Frederick And Catherine

: Grimms' Fairy Tales

There was once a man called Frederick: he had a wife whose name was

Catherine, and they had not long been married. One day Frederick said.

'Kate! I am going to work in the fields; when I come back I shall be

hungry so let me have something nice cooked, and a good draught of ale.'

'Very well,' said she, 'it shall all be ready.' When dinner-time drew

nigh, Catherine took a nice steak, which was all the meat she had, and

ut it on the fire to fry. The steak soon began to look brown, and to

crackle in the pan; and Catherine stood by with a fork and turned it:

then she said to herself, 'The steak is almost ready, I may as well go

to the cellar for the ale.' So she left the pan on the fire and took a

large jug and went into the cellar and tapped the ale cask. The beer ran

into the jug and Catherine stood looking on. At last it popped into her

head, 'The dog is not shut up--he may be running away with the steak;

that's well thought of.' So up she ran from the cellar; and sure enough

the rascally cur had got the steak in his mouth, and was making off with

it.



Away ran Catherine, and away ran the dog across the field: but he ran

faster than she, and stuck close to the steak. 'It's all gone, and "what

can't be cured must be endured",' said Catherine. So she turned round;

and as she had run a good way and was tired, she walked home leisurely

to cool herself.



Now all this time the ale was running too, for Catherine had not turned

the cock; and when the jug was full the liquor ran upon the floor till

the cask was empty. When she got to the cellar stairs she saw what had

happened. 'My stars!' said she, 'what shall I do to keep Frederick from

seeing all this slopping about?' So she thought a while; and at last

remembered that there was a sack of fine meal bought at the last fair,

and that if she sprinkled this over the floor it would suck up the ale

nicely. 'What a lucky thing,' said she, 'that we kept that meal! we have

now a good use for it.' So away she went for it: but she managed to set

it down just upon the great jug full of beer, and upset it; and thus

all the ale that had been saved was set swimming on the floor also. 'Ah!

well,' said she, 'when one goes another may as well follow.' Then she

strewed the meal all about the cellar, and was quite pleased with her

cleverness, and said, 'How very neat and clean it looks!'



At noon Frederick came home. 'Now, wife,' cried he, 'what have you for

dinner?' 'O Frederick!' answered she, 'I was cooking you a steak; but

while I went down to draw the ale, the dog ran away with it; and while

I ran after him, the ale ran out; and when I went to dry up the ale

with the sack of meal that we got at the fair, I upset the jug: but the

cellar is now quite dry, and looks so clean!' 'Kate, Kate,' said he,

'how could you do all this?' Why did you leave the steak to fry, and the

ale to run, and then spoil all the meal?' 'Why, Frederick,' said she, 'I

did not know I was doing wrong; you should have told me before.'



The husband thought to himself, 'If my wife manages matters thus, I must

look sharp myself.' Now he had a good deal of gold in the house: so he

said to Catherine, 'What pretty yellow buttons these are! I shall put

them into a box and bury them in the garden; but take care that you

never go near or meddle with them.' 'No, Frederick,' said she, 'that

I never will.' As soon as he was gone, there came by some pedlars with

earthenware plates and dishes, and they asked her whether she would buy.

'Oh dear me, I should like to buy very much, but I have no money: if

you had any use for yellow buttons, I might deal with you.' 'Yellow

buttons!' said they: 'let us have a look at them.' 'Go into the garden

and dig where I tell you, and you will find the yellow buttons: I dare

not go myself.' So the rogues went: and when they found what these

yellow buttons were, they took them all away, and left her plenty of

plates and dishes. Then she set them all about the house for a show:

and when Frederick came back, he cried out, 'Kate, what have you been

doing?' 'See,' said she, 'I have bought all these with your yellow

buttons: but I did not touch them myself; the pedlars went themselves

and dug them up.' 'Wife, wife,' said Frederick, 'what a pretty piece of

work you have made! those yellow buttons were all my money: how came you

to do such a thing?' 'Why,' answered she, 'I did not know there was any

harm in it; you should have told me.'



Catherine stood musing for a while, and at last said to her husband,

'Hark ye, Frederick, we will soon get the gold back: let us run after

the thieves.' 'Well, we will try,' answered he; 'but take some butter

and cheese with you, that we may have something to eat by the way.'

