Once upon a time, about two thousand years ago, there was a rich man who had a beautiful, pious wife, and they both loved each other very much, but they had no children. They wanted them very much, and the wife prayed for them day and night, but they did not have any. In front of their house there was a courtyard with a juniper bush. Once the woman stood under it in winter and peeled an apple, and as she peeled the apple she cut her finger and the blood fell into the snow. "Alas," said the woman, and she heaved a deep sigh, and looked at the blood in front of her, and was quite wistful: "I wish I had a child as red as blood and as white as snow."" And when she said this, she felt quite happy: she felt as if it should become something. Then she went home, and a month went by, and the snow passed away; and after two months, everything became green; and after three months, the flowers came out of the ground; and after four months, all the trees sprang up, and the green branches were all grown together. Then the little birds sang so that the whole forest resounded, and the blossoms fell from the trees; then the fifth month had passed, and she was always standing under the juniper bush, which smelled so beautiful. Then her heart leapt for joy, and she fell on her knees, and could not help herself. And when the sixth month was past, then the fruits became thick and strong, and she became completely quiet. And in the seventh month, she took hold of the Machandel berries and ate them so covetously; and then she became sad and sick. Then the eighth month passed, and she called her husband and wept, saying, ""If I die, bury me under the juniper bush."" Then she was quite comforted and rejoiced until the ninth month was past: then she had a child as white as snow and as red as blood, and when she saw it she rejoiced so much that she died.

Then her husband buried her under the juniper bush, and he began to cry so much; this lasted for a while, then the tears flowed more gently, and when he had cried some more, he stopped, and then he took a wife again.

With the second wife he had a daughter; but the child of the first wife was a little son, and was as red as blood and as white as snow. When the wife looked at her daughter in this way, she loved her very much; but then she looked at the little boy, and this went through her heart so, and it seemed to her as if he stood in her way everywhere, and she then always thought how she was going to give her daughter all the fortune, and the evil one gave it to her that she became quite angry with the little boy, and she pushed him from one corner to the other, and puffed him here and prodded him there, so that the poor child was always in fear. When he came home from school, he had no place where he could be left alone.

Once the woman had gone up to the chamber; then the little daughter also came up and said, "Mother, give me an apple."" - ""Yes, my child," said the woman, and gave her a beautiful apple from the box; but the box had a great heavy lid with a great sharp iron lock. ""Mother," said the little daughter, ""shall not the brother have one too?"" The woman was annoyed, but she said, "Yes, when he comes home from school." And when she saw him from the window, it was just as if the evil one had entered her, and she reached out and took the apple away from her daughter again, saying; ""You shall not have it sooner than the brother.""" So she threw the apple into the box and shut the box. Then the little boy came in the door; then the wicked one gave her that she said kindly to him, ""My son, wilt thou have an apple?"" and looked at him so irascibly. ""Mother," said the little boy, ""what do you look so ghastly! Yes, give me an apple!" - ""Then she felt as if she should coax him. ""Come with me," she said, and opened the lid, ""get out an apple!"" And when the little boy bent down into it, the evil one advised her; bratsch! she slammed the lid shut so that the head flew and fell among the red apples. Then fear overtook her, and she thought, ""Could I bring this from me!"" Then she went down into her parlor to her chest of drawers and took out of the top drawer a white cloth and put the head back on her neck and tied the scarf around it so that nothing could be seen and put it on a chair in front of the door and gave it the apple in her hand.

After that, Marlenchen came to her mother in the kitchen. She was standing by the fire and had a pot of hot water in front of her, which she was always stirring. "Mother," said Marlenchen, "the brother is sitting outside the door, looking all white, and he has an apple in his hand. I asked him to give me the apple, but he didn't answer me; that was quite scary to me."" - ""Go there again," said the mother, ""and if he doesn't answer you, hit him behind the ears."" So Marlenchen went and said, "Brother, give me the apple!" But he was silent, so she hit him behind the ears. Then the head fell down; she was frightened at that, and began to cry and scream, and ran to her mother, and said, "Oh, mother, I have cut off my brother's head," and cried and cried, and would not be satisfied. ""Marlenchen," said the mother, ""what have you done! But keep quiet, so that no one will notice; it can't be helped now, we will boil him in sour."" So the mother took the little boy and chopped him into pieces, put them into the pot and boiled him in sour water. But Marlenchen stood by and cried and cried, and the tears all fell into the pot, and they needed no salt.

