Grimm's Household Tales
The Hazel-Branch
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, have you laid yourself down to sleep, my child.
Sleep sweetly, and in the meantime, I will go into the wood, and fetch
you a handful of strawberries, for I know that you will be pleased with
them when you awake. In the wood outside, she found a spot with the
most beautiful strawberries, but as she was stooping 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.
<< Previous Page
© 2004-2007 Northvegr.
Most of the material on this site is in the public domain. However, many people have worked very hard to bring these texts to you so if you do use the work, we would appreciate it if you could give credit to both the Northvegr site and to the individuals who worked to bring you these texts. A small number of texts are copyrighted and cannot be used without the author's permission. Any text that is copyrighted will have a clear notation of such on the main index page for that text. Inquiries can be sent to info@northvegr.org. Northvegr™ and the Northvegr symbol are trademarks and service marks of the Northvegr Foundation.
|