'Very well,' said she; and they set out: and as Frederick walked the

fastest, he left his wife some way behind. 'It does not matter,' thought

she: 'when we turn back, I shall be so much nearer home than he.'



Presently she came to the top of a hill, down the side of which there

was a road so narrow that the cart wheels always chafed the trees

on each side as they passed. 'Ah, see now,' said she, 'how they have

bruised and wounded those poor trees; they will never get well.' So she

took pity on them, and made use of the butter to grease them all, so

that the wheels might not hurt them so much. While she was doing this

kind office one of her cheeses fell out of the basket, and rolled down

the hill. Catherine looked, but could not see where it had gone; so she

said, 'Well, I suppose the other will go the same way and find you; he

has younger legs than I have.' Then she rolled the other cheese after

it; and away it went, nobody knows where, down the hill. But she said

she supposed that they knew the road, and would follow her, and she

could not stay there all day waiting for them.



At last she overtook Frederick, who desired her to give him something to

eat. Then she gave him the dry bread. 'Where are the butter and cheese?'

said he. 'Oh!' answered she, 'I used the butter to grease those poor

trees that the wheels chafed so: and one of the cheeses ran away so I

sent the other after it to find it, and I suppose they are both on

the road together somewhere.' 'What a goose you are to do such silly

things!' said the husband. 'How can you say so?' said she; 'I am sure

you never told me not.'



They ate the dry bread together; and Frederick said, 'Kate, I hope you

locked the door safe when you came away.' 'No,' answered she, 'you did

not tell me.' 'Then go home, and do it now before we go any farther,'

said Frederick, 'and bring with you something to eat.'



Catherine did as he told her, and thought to herself by the way,

'Frederick wants something to eat; but I don't think he is very fond of

butter and cheese: I'll bring him a bag of fine nuts, and the vinegar,

for I have often seen him take some.'



When she reached home, she bolted the back door, but the front door she

took off the hinges, and said, 'Frederick told me to lock the door, but

surely it can nowhere be so safe if I take it with me.' So she took

her time by the way; and when she overtook her husband she cried

out, 'There, Frederick, there is the door itself, you may watch it as

carefully as you please.' 'Alas! alas!' said he, 'what a clever wife I

have! I sent you to make the house fast, and you take the door away, so

that everybody may go in and out as they please--however, as you have

brought the door, you shall carry it about with you for your pains.'

'Very well,' answered she, 'I'll carry the door; but I'll not carry the

nuts and vinegar bottle also--that would be too much of a load; so if

you please, I'll fasten them to the door.'



Frederick of course made no objection to that plan, and they set off

into the wood to look for the thieves; but they could not find them: and

when it grew dark, they climbed up into a tree to spend the night there.

Scarcely were they up, than who should come by but the very rogues they

were looking for. They were in truth great rascals, and belonged to that

class of people who find things before they are lost; they were tired;

so they sat down and made a fire under the very tree where Frederick and

Catherine were. Frederick slipped down on the other side, and picked up

some stones. Then he climbed up again, and tried to hit the thieves on

the head with them: but they only said, 'It must be near morning, for

the wind shakes the fir-apples down.'



Catherine, who had the door on her shoulder, began to be very tired;

but she thought it was the nuts upon it that were so heavy: so she said

softly, 'Frederick, I must let the nuts go.' 'No,' answered he, 'not

now, they will discover us.' 'I can't help that: they must go.' 'Well,

then, make haste and throw them down, if you will.' Then away rattled

the nuts down among the boughs and one of the thieves cried, 'Bless me,

it is hailing.'



A little while after, Catherine thought the door was still very heavy:

so she whispered to Frederick, 'I must throw the vinegar down.' 'Pray

don't,' answered he, 'it will discover us.' 'I can't help that,' said

she, 'go it must.' So she poured all the vinegar down; and the thieves

said, 'What a heavy dew there is!'



At last it popped into Catherine's head that it was the door itself that

was so heavy all the time: so she whispered, 'Frederick, I must throw

the door down soon.' But he begged and prayed her not to do so, for he

was sure it would betray them. 'Here goes, however,' said she: and down

went the door with such a clatter upon the thieves, that they cried

out 'Murder!' and not knowing what was coming, ran away as fast as they

could, and left all the gold. So when Frederick and Catherine came down,

there they found all their money safe and sound.



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