see, wrong brings its own punishment: your friend Walther, your Hugo – they were none other than me.’ ‘God in Heaven,’ Eckbert whispered to himself. ‘What awful solitude have I been living in!’ ‘And Bertha was your sister.’ Eckbert sank to the ground. ‘Why did she leave me so treacherously? Everything would have turned out well otherwise. The period of her trial was already over. She was the daughter of a knight who had her brought up by a shepherd – your father’s child.’ ‘Why did I always fear something as terrible as this?’ cried Eckbert. ‘Because as a young child you once heard your father speak of it; he was not allowed to bring this daughter up at home because of his wife, for the child was born of another woman.’ Eckbert lay crazed and dying on the ground; his mind dulled and confused, he heard the old woman speaking, the dog barking and the bird singing its song over and over again.

—-

Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué Romantic fairy tale

Fisherman was startled to hear a rustling sound akin to that of a man on horseback coming from the dark depths of the wood. ... The cause of the noise, it appeared, had been a magnificently clad knight, who now rode through the shadows towards the hut.

Inside, on a large chair by the hearth, sat the fisherman’s wife. A meagre fire gave out a dim light, which barely illuminated the neatly kept room. The old woman stood up to welcome the noble guest as he entered but then sat down again in her place of honour without offering it to the stranger.

‘Undine! Will you stop these childish games once and for all. ‘Then,’ she continued, ‘you must tell us how you came to be there, for people generally shy away from it; and tell us too what strange adventures you had, for they say it is impossible to go there without experiencing something.’ He then composed himself and was about to begin his tale when the old man interrupted him: ‘No, sir; this is not the right time.’ Undine leapt angrily from her stool, thrust her beautiful hands on her hips and, standing close up to the fisherman, shouted at the top of her voice, ‘Not the right time? Not now? But I want him to tell; he must! He simply must!’ ‘If you can do nothing but scold me and refuse to grant my will then you can sleep alone in your old smoky hut!’ With that, she flew through the door like an arrow and ran out into the dark night.

As neither of them was capable of thinking of anything other than Undine, there seemed nothing better than for the knight to hear how Undine came to be with the old fisherman.

I have been unable these fifteen years to discover anything of her origin; she said – and still says – such strange things now and then, that we are not sure whether, in the end, she might just as well have come down to us from the moon. There is talk of golden castles, glass ceilings and Lord knows what else.

We finally decided on Dorothea as the name most suited to her, for I had once heard that it meant “a gift from God”,

Huldbrand saw Undine on a little island which had been created by the flood. She was smiling and nestled coyly in the lush grass under the branches of the overhanging trees. At the same time he stretched out his arms far over the water towards her and nodded to assure her that her wish would be granted, and, as he did so, the white hair fell around his face in a peculiar fashion, which reminded Huldbrand of the nodding white man in the forest. Determined not to be deterred by anything, however, the young knight took the beautiful girl in his arms and carried her over the torrent that rushed through the narrow channel between their tiny island and the safety of the bank.

Then the knight began his tale.

‘Some eight days hence, I rode into the imperial city that lies beyond the forest. Shortly after my arrival, there was jousting and running at the ring and I spared neither steed nor lance in my enjoyment. I inquired of my neighbour and discovered that the charming maiden was named Bertalda and that she was the ward of a powerful duke who resided in the area. I was aware that she was looking at me too and, as is often the case with us young knights, my steady horsemanship at once acquired a certain urgency. That evening at the ball I was Bertalda’s companion and remained by her side for all eight days of the festivities.

