Reading Notes Brothers Grimm (Reading A)

Cat and Mouse Partnership:

A cat convinced a mouse of its love and friendship that the mouse agreed to live with the cat
They prepared for winter by hiding a pot of fat under the altar in a church
The cat soon wanted some of the fat so it lied to the mouse and said it needed to go to the church to meet a new godson. He went to the church and ate some of the fat
Not long after the cat wanted more fat so he told the mouse that he was going to meet another godson at the church
Later the car finished the rest of the fat without the mouse knowing
Soon it was winter and the mouse told the cat they should go and get some of their fat but once the mouse saw that it was all gone the cat swallowed the mouse

The Wolf and the Seven Young Kids:

There was an old goat and she had seven little kids
One day she went to the woods to find food and warned her kids to look out for wolves
The wolf knocked on the door and pretended to be their mother but they did not fall for it
He ate chalk and tried to convince them again but the kids saw his paw and did not open the door
He went and covered his paw in flour and when he returned the kids believed him to be their mother and let him in. The wolf is almost all of the kids and left with a full stomach
The mother returned and the only kid left was her youngest
She went out and saw the wolf sleeping under a tree and noticed his stomach was moving.
She believed her kids to still be alive so she fetched scissors and cut open the wolf and all her children came out and were not hurt
They filled his stomach with stones and sewed the wound back up while he slept
He went to get a drink and fell into the river and drowned

The Singing Bone:

There was great concern about a wild boar that was destroying fields, killing cattle, ripping people apart with tusks.
The king offered a reward for anyone who killed the boar
Two brothers attempted this task but for different reasons. The oldest did it for greed and the younger did it for kindness
They entered the woods from different parts and the young one met a dwarf who gave him his spear to attack the boar with
He found the boar and killed it and took the beats home with him
The older brother saw him with the dead boar and convinced him to come inside the bar and drink
The older brother killed his little brother and hurried him beneath the bridge
The older brother took the boar to the king and received his daughter’s hand in marriage
A shepherd saw the bone years later and picked it up and the bone sang to him and told him of his brother killing him
He brought it to the king who had the ground under the bridge dug up
The whole skeleton was found and the older brother was drowned alive and the skeleton of the younger brother was hurried in a nice grave.

Herr Korbes:

There was a rooster and a hen who wanted to take a journey so he hitched a ride on a carriage with mice
Soon they came across a cat who wished to join them on their way to Herr Korbes’s house
The car joined them as did an egg, a duck, a pin, and a needle
When they arrive at Herr’s house he was not there so they put the carriage in the barn and made themselves at home in his house
The he came home he ran into all the animals and items and ended up dead

Story source: The Grimm Brothers' Children's and Household Tales translated by D. L. Ashliman (1998-2013).

Mythology & Folklore