Then the father came home and sat down at the table, saying, "Where is my son?" Then the mother brought up a great big bowl of black sour, and Marlenchen cried and could not hold herself. Then the father said again, "Where is my son?" - ""Oh," said the mother, ""he has gone across country to his mother's relatives; he wanted to stay there for a while.""" - ""What is he doing there? He didn't even say goodbye to me!"" - ""Oh, he wanted to go so much, and asked me if he could stay there for six weeks; he's in good hands there."" - ""Oh," said the man, ""I feel quite sad; it's not right, he could have said goodbye to me.""" With that he began to eat and said, "Marlenchen, why are you crying? The brother will come back."" - "Oh, woman," he said, "I like this food so much! Give me more!" And the more he ate, the more he wanted, and he said, ""Give me more, you shall not keep any of it, that is as if it were all mine."" And he ate and ate, and the bones he threw all under the table, until he had finished with all. But Marlenchen went to her bureau, and took out of the lowest drawer her best silken cloth, and got all the little legs and bones out from under the table, and bound them in the silken cloth, and carried them to the door, and wept bloody tears. There she laid them under the juniper bush in the green grass, and when she had laid them there, all at once she felt quite light, and wept no more. Then the juniper bush began to move, and the two branches kept moving away from each other and toward each other, just as when one rejoices from the heart and clasps his hands together. A mist came out of the tree, and in the midst of the mist it burned like fire, and out of the fire flew such a beautiful bird, which sang so beautifully and flew high into the air, and when it was gone, the juniper bush was as it had been before, and the cloth with the bones was gone. But Marlenchen felt quite light and happy, as if her brother were still alive. So she went home again quite happily, sat down at the table and ate. But the bird flew away and sat down on a goldsmith's house and began to sing:

""My mother who slaughters me,
my father who ate me,
my sister of the Marlenichen
searches all my benichen,
binds them in a silk cloth,
puts it under the juniper bush.
Kiwitt, kiwitt, wat vör'n schöön Vagel bün ik!""

The goldsmith was sitting in his workshop making a gold chain; then he heard the bird sitting on his roof singing, and it seemed so beautiful to him. Then he got up, and when he crossed the threshold, he lost a slipper. He went out into the middle of the street with only one slipper and one sock; his apron coat was in front of him, and in one hand he had the golden chain, and in the other the tongs; and the sun was shining so brightly on the street. So he stood and looked at the bird. "Bird," he said, "how beautifully you can sing! Sing me that song again!" - "No," said the bird, "I will not sing twice for nothing. Give me the golden chain, and I will sing it to you once more."" - ""There," said the goldsmith, ""you have the golden chain; now sing it to me again!"" Then the bird came and took the golden chain in his right claw, sat down in front of the goldsmith and sang: ""My mother who slaughters me, my father who eats me, my sister of the Marlenichen, look for all my oak trees, tie them in a silk cloth, put it under the juniper bush. Kiwitt, kiwitt, wat vör'n schöön Vagel bün ik!""

Then the bird flew away to a cobbler, and sits down on his roof and sang: ""My mother who slaughters me, my father who eats me, my sister of the Marlenichen, searches all my benichen, binds them in a silk cloth, puts it under the juniper bush. Kiwitt, kiwitt, wat vör'n schöön Vagel bün ik!""

The cobbler heard this and ran in his shirt sleeves to his door and looked up at his roof and had to put his hand in front of his eyes so that the sun would not blind him. ""Bird," he said, ""what a beautiful song you can sing."" Then he called to the door, "Woman, come out, there's a bird; look at the bird, it can sing beautifully for once."" Then he called his daughter, and the children, and the journeymen, and the apprentices, and the maids, and they all came out into the street, and looked at the bird, how beautiful it was; and it had such beautiful red and green feathers, and about its neck it was like all gold, and its eyes looked like stars in its head. ""Bird," said the cobbler, ""now sing me the tune again!"" - ""No," said the bird, ""twice I will not sing for nothing, you must give me something.""" - "Woman," said the man, "go to the floor, on the top shelf of the wall, there are some red shoes, bring them here!" So the woman went and got the shoes. ""There, bird," said the man, ""now sing me the song again!"" Then the bird came and took the shoes in its left claw and flew up to the roof again and sang:

""My mother who slaughters me,
my father who ate me,
my sister of the Marlenichen
searches all my benichen,
binds them in a silk cloth,
puts it under the juniper bush.
Kiwitt, kiwitt, wat vör'n schöön Vagel bün ik!""

