The Robber Bridegroom
HERE was once a Miller, who had a beautiful daughter. When she grew up, he wanted to have her married and settled. He thought, ‘If a suitable bridegroom come and ask for my daughter, I will give her to him.’
Soon after a suitor came who appeared to be rich, and as the Miller knew nothing against him he promised his daughter to him. The Maiden, however, did not like him as a bride ought to like her bridegroom; nor had she any faith in him. Whenever she looked at him, or thought about him, a shudder came over her. One day he said to her, ‘You are my betrothed, and yet you have never been to see me.’
The Maiden answered: ‘I don’t even know where your house is.’
Then the Bridegroom said, ‘My house is in the depths of the forest.’
She made excuses, and said she could not find the way.
The Bridegroom answered: ‘Next Sunday you must come and see me without fail. I have invited some other guests, and, so that you may be able to find the way, I will strew some ashes to guide you.’
When Sunday came, and the Maiden was about to start, she was frightened, though she did not know why. So that she should be sure of finding her way back she filled her pockets with peas and lentils. At the entrance to the forest she found the track of ashes, and followed it; but every step or two she scattered a few peas right and left.
She walked nearly the whole day, right into the midst of the forest, where it was almost dark. Here she saw a solitary house, which she did not like; it was so dark and dismal.