Illustration by Arthur Rackham
Die drei Raben (tr. The Three Ravens) is a German folktale collected by the brothers Grimm collected from an unespecified member of the Hassenpflug family, first published in the first volume of Children and Household's Tales first edition in 1812.
Since the second edition, published in 1819, the tale was retitled Die sieben Raben (tr. The Seven Ravens), suffering major changes.
Synopsis[]
1812 version: The Three Ravens[]
A woman with three sons sees that her sons spend Sunday morning playing cards behind the church instead of going to mass and curses them, turning them into ravens. After this their little sister sets out to look for her cursed brothers, carrying with her anything else besides a chair to sit and rest from time to time, and feeding herself nothing but the fruits she finds. One day three ravens fly over the girl and one of them drops a ring that she recognizes as the present she gave one to her youngest brother. The girl keeps walking until she arrives to the end of the world, where she meets first the Sun, who’s to hot and eats children; the Moon, who’s too cold and also eats little children; and the Stars, who help her by telling her that her brothers are inside the glass mountain and giving her a chicken leg to use it to get in. The girl keeps the chicken leg in a handkerchief, but when she arrives at the glass mountain and is going to use it she discovers she has lost it on her way. To open the door the girl cuts one of her own fingers and uses it as if it was a key. Inside the mountain she meets a dwarf who asks her what she’s doing there, and the girl replies that she’s looking for her brothers. The dwarf tells her the three ravens haven’t arrived yet, but she can stay and wait for them. While the girl is waiting the dwarf brings three plates and three cups, and she eats a little from each plate and drinks a sip from each cup before dropping the ring she found in one of them. When the ravens finally arrive they ask who ate from their plates and drank from their cups, and when one of them finds the ring at the bottom of his cup he recognizes it. After finding out their sister is there the brothers are redeemed and the four siblings return home together.
1857 version: The Seven Ravens[]
A man has seven sons, all of them boys, but what he wants is a daughter. When his wife finally has one the joy doesn’t last, because the baby has a fragile health and they need to baptize her quickly. The father sends one of his sons to the well to fetch the water for the baptism, and the other six brothers go with him. Because every brother wants to be the first to fetch the water they end up fighting for it and during the fight they drop the jug in the well. Afraid of their father’s reaction the boys don’t want to return home, meanwhile seeing how long it is taking for the boys to come back with the water their father gets angry thinking they’re playing instead of fetching the water and wishes all of his sons turn into ravens. Seconds after saying those words the father sees seven ravens flying above him and realises what happened. Although saddened for their sons’ loss, the parents console themselves taking care of their daughter, who grows up believing she’s an only child until one day she hears people blaming her for her seven brothers’ curse. Confused by those words the girl asks her parents, who finally tell her the truth. Although they try to reassure her that her brothers’ curse wasn’t her fault, she still feels guilty about it until she finally decides to set out to look for her brothers and break the spell.
The girl leaves home without telling anyone and carrying with her nothing but a chair to sit down and rest from time to time, a loaf of bread to eat and a jug filled with water to drink. The girl walks until she arrives at the end of the world, where she meets the Sun, who’s too hot and likes to eat children; the Moon, who’s too cold and also likes to eat children; and the Stars, who are friendly to her and gave her a chicken bone to get inside the glass mountain, where her brothers are. The girl keeps the chicken bone wrapped in a cloth, but when she arrives at the glass mountain she discovers she has lost the chicken bone on her way, and to open the glass mountain the girl has to cut off one of her own fingers and use it as if it was a key. Inside the glass mountain the girl meets a dwarf who asks her what she is doing there, and after she tells him she’s looking for her seven brothers the dwarf tells her to hide and wait until her brothers come. While waiting the dwarf brings seven plates and seven cups, and the girl eats a little from each plate and takes a sip from each cup before dropping a ring she brought with her in the last cup. When the seven ravens finally arrive they ask who has eaten from their plates and drank from their cups, commenting it must have been a human. Finally the seventh raven finds a ring at the bottom of his cup, recognizes it and realises their sister must be there. After hearing those words the girl comes out from her hiding place behind the door, the ravens turn back to their human forms and the siblings happily return home together.