Old Rinkrank (Grimm)
Division into chapters is editorial.
The glass mountain challenge and the princesss disappearance
A king decided to test potential suitors for his daughter's hand in marriage by creating an unusual challenge. He had a glass mountain constructed and declared that whoever could cross to the other side without falling would win his daughter as a wife. A young man who loved the princess came forward to accept this dangerous trial.
The king agreed to the young man's request, and the princess herself offered to accompany her beloved on the treacherous journey, promising to hold him if he began to fall. The couple set out together to cross the perilous glass mountain.
So they set out together to go over it, and when they were halfway up the princess slipped and fell, and the glass-mountain opened and shut her up inside it
Her betrothed could not see where she had gone, as the mountain closed immediately. He wept and lamented greatly, and the king was equally miserable. They attempted to break open the mountain where she had disappeared, hoping to rescue her, but could not find the exact place where she had fallen.
Years of servitude to Old Rinkrank
The princess had fallen deep into the earth into a great cave, where she encountered a strange old man with a very long gray beard. He gave her a stark ultimatum: she could live if she became his servant and obeyed his every command, or he would kill her. Faced with no alternative, she agreed to serve him.
Each morning, Old Rinkrank would take a magical ladder from his pocket, set it against the mountain, and climb to the top. After reaching the summit, he would draw the ladder up after him. The princess was responsible for all household duties: cooking his meals, making his bed, and performing various chores. When he returned each evening, he always brought heaps of gold and silver with him.
When she had lived with him for many years, and had grown quite old, he called her Mother Mansrot, and she had to call him Old Rinkrank
The years of captivity transformed the once-young princess into an aged woman, bound by the strange customs and names her captor imposed upon their relationship.
The princesss clever escape plan
One day, when Old Rinkrank was away, the princess devised a cunning plan for her freedom. After completing her usual tasks of making his bed and washing his dishes, she secured all the doors and windows tightly, leaving only one small window open through which light could enter.
When Old Rinkrank returned home, he knocked at his door and called out for Mother Mansrot to open it. She refused each of his requests, whether for opening the door, washing dishes, or making his bed, claiming she had already completed these tasks. Growing frustrated, he chanted his peculiar verse about standing on his seventeen long shanks with his weary foot.
Old Rinkrank circled his house and discovered the small open window. Thinking he could spy on Mother Mansrot to understand her strange behavior, he attempted to peer inside.
He tried to peep in, but could not get his head through because of his long beard. So he first put his beard through the open window, but just as he had got it through, Mother Mansrot came by
The princess quickly pulled the window down with a cord she had prepared, trapping his beard securely. Old Rinkrank began crying piteously from the pain and begged her to release him. She refused unless he revealed the location of his magical ladder. Reluctantly, he was forced to tell her where it was hidden. The princess then fastened a long ribbon to the window, retrieved the ladder, and climbed to the mountain's summit.
Rescue and final justice
Once free, the princess returned to her father and recounted her entire ordeal. The king rejoiced greatly at her return, and remarkably, her faithful betrothