The Juniper Tree – a Grimm tale

After months of writing poems based on fairy tales by Hans Christian Andersen, I decided to look for some more obscure and lesser-known fairy tales to inspire me. I started with the Brothers Grimm and found one called ‘The Juniper Tree’, which I hadn’t come across before.

Part 1

A long, long time ago, a rich man loved his wife

But they had no children to complete their life.

In the front garden of their house stood a juniper;

One snowy day in winter, the wife cut her finger

While peeling an apple beneath the tree.

She said, ‘How happy I would be

If I could have a little child

As red as blood and as white as snow!’

First came spring thaw, when meadows

Filled with flowers. Then summer came;

The aromatic juniper petals started to unfold

And the rich man’s wife discovered she was with child.

By autumn, she was sorrowful and afraid that she would die.

As she plucked red juniper berries, she began to cry

And begged her husband:

‘If I should die, please bury me

Underneath the juniper tree.’

Soon a bonny boy was born,

As white as snow and red as blood,

But his mother faded away and died.

The rich man buried her

Under the juniper,

Wept and mourned until his tears were dry

And then found himself another wife,

Who bore him a daughter, Margery,

Who she loved very much

While she detested her husband’s son.

This step-mother was very cruel;

She pushed, punched and pinched the boy, until he was afraid.

There was nowhere in the house he could safely play.

One day the step-mother went into her fruit store,

A heavy-lidded chest with a great, sharp, iron lock,

And her daughter asked her for an apple.

One for herself and one for her brother.

‘Yes,’ was the reply from her wicked mother,

‘When he comes home he shall have one too.’

When the little boy came to the door,

The wicked woman spoke in the sweetest tones:

‘Come in, my dear,

I have for you an apple here.’

The boy thought she was very kind,

Not realising what was on her mind

When she lifted the lid of the storage chest.

As the child reached in, she slammed the lid

So hard it chopped off his head.

 

© Kim M. Russell, 2016

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