"The Devil and his Grandmother" or "The Dragon and His Grandmother" (german: Der Teufel und seine Großmutter) is a German

fairy tale A fairy tale (alternative names include fairytale, fairy story, magic tale, or wonder tale) is a short story that belongs to the folklore genre. Such stories typically feature magic (paranormal), magic, incantation, enchantments, and mythical ...

collected by the

Brothers Grimm The Brothers Grimm ( or ), Jacob (1785–1863) and Wilhelm (1786–1859), were a brother duo of German academics, philologists, cultural researchers, lexicographers, and authors who together collected and published folklore. They are among the ...

, number 125. According to Jack Zipes, the source of the story was

Dorothea Viehmann Dorothea Viehmann (November 8, 1755 – November 17, 1816) was a German storyteller. Her stories were an important source for the fairy tales collected by the Brothers Grimm. Most of Dorothea Viehmann's tales were published in the second vol ...

, the wife of a tailor from

Hesse Hesse (, , ) or Hessia (, ; german: Hessen ), officially the State of Hessen (german: links=no, Land Hessen), is a States of Germany, state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt. Two other major histor ...

Andrew Lang Andrew Lang (31 March 1844 – 20 July 1912) was a Scottish poet, novelist, literary critic, and contributor to the field of anthropology. He is best known as a collector of folk and fairy tales. The Andrew Lang lectures at the University ...

included it in ''

The Yellow Fairy Book ''The Langs' Fairy Books'' are a series of 25 collections of true and fictional stories for children published between 1889 and 1913 by Andrew Lang and his wife, Leonora Blanche Alleyne. The best known books of the series are the 12 collections ...

''. A version of this tale also appears in ''A Book of Dragons'' by

Ruth Manning-Sanders Ruth Manning-Sanders (21 August 1886 – 12 October 1988) was an English poet and author born in Wales, known for a series of children's books for which she collected and related fairy tales worldwide. She published over 90 books in her lifetime ...

. It is Aarne-Thompson-Uther Index type 821, the devil's riddle.

Synopsis

Three

soldier A soldier is a person who is a member of an army. A soldier can be a conscripted or volunteer enlisted person, a non-commissioned officer, or an officer. Etymology The word ''soldier'' derives from the Middle English word , from Old French ...

s could not live on their pay, and so attempted to desert by hiding in a cornfield. When the army did not march away, they were soon caught between starving or emerging to face execution. A

dragon A dragon is a reptilian legendary creature that appears in the folklore of many cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but dragons in western cultures since the High Middle Ages have often been depicted as ...

happened to fly by at this time, however, and offered the three men salvation under the condition that they must serve him for seven years. When they agreed, the dragon, named Westerlies, carried them off. However, the dragon was in fact the

Devil A devil is the personification of evil as it is conceived in various cultures and religious traditions. It is seen as the objectification of a hostile and destructive force. Jeffrey Burton Russell states that the different conceptions of t ...

. He gave them a whip with which they could make money, but said at the end of seven years, they were his unless they could guess a riddle in which case they would be free and could keep the whip. At the end of the seven years, two of the soldiers were morose at the thought of their fate. An old woman advised them to go down to a cottage for help. The third soldier, who did not fear the riddle, went down and met the

devil's grandmother The devil's grandmother appears in the German fairy tales '' The Devil and his Grandmother'' and '' The Devil with the Three Golden Hairs''. She appears in the Swedish film, '' Haxan'', in the sabbath scene, where she concocts spells. Her appeara ...

. She was pleased with his manners and hid him in the cellar. When the devil came, she questioned him, and the soldier learned the answers. The Devil found them at the end of the seven years, and said he would take them to hell and serve them a meal. The riddle was: what was the meat, the silver spoon, and the wineglass for that meal. The soldiers gave the correct answers: a dead sea-cat in the North Sea, a whale rib, and an old horse's hoof. No longer in the devil's power, the soldiers lived happily ever after thanks to the money-making whip that they kept.

In popular culture

* The Devil and his Grandmother is featured in ''

Grimm's Fairy Tale Classics ''Grimm's Fairy Tale Classics'', also known as ''Grimm Masterpiece Theater'' (グリム名作劇場 ''Gurimu meisaku gekijō'') in the original version and ''The Grimm's Fairy Tales'' (in Australia and New Zealand), is a Japanese anime antholo ...

'' under its "Grimm Masterpiece Theater" season where the story was referred to as "The Naughty Spirit." Additionally the third soldier is a drummer boy who the other two had forced to desert with them as he was the only one who knew the way back to the village they planned to flee to. Additionally the devil in this version is a gargoyle known as

Beelzebub Beelzebub ( ; he, ''Baʿal-zəḇūḇ'') or Beelzebul is a name derived from a Philistine god, formerly worshipped in Ekron, and later adopted by some Abrahamic religions as a major demon. The name ''Beelzebub'' is associated with the Cana ...

who is depicted as being a low level demon who is terrible at making riddles. The grandmother is omitted and the drummer boy learns the first two answers by spying on Beelzebub and the third he learns by praying to angels in heaven who take pity on him. Also Beelzebub's riddles are actually a goatskin made to look like silk, a billy goat made to look like a horse, and a cup of death made from the horn of a ram made to appear as a golden cup. After solving the riddles the three are returned to forest they were hiding in though the story ends with them running into the same regiment they had deserted forcing them to flee. * The story inspired Mike Mignola's fifth issue of his series ''

Hellboy In Hell Hellboy is a fictional superhero created by writer-artist Mike Mignola. The character first appeared in ''San Diego Comic-Con Comics'' #2 (August 1993), and has since appeared in various eponymous Limited series (comics), miniseries, one-shot (com ...

'' called "The Three Gold Whips"

References

External links

* *
''The Devil and His Grandmother''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Devil and his Grandmother, The Grimms' Fairy Tales The Devil in fairy tales Dragons in fairy tales Hell in popular culture Deal with the Devil Literary duos Fictional families German fairy tales ATU 750-849

Synopsis

In popular culture

See also

References

External links