'What will you give me if I get you some wine? Actually, you do not need to give me anything,’ she continued, ‘for I will be quite satisfied just to see you look a little happier and a little more enthusiastic than you have this last tedious day. Just come with me; the forest stream has washed up a barrel on the bank, and I would readily wager a whole week of sleep that it is a barrel of wine.’ The men followed her and did indeed find a barrel floating in a sheltered inlet, which they hoped might contain the noble beverage they so desired. They rolled it into the hut as quickly as possible for, judging by the evening sky, the weather was about to worsen and even in the half light the white crests of the waves on the lake could already be seen foaming upwards as if in search of the rain that was about to fall. Undine helped them as best she could and, as the rain began to pour down on them, turned to threaten the heavy clouds in jest. ‘Hey you! Take care not to soak us! We are not nearly under cover yet.’
…
He found himself face to face with a quite hideous countenance, which cried out to him in a hollow voice: ‘Give me a kiss me then, you lovelorn shepherd.’ Huldbrand leapt to his feet, screaming in horror, the hideous figure after him. ‘Be gone!’ she muttered, ‘for the demons are awake. Be gone! Or I shall have you!’ With that, she made a grab for him with her long white arms. ‘Treacherous Kühleborn,’ cried the knight, recovering his courage, ‘what do you matter to me, you goblin? Go on, here is a fitting kiss for you!’ He rushed furiously at the figure with his sword, but the apparition vanished into thin air. The gush of water that subsequently drenched him left the knight in no doubt as to the identity of the enemy he had just crossed swords with. ‘He wants to frighten me away from Bertalda,’ he said to himself aloud. ‘He thinks I am afraid of his foolish tricks and that I will abandon that poor terrified girl to him so that he can have his revenge. But he shall not have it! Such an unworthy spirit! That powerless trickster has no idea what he is up against. He cannot conceive the courage of a human heart that desires something so much that it would gladly give its last breath to have it.’ He sensed the truth of his words and felt his courage bolstered by them. It seemed too as if luck had at once joined forces with him for he had not quite reached the spot where his horse was tethered when he clearly heard Bertalda’s anguished voice crying out to him from near by through the deafening roar of the storm. He hastened towards the sound and found the trembling young girl as she tried to clamber upwards in an attempt to somehow escape the terrible darkness of the valley. He stood in her path and tried to comfort her. As bold and proud as her earlier decision to leave had been, nothing could compare with the sense of relief and happiness that Bertalda now felt at the sight of her beloved friend. He had come to save her from this terrible solitude and return her to the carefree life in the old familiar castle that now seemed to reach out to her with welcoming arms. She followed almost without speaking, but was so exhausted that the knight was glad when finally he had led her to his steed. He began to untether the animal so that he might lift the errant beauty into the saddle and guide her carefully back through the unfamiliar shadows of the valley.

Walk on! Pull yourselves together! Remember what you are!’[ to horse] The knight leaned out of the cart and saw that the horses were striding onwards and, indeed, almost swimming, surrounded by foaming water. The cartwheels glistened and rushed like mill-wheels as the carter climbed on to the axles to escape the rising water.

Kühleborn, prince of the water spirits takes away knight in carate.

II were to tell you what happened at Castle Ringstetten on the night of the wedding feast,..Yet it was not that some ghostly monster had upset the mood of celebration, for we know that the castle was a haven from the tricks of the threatening water spirits. Instead, it seemed to the knight and the fisherman, and indeed to all the guests, that the most important person was missing, and that person was dear, kind Undine.

‘Oh,’ replied the wanderer, ‘do you not want to see me one last time? I am as beautiful as I was when you courted me on the peninsula.’ ‘Oh, if only it were so!’ sighed Huldbrand; ‘would that I could die with a kiss from your lips.’ ‘With pleasure, my dear,’ she said. She pushed back her veil to reveal her lovely face smiling with heavenly beauty. Trembling with love and at the closeness of death, the knight bowed towards her, she kissed him with a heavenly kiss and did not let him go. She held him ever closer to her breast and wept as if she wanted to weep her soul away. The tears fell into the knight’s eyes and flowed like a sweet pain through his veins until the breath finally went from his body and he slid softly from her tender arms on to the soft pillows of his bed.

Many years later, so the story goes, the inhabitants of the village still pointed to the stream, firm in their belief that it was poor, rejected Undine whose kindly arms still embraced her lover.