And when he had sung out, he flew away; he had the chain in his right claw and the shoes in his left claw, and he flew far away, as far as a mill, and the mill went, Cliff clap, cliff clap, cliff clap. And in the mill sat twenty millwrights, they knocked a stone and chopped: Hick hick, hick hick, hick hick; and the mill went clip-clop, clip-clop, clip-clop. Then the bird sat down on a linden tree that stood in front of the mill and sang: ""My mother who slaughters me", one stopped; ""My father who eats me", two more stopped and listened; ""My sister of the Marlenichen"", four stopped again; ""Search all my benichen, bind them in a silk cloth"", now only eight chopped; ""Put it under"", now only five; ""The juniper bush"" - now only one; ""Kiwitt, kiwitt, wat vör'n schöön Vagel bün ik!"" Then the last one also stopped, and he had just heard the end. ""Bird," he said, ""what do you sing beautifully!"" Let me hear that too, sing me that again!"" - ""Nine," said the bird, ""twice I sing not in vain; give me the millstone, and I will sing it again."" - ""Yes," he said, ""if it were mine alone, you should have it."" - ""Yes," said the others, ""if he sings it again, he shall have it."" Then the bird approached, and the millers all twenty of them grasped with trees and picked up the stone, ""hu uh uhp, hu uh uhp, hu uh uhp!"" Then the bird put its neck through the hole and took it around like a collar and flew back up the tree and sang:

""My mother who slaughters me,
my father who ate me,
my sister of the Marlenichen
searches all my benichen,
binds them in a silk cloth,
puts it under the juniper bush.
Kiwitt, kiwitt, wat vör'n schöön Vagel bün ik!""

And when he had sung this, he spread his wings, and had the chain in the right claw, and the shoes in the left, and the millstone about his neck, and flew far away to his father's house.

In the parlor, the father, the mother and Marlenchen were sitting at the table, and the father said: "Oh, how easy it is for me, I feel so good. - No," said the mother, "I'm so afraid, as if a heavy thunderstorm were coming." But Marlenchen sat and cried and cried. Then the bird flew in, and when it sat down on the roof, the father said, "Oh, I feel so happy, and the sun is shining so beautifully, I feel as if I were to see an old acquaintance again!" - "No," said the woman, "I am afraid, my teeth are chattering, and I feel as if I had fire in my veins."" And she tore open her dress to get some air. But Marlenchen sat in the corner and cried, and had her apron before her eyes, and cried the apron all wet. Then the bird sat down on the juniper bush and sang: "My mother who slaughters me". - Then the mother covered her ears and squeezed her eyes shut and did not want to see or hear, but it roared in her ears like the very strongest storm and her eyes burned and twitched like lightning. ""My father who ate me"" - ""Oh mother," said the man, ""there's a beautiful bird that sings so beautifully and the sun shines so warmly, and it smells like loud cinnamom."" (cinnamon) ""My sister of the Marlenichen"" - Then Marlenchen put her head on her knees and cried all at once. But the man said, ""I'm going out; I must see the bird nearby."" - ""Oh, don't go," said the woman, ""I feel as if the whole house were shaking and on fire.""" But the man went out and looked at the bird - ""look for all my oaks, tie them in a silk cloth, put it under the juniper bush. Kiwitt, kiwitt, wat vör'n schöön Vagel bün ik!""

With that, the bird dropped the golden necklace, and it fell straight around the man's neck, so right around that it fit him quite beautifully. Then he went in and said, ""Look, what a beautiful bird this is, has given me such a beautiful golden chain and looks so beautiful."" But the woman was so frightened that she fell down long into the parlor and her cap fell off her head. Then the bird sang again: ""My mother who slaughters me"" - "Oh, that I were a thousand fathoms under the earth, that I did not need to hear that!" - ""My father who ate me"" - Then the woman fell down as if dead. ""My sister of the Marlenichen"" - ""Oh," said Marlenchen, ""I want to go out, too, and see if the bird will give me something?""" So she went out. "Look for all my oak trees, tie them in a silk cloth" - Then he threw her shoes down. ""Put it under the juniper bush. Kiwitt, kiwitt, wat vör'n schöön Vagel bün ik!""

There she was so light and cheerful. She put on her new red shoes and danced and jumped in. ""Oh," she said, ""I was so sad when I went out, and now I feel so light. That's a splendid bird for once, gave me a pair of red shoes!"" - ""No," said the woman, and jumped up, and her hair stood on end like flames of fire, ""I feel as if the world should end; I want to go out, too, so that I may feel lighter.""" And when she came out of the door, whoosh! the bird threw the millstone at her head so that she was completely crushed. The father and Marlenchen heard this and went out. Then a steam and flames and fire went out from the place, and when that was over, the little brother stood there, and he took his father and Marlenchen by the hand, and all three were quite merry, and went into the house, sat down at the table, and ate.