"The Flail From Heaven" (German: ''Der Dreschflegel vom Himmel'') is a Brothers Grimm fairy tale 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 ...

. Since the second edition published in 1819, it has been recorded as Tale no. 112. It is Aarne–Thompson type AT 1889K, ''A Rope Made of Chaff''.

Synopsis

The tale begins with a peasant tilling his fields with a pair of oxen. Inexplicably, while in the field, the oxen's horns grew to an extraordinary size; an effect that prevented the peasant from returning home with them. Fortunately, the peasant was able to sell the oxen to a nearby butcher. The butcher, having no currency on him, bartered a measure of turnip-seed with the peasant, offering should the peasant return to him with the measure of

rapeseed Rapeseed (''Brassica napus ''subsp.'' napus''), also known as rape, or oilseed rape, is a bright-yellow flowering member of the family Brassicaceae (mustard or cabbage family), cultivated mainly for its oil-rich seed, which naturally contains a ...

he would exchange a

Brabant Brabant is a traditional geographical region (or regions) in the Low Countries of Europe. It may refer to: Place names in Europe * London-Brabant Massif, a geological structure stretching from England to northern Germany Belgium * Province of Bra ...

thaler A thaler (; also taler, from german: Taler) is one of the large silver coins minted in the states and territories of the Holy Roman Empire and the Habsburg monarchy during the Early Modern period. A ''thaler'' size silver coin has a diameter of ...

for each seed. The peasant returned home with the seed, however, he lost one seed out of the bag on the way. The next day, the butcher paid him per agreement minus the one missing seed. On his way back from the butcher, the peasant passed where he dropped the seed and saw it had sprouted into a tree which reached up to the heavens. The peasant climbed the tree and, reaching the top, spied angels

threshing Threshing, or thrashing, is the process of loosening the edible part of grain (or other crop) from the straw to which it is attached. It is the step in grain preparation after reaping. Threshing does not remove the bran from the grain. History ...

oats. While he was viewing the angels, the tree began to shake; someone below was cutting down the tree. To save himself from being falling from the tree, the peasant wove a length of rope from the oat

chaff Chaff (; ) is the dry, scaly protective casing of the seeds of cereal grains or similar fine, dry, scaly plant material (such as scaly parts of flowers or finely chopped straw). Chaff is indigestible by humans, but livestock can eat it. In agri ...

that lay in piles. Before descending he stole a hoe and a

flail A flail is an agricultural tool used for threshing, the process of separating grains from their husks. It is usually made from two or more large sticks attached by a short chain; one stick is held and swung, causing the other (the swipple) to st ...

which were lying in the heavenly fields. He descended the rope only to find himself at the bottom of deep pit. Using the hoe, he carved a flight of steps and walked up and out of the pit. The peasant kept the flail as proof of his adventure.

References

External links

Northvegr.org
Grimms' Fairy Tales German fairy tales Heaven in popular culture ATU 1875-1999 {{story-stub