Week 13 Storytelling: The dwarf's curse

The Dwarf's Curse

Thank you all for coming to the double wedding of the king’s sons. My brother and I are happy you all are here to celebrate with us. Many of you do not know the story of how I met these two lovely brides. So I will tell you the tale.

As you know, I disappeared a few years back. I was gone for nearly a year. I had been cursed by a dwarf who had stolen some of the royal treasures. The dwarf turned me into a bear and I was forced to live in the forest to keep from scaring the entire town.

One day as the weather was turning colder, I happened upon a cottage. I wasn’t sure how I would be able to survive the winter out in the forest all alone. I wished to sit by the fireplace and warm myself. I took a chance and approached the door. I knocked as gently as I could with my giant paws. A beautiful girl opened the door. She screamed and jumped back at the sight of me. Her sister hid behind the furniture. 

Me as a black bear

“Please,” I begged, “do not be afraid. I will not harm you. I only wish to warm myself by your fire for a while.”

The mother of the girls agreed to let me lie down by the fire and assured the girls that I would not hurt them. The girls were no longer afraid and soon helped make me more comfortable by knocking the snow from my fur. I lay by the fire all night and the next day they let me out.

I returned the next evening and again the kind family let me into their home. I returned to the cottage each evening. Soon we all became friends. The girls seemed happy to see me and I loved seeing them every night.

When spring came I told the girls that I would not be returning for a long time. They seemed sad. I explained that there were dwarves who, once the earth warmed enough, would come out and try to steal my treasures and I had to go guard them. I bid the family farewell and thanked them for their kindness. I then set out to guard my belongings from the dwarves.

A short time later, I heard from a bird, that the girls had been in the forest and encountered the dwarf. I was told that the dwarf had his beard caught in a tree and the girls cut off the tip of it to free him. Those girls are so sweet and would never do harm to anyone. But apparently that ungrateful dwarf swore at the girls and ran off. Hearing this angered me so much. How dare he speak to my friends that way?

After some time I heard again of my sweet friends encountering the dwarf. They had gone down to the creek and found the fool dwarf with his beard caught up in some fishing line. Once again the girls took pity on the dwarf and tried to help him. They could not free him from the line and had to cut his beard again. Once he was free, the dwarf cursed them for cutting his beard again. Why must he be so cruel to those who only try to help? 

the Evil Dwarf

Then one evening the dwarf had some jewels that he lay out in a clearing. The girls happened to be in the forest again and surprised the dwarf. They had seen all of the jewels and stopped to admire them. The dwarf started yelling at them again. Only this time, I happened to be nearby and overheard it all. I wasn’t about to let him bully my friends any longer. I jumped out and frightened the dwarf. He begged for his life. Then he offered the girls up to me as they would make a better meal than he. But I recognized him as the dwarf who had cursed me to the bear form. I took one big swipe at him with my claw and he fell against a rock and moved no more.

The girls had run away, but I called to them. They must have recognized my voice because they stopped. It was at that point that I returned to my proper human form. They were confused and I explained that I was a prince and that dwarf had cursed me. The dwarf’s death freed me from the curse.

I took the girls and their mother to the palace with me and introduced them to my brother and parents. I insisted that they come to live with us in the palace, in return for the kindness they gave me over the winter.

And that is the end of the story. My brother and I fell in love with the girls. And now, years later, we are married and this town has the kindest, most generous princesses that you could ever ask for. 




Author's note: I took this story from Snow-white and Rose-red. In the story the two girls live with their poor mother in a cottage in the forest. They are the sweetest girls and they always do everything together. I didn't really change the story. I decided to tell it from the prince's point of view. In the story, the girls do come across the dwarf, but the bear-prince doesn't know about it. Since I told it from his point of view I added in that he heard about it from a bird who saw it happen. I wanted him to be upset and angry about the dwarf's treatment towards the girls since they were so kind to him. At the end of the story the two girls get married to the prince and his brother, so I thought I would tell it as him telling the story of how they met to his wedding guests.


Bibliography: Story source: Household Tales by Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm