The Girl Without Hands

There was once a miller who had become poorer and poorer, until at last he had nothing left but his mill and a large apple tree behind it. One day, when he had gone into the forest to chop wood, an old man he had never seen before came up to him and said, "Why are you wearing yourself out cutting wood?

I will make you rich, if you promise me what is standing behind your mill." "What could that be but my apple tree?" thought the miller. He said yes and gave the stranger a written promise.

The stranger laughed mockingly and said, "After three years have passed, I will come and take what belongs to me." Then he left.

When the miller got home, his wife came to meet him and said, "Tell me, miller, where did all this sudden wealth come from? Every chest and box is full. No one brought it in, and I don't know how it happened." He answered, "It comes from a stranger I met in the forest.

He promised me great treasure, and I promised him what stands behind the mill. We can easily give him the big apple tree for it." "Oh, husband!" said the terrified wife. "That must have been the devil!

He didn't mean the apple tree, but our daughter, who was standing behind the mill sweeping the yard."

The miller's daughter was a beautiful and pious girl. She lived through the three years fearing God and sinning not. When the time was up and the day came for the Devil to fetch her, she washed herself clean and drew a circle with chalk around her.

The devil appeared early, but he could not come near her. Angrily, he said to the miller, "Take all water away from her, so she can no longer wash herself. Otherwise I have no power over her." The miller was afraid and did as he was told.

The next morning the devil came again, but she had wept on her hands, and they were quite clean. Again he could not get near her. Furiously, he said to the miller, "Cut off her hands, or else I cannot get the better of her." The miller was shocked and answered, "How could I cut off my own child's hands?" The devil threatened him: "If you do not do it, you are mine, and I will take you yourself." The father became alarmed and promised to obey.

He went to the girl and said, "My child, if I do not cut off both your hands, the devil will carry me away. In my terror I have promised to do it. Help me in my need, and forgive me the harm I do you." She replied, "Dear father, do with me what you will.

I am your child." Then she laid down both her hands and let them be cut off. The devil came for the third time, but she had wept so long and so much on the stumps that they were quite clean.

Then he had to give up, for he had lost all right over her.

The miller said to her, "Because of you, I have received such great wealth that I will keep you in comfort for the rest of your life." But she replied, "I cannot stay here. I will go out into the world.

Kind people will give me enough to live on." She had her mutilated arms bound to her back, and at sunrise she set out. She walked all day until night fell. Then she came to a royal garden.

By the light of the moon, she saw trees full of beautiful fruit, but she could not enter because there was water all around. Since she had walked all day without eating a bite, she was tormented by hunger.

She thought, "Oh, if only I could go inside and eat some fruit, or else I will die of hunger." Then she knelt down, called on God, and prayed. Suddenly an angel came toward her and made a dam in the water, so that the moat became dry and she could walk through.

She went into the garden, and the angel went with her.

She saw a tree with beautiful pears, all carefully counted. She went to it and, to still her hunger, ate one pear with her mouth from the tree, but no more. The gardener was watching. But because the angel was standing by, he was afraid and thought the maiden was a spirit.

He kept silent and did not dare to cry out or speak. When she had eaten the pear, she was satisfied. She went and hid among the bushes. The next morning, the king to whom the garden belonged came and counted the pears.

He saw that one was missing and asked the gardener what had happened to it, for it was not lying under the tree but was gone. The gardener answered, "Last night a spirit came in who had no hands and ate one of the pears with its mouth." The king asked, "How did the spirit get over the water, and where did it go after eating the pear?" The gardener replied, "Someone in a snow-white garment came from heaven, made a dam, and held back the water so that the spirit could walk through the moat.

It must have been an angel, so I was afraid and did not cry out. After the spirit had eaten the pear, it went back again." The king said, "If what you say is true, I will watch with you tonight."

When it grew dark, the king came into the garden with a priest to speak to the spirit. All three sat beneath the tree and watched. At midnight, the maiden crept out of the thicket, went to the tree, and again ate a pear with her mouth, with the angel in white standing beside her.

The priest went to her and said, "Do you come from heaven or from earth? Are you a spirit or a human being?" She replied, "I am no spirit. I am an unhappy mortal, deserted by everyone but God." The king said, "If you are forsaken by all the world, I will not forsake you." He took her into his royal palace.

Because she was so beautiful and good, he loved her with all his heart. He had silver hands made for her and married her.

After a year, the king had to go to war. He commended his young queen to the care of his mother and said, "If she gives birth, take care of her and nurse her well. Send me word at once in a letter." The queen gave birth to a fine boy.

The old mother quickly wrote the joyful news and sent a messenger. But the messenger rested by a brook on the way and, tired from the long journey, fell asleep. Then the devil, who always tried to harm the good queen, exchanged the letter for another, which said that the queen had given birth to a monster.

When the king read it, he was shocked and deeply troubled. He wrote back that they should take great care of the queen and nurse her well until his return. The messenger went back with this letter, but rested at the same place and again fell asleep.

The devil came once more and put a different letter in his pocket, ordering them to put the queen and her child to death. The old mother was terribly shocked when she received the letter and could not believe it.

She wrote back to the king, but each time the devil substituted a false answer. The last letter even said that she should keep the queen's tongue and eyes as proof that she had obeyed.

The old mother wept at the thought of shedding innocent blood. By night, she had a hind brought and cut out its tongue and eyes, and kept them. Then she said to the queen, "I cannot have you killed as the king commands, but you cannot stay here any longer.

Go out into the wide world with your child and never come back here." The poor woman tied her child on her back and went away with tears in her eyes. She came into a great wild forest, fell on her knees, and prayed to God.

The angel of the Lord appeared and led her to a little house with a sign that read, "Here all dwell free." A snow-white maiden came out and said, "Welcome, Lady Queen," and led her inside.

They untied the little boy from her back, held him to her breast to feed, and laid him in a beautifully made little bed. The poor woman asked, "How do you know that I was a queen?" The white maiden answered, "I am an angel sent by God to watch over you and your child." The queen stayed seven years in that little house, well cared for.

By God's grace, because of her piety, her hands, which had been cut off, grew back.

At last, the king returned from the war. His first wish was to see his wife and child. His aged mother began to weep and said, "You wicked man, why did you write to me to kill those two innocent lives?" She showed him the two letters the devil had forged and said, "I did as you commanded," and showed the tokens, the tongue and eyes.

The king wept bitterly for his poor wife and little son, even more than his mother wept. She took pity on him and said, "Be at peace. She still lives. I secretly had a hind killed and took these tokens from it.

I bound the child to your wife's back and sent her into the wide world, and made her promise never to come back, because you were so angry with her." The king said, "I will go as far as the sky is blue.

I will neither eat nor drink until I have found my dear wife and child, if they have not been killed or died of hunger."

He traveled for seven long years. He searched every cleft in the rocks and every cave, but he did not find her and thought she had died of want. During all that time, he neither ate nor drank, but God sustained him.

At last, he came into a great forest and found the little house with the sign "Here all dwell free." The white maiden came out, took him by the hand, led him in, and said, "Welcome, Lord King." She asked where he came from.

He answered, "I have been traveling for seven years, seeking my wife and child, but I cannot find them." The angel offered him food and drink, but he would not take anything. He only wished to rest a little. He lay down to sleep and covered his face with a handkerchief.

Then the angel went into the chamber where the queen sat with her son, whom she called "Sorrowful," and said to her, "Go out with your child. Your husband has come." She went to where he lay, and the handkerchief fell from his face.

She said, "Sorrowful, pick up your father's handkerchief and cover his face again." The child picked it up and covered his face. The king, half asleep, heard this and let the handkerchief fall again. The child grew impatient and said, "Dear mother, how can I cover my father's face when I have no father in this world?

I have learned to pray, 'Our Father who art in Heaven.' You told me my father was in heaven and was the good God. How can I know this wild man? He is not my father." When the king heard that, he got up and asked who they were.

She said, "I am your wife, and that is your son, Sorrowful." He saw her living hands and said, "My wife had silver hands." She answered, "The good God has caused my natural hands to grow again." The angel went into the inner room, brought the silver hands, and showed them to him.

Then the king knew for certain that this was his dear wife and child. He kissed them and was glad, saying, "A heavy stone has fallen from my heart." The angel of God gave them a meal, and after that they went home to the king's aged mother.

There was great rejoicing everywhere. The king and the queen were married again, and they lived happily until the end of their days.