Grimm's Household Tales UNDER CONSTRUCTION | Annotated Tale

All tales with known ATU tale types entered with footnotes. Still missing Introduction materials and End Notes to Tales.



Legend 10. Hazel-Branch, The

ONE afternoon the Christ-child had laid himself in his cradle-bed and had fallen asleep. Then his mother came to him, looked at him full of gladness, and said, "Hast thou laid thyself down to sleep, my child? Sleep sweetly, and in the meantime I will go into the wood, and fetch thee a handful of strawberries, for I know that thou wilt be pleased with them when thou awakest." In the wood outside, she found a spot with the most beautiful strawberries; but as she was stooping down to gather one, an adder sprang up out of the grass. She was alarmed, left the strawberries where they were, and hastened away. The adder darted after her; but Our Lady, as you can readily understand, knew what it was best to do. She hid herself behind a hazel-bush, and stood there until the adder had crept away again. Then she gathered the strawberries, and as she set out on her way home she said, "As the hazel-bush has been my protection this time, it shall in future protect others also." Therefore, from the most remote times, a green hazel-branch has been the safest protection against adders, snakes, and everything else which creeps on the earth.

Bibliographic Information

Tale Title: Legend 10. Hazel-Branch, The
Tale Author/Editor: Grimm, Jacob & Grimm, Wilhelm
Book Title: Grimm's Household Tales UNDER CONSTRUCTION
Book Author/Editor: Grimm, Jacob & Grimm, Wilhelm
Publisher: George Bell and Sons
Publication City: London
Year of Publication: 1884
Country of Origin: Germany
Classification: unclassified








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