Jorinda and Joringel (Grimm)
Division into chapters is editorial.
The witchs castle and her magical powers
Deep in a large and thick forest stood an ancient castle where an old woman lived completely alone. This woman was a witch who possessed extraordinary shape-shifting abilities. During the day, she transformed herself into a cat or a screech-owl, but when evening came, she resumed her human form. She used her powers to lure wild beasts and birds to her castle, then killed, boiled, and roasted them for her meals.
The witch's most sinister power was her ability to paralyze anyone who came within one hundred paces of her castle, forcing them to stand motionless until she chose to release them. However, her cruelest magic was reserved for innocent maidens who wandered too close.
But whenever an innocent maiden came within this circle, she changed her into a bird, and shut her up in a wickerwork cage, and carried the cage into a room in the castle.
The witch had collected about seven thousand cages containing these transformed maidens in her castle.
Jorindas transformation and Joringels helplessness
There lived a beautiful maiden named Jorinda, who was fairer than all other girls in the land. She was betrothed to a handsome youth named Joringel, and they were deeply in love.
During their betrothal period, their greatest joy was spending time together. One beautiful evening, they decided to take a walk in the forest to talk quietly together. Joringel warned Jorinda to be careful not to go too near the castle. As they walked, the sun shone brightly through the tree trunks, and turtledoves sang mournfully in the birch trees. However, they soon became lost and realized with growing dread that they were near the forbidden castle.
When Joringel looked through the bushes and saw the old castle walls close at hand, he was filled with horror and deadly fear. Suddenly, Jorinda began singing a haunting song about a little bird with a red necklace that sang of sorrow and death. As she sang, a terrible transformation occurred - Jorinda changed into a nightingale before Joringel's eyes. A screech-owl with glowing eyes flew three times around her, crying out ominously.
Joringel could not move: he stood there like a stone, and could neither weep nor speak, nor move hand or foot.
The quest for the magical flower
After the sun set, the owl flew into the thicket, and out came the crooked old witch - yellow and lean, with large red eyes and a hooked nose that reached to her chin. She muttered strange words, caught the nightingale, and carried it away. When she returned, she spoke in a hollow voice and freed Joringel from his paralysis. He fell to his knees and begged her to return his beloved Jorinda, but the witch coldly told him he would never have her back and departed.
Devastated by his loss, Joringel left the forest and eventually came to a strange village where he worked as a shepherd for a long time. He often walked around the castle, though never too close, hoping to find a way to rescue Jorinda. One night, he had a prophetic dream that would change everything.
At last he dreamt one night that he found a bloodred flower, in the middle of which was a beautiful large pearl; that he picked the flower and went with it to the castle.
In his dream, everything he touched with the flower was freed from enchantment, and he recovered his Jorinda. When he awoke, Joringel began searching over hill and dale for such a flower. He searched tirelessly until the ninth day, when early in the morning he found the bloodred flower with a large dewdrop in its center, as big as the finest pearl.
The rescue and reunion
Day and night Joringel journeyed with the magical flower to the castle. When he came within a hundred paces, he discovered that the witch's paralyzing spell had no power over him - he could walk freely to the door. Touching the door with the flower, it sprang open immediately. He entered the courtyard and followed the sound of birds until he found the room where the witch was feeding the birds in seven thousand cages. Though she was furious and spat poison at him, she could not come within two paces of him because of the flower's protection.
Joringel searched among the many hundreds of nightingales, wondering how he would ever find his Jorinda. Just then, he noticed the old woman quietly taking away a cage with a bird and heading toward the door. Acting swiftly, he sprang toward her and touched both the cage and the witch with the magical flower.
Swiftly he sprang towards her, touched the cage with the flower, and also the old woman. She could now no longer bewitch anyone; and Jorinda was standing there, clasping him round the neck.
The witch's power was broken forever, and Jorinda stood before him, as beautiful as ever, embracing him joyfully. The lovers were finally reunited, and their long ordeal was over.