Once upon a time, there was an old castle in the middle of a large, thick forest, in which an old woman lived all alone. During the day she turned into a cat or a night owl, but in the evening she was restored to her human form. She could lure the game and the birds to her, and then she slaughtered them, cooked and roasted them. If someone came within a hundred paces of the castle, he had to stand still and could not move from the spot until she spoke him off: but if a chaste virgin came into this fold, she turned her into a bird, and then locked her up in a basket and carried the basket into a chamber of the castle. She had seven thousand such baskets with such rare birds in the castle.

Once upon a time there was a maiden called Jorinde, who was more beautiful than any other girl. She, and then a very handsome youth, named Joringel, had promised themselves together. They were in the bridal days and they had their greatest pleasure one on the other. So that they could talk together in confidence for once, they went for a walk in the forest. Beware," said Joringel, "that you do not come so close to the castle. It was a beautiful evening, the sun shone brightly between the trunks of the trees into the dark green of the forest, and the turtle dove sang mournfully on the old may beeches.
Jorinde cried at times, sat down in the sunshine and lamented; Joringel also lamented. They were as distraught as if they should have died: they looked around, were mad, and did not know where to go home. The sun was still half over the mountain and half down. Joringel looked through the bushes and saw the old wall of the castle close by; he was frightened and became deathly afraid. Jorinde sang

my little bird with the red ringlet
sings Leide, Leide, Leide:
it sings its death to the little dove,
sings Leide, Lei - zucküth, zicküth, zicküth.'

Joringel looked after Jorinde. Jorinde was transformed into a nightingale singing 'zicküth, zicküth.' A night owl with glowing eyes flew around her three times and cried 'shoo, shoo, shoo.' Joringel could not move: he stood there like a stone, could not cry, could not speak, could not move hand or foot. Now the sun was down: the owl flew into a bush, and immediately an old crooked woman came out of it, yellow and skinny: big red eyes, crooked nose, which reached with the tip to the chin. She murmured, caught the nightingale and carried it away on her hand. Joringel could say nothing, could not move; the nightingale was gone. At last the woman came back and said in a muffled voice, "Greetings, Zachiel, when the monk shines into the basket, untie it, Zachiel, at a good hour. Then Joringel was untied. He fell on his knees before the woman and begged her to give him back his Jorinde, but she said he should never have her again, and went away. He cried, he wept, he wailed, but all in vain. Uu, what should happen to me? Joringel went away and finally came to a strange village: there he tended the sheep for a long time.

He often went around the castle, but not too close. Finally, once at night, he dreamed he found a blood-red flower with a beautiful large pearl in its center. He broke off the flower and went to the castle with it: everything he touched with the flower was freed from the magic: he also dreamt that he had gotten his Jorinde back through it. In the morning, when he awoke, he began to search through mountain and valley to see if he could find such a flower: he searched until the ninth day, when he found the blood-red flower early in the morning. In the middle was a large thautropfe, as large as the most beautiful pearl. He carried this flower day and night to the castle. When it came within a hundred paces of the castle, it did not grow firm, but went on to the gate. Joringel was delighted, touched the gate with the flower, and it burst open. He went in through the courtyard, listened for the many birds, and finally heard them. He went and found the hall, where the sorceress was feeding the birds in the seven thousand baskets. When she saw Joringel, she became angry, very angry, scolded him, spat out poison and bile against him, but she could not get within two steps of him. He did not turn to her and went to look at the baskets with the birds, but there were many hundreds of nightingales, so how could he find his Jorinda again? While he was watching, he noticed that the old woman secretly took away a basket with a bird and went to the door with it. Quickly he jumped to it, touched the basket with the flower and also the old woman: now she could not do any more magic, and Jorinde stood there, had grabbed him around the neck, as beautiful as she had been before. Then he made all the other birds virgins again, and he went home with his Jorinde, and they lived together happily for a long time.