Reading Notes: Brother's Grimm Hunt (Part B)

Bearskin

• A soldier returning from war has no trade skill and needs to find work
• meets a mysterious man in the woods who tests his courage and resolve
• soldier must never bathe and must always wear a bearskin and a coat for if he does this for 7 years he will always have all the money he would need
• the man who made the deal turns out to be the devil and is referenced as Greencoat
• Bearksin as the soldier became known, always gave money to the poor and helped those in need as he wandered for 7 years
• he helped an old man whose estate had dwindled and the man promised him a wife of his daughters
• only the youngest conceded to marry Bearskin and the two older ones taunted her about the appearance of her husband
• he gave her half a ring while he kept the other half
• Finally after 7 years the devil returned, dismayed that the soldier had held out, and washed and groomed him and returned his cloak
• Soldier returned to the village to seek out the wife he hadn't seen for 3 years
• he was much more handsome than before and appeared to be a prestige general
• the two older sisters who had rejected him were trying hard to earn his favor, and the youngest averted her eyes still clothed in black like the day he left
• the soldier placed his half of the ring in a glass of wine to give to her and she noticed it after she drank it and saw that it matched her piece
• the sisters ran out of the home in rage and one drowned while the other hung herself
• devil comes back to taunt soldier saying he got two souls instead of one

Hans the Hedgehog

• a boy was born half hedgehog half man
• his family didn't want him but he never complained and left them to make a life for himself in the forest tending a herd of pigs
• 2 Kings travel through the forest lost and ask for directions
• he helps them if they promise to give him the first thing that approaches them when they reach the palace
• both times it was a king's daughter
• first King orders everyone to kill a man resembling Hans if they appear at his castle for he didn't want to give up his daughter
• the second one welcomed him and his daughter committed to Hans
• Hans shed his hedgehog skin and became a handsome man and they lived happily ever after

Bibliography

Bearskin from the Brothers Grimm (Hunt) Unit

Hans the Hedgehog from the Brothers Grimm (Hunt) Unit

Image Information

Image 1: Illustration of Bearskin - wikimedia

Image 2: The Devil grooms Bearskin after 7 years - wikimedia