—-

The Tale of Honest Casper and Fair Annie by Clemens Brentano

His lieutenant always said, if there is any honour in the body of my squadron, then it is quartered with Finkel. He was with the. The Ulan spoke of the French and when his father and his stepbrother tried to criticize them, the Ulan said: “Father, you do not understand, they are most honourable!” That made his stepbrother spiteful and he said: “How is it you can preach to your father so much about honour? Was he not a sergeant in the N— regiment? He must know more about it than you do, you are only a common soldier.” “Yes, indeed,” said Finkel senior, who was by now quite argumentative too, “that I was, and I doled out twenty-five lashes to a few big-mouthed youngsters; if I had had Frenchmen in the company, then they would have felt them even better with all their honour.” These words hurt the Ulan: “Let me tell you the story of a French sergeant. Under the previous king, corporal punishment was set to be introduced into the French army...When he had finished, he took the weapon of the man he had hit, stood it on the ground before him and pressed with his foot so that the bullet went through his head and he fell dead on the ground. This was reported to the king and the command for corporal punishment was revoked... yu will ruin us! Casper, you shall have everything back, for your mother’s sake. ...simply kept shouting: “My honour, my duty!”, he fired his pistol in the air and shouted: “Help, help, thieves, help!” ... Instead of going to the house, he went to the churchyard and sat by his mother’s grave. ‘By now day had dawned. I had been in the meadow and had woven two garlands of forget-me-nots for myself and for Casper. I thought: “He shall join me in adorning his mother’s grave when he returns.” ... Casper lay dead on his mother’s grave. He had shot himself in the heart. He had fastened Fair Annie’s garland to the button over his heart and fired the shot right through it. The garland for his mother was already fastened to the cross. As I beheld this sight, it felt as if the earth below me was opening up. I threw myself on him and cried over and over again: “Casper, oh you poor, unhappy man, what have you done? Oh, how did you learn of your misery? Oh, why did I let you go, before telling you everything. ...

‘Your Highness, this poor girl is the victim of a false sense of honour. A rich man led her astray and promised to marry her. She is so good that she would rather die than name him –’ The duke interrupted with tears in his eyes and said: ‘Silence, for Heaven’s sake!’ ...

She had a written promise of marriage from me and she burned it.. I gained control of her soul by means of certain medicinal means which have a magical effect. May God have mercy on me!Duke loves her, I was his favourite. The story has shocked him – God help me, I have taken poison. Joseph (Count) Grossinger.

Duke is elevating Grossinger’s sister to nobility with the title ‘Voile de grace’ marry her.

[Winnie Y · Rating 4 out of 5]

The stories chosen are a great introduction to German Romanticism and the Kunstmärchen (the sort of literary counterpart to Volksmärchen, or folk tales). The introduction is very informative, though it and the analysis of the individual stories are best read after one has finished the stories.

[Lydia Presley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Recently there's been a lot of fairy-tale hype happening. Turn on the TV and you'll see advertisements for Grimm and Once Upon a Time. The theater this year will have two, yes two movies centering on Snow White. We've had recent movies re-telling Beauty and the Best and Red Riding Hood and this fairy tale uprising, I believe, is just getting started.

I recently took a class that focused on uncanny literature from Continental European authors. These stories were included in the reading for that class and I will not sugarcoat this - some of them were strange, disturbing, and outright freaky. But that makes it all the more fun to read, right?

Between poor Casper and Annie and all this business about beheading to Eckbert and that business about the incest, these fairy tales are accessable - so much so I forgot I was reading for class at some points and just enjoyed reading fairy tales that I was very unfamiliar with.

So if you are a fan of Grimms Fairy Tales and want to experience a little more on the uncanny side, this is a volume of stories that will sit proudly on your shelf. It's a book of pure fun (and grossness).

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

Basically, if you want to tear your soul apart, read this book. And I mean this in a good way, believe it or not. Four stories (from around the late 18th-early 19th century) are included in here, and three-fourths of them manage to outgrim Grimm (ha, ha, ha). However, they're good for sending some chills down your spine or even shedding some tears. And while I found Brentano's Tale of Honest Casper and Fair Annie and Tieck's Eckbert the Fair to be personally cloying (especially Brentano), Fouque's Undine is genuinely tragic and heartbreaking; I truly felt for those characters.

For me, the best of the four was Goethe's story, simply titled Fairy Tale. Don't let the title deceive you--it is far more imaginative than the boring, to-the-point title might suggest. I almost see a proto-proto Gaiman story with this one (somewhat in the vein of Stardust), and it doesn't go unappreciated. I'll make sure to seek more Goethe out in the future. I can see why some of the most famous writers and historical figures hyped him up so much!

Overall, a good book of stories to read while it's raining.

[Lulu]

Ludwig Tieck's Eckbert the Fair (1792)
Goethe's The Fairy Tale (1795)
Friedrich de la Motte Fouque Undine (1811)
The Tale of Honest Casper and Fair Annie (1817)
Clemens Brentano

[Solomong · Rating 3 out of 5]

Undine was the best of the fairy tales in this short book. All were interesting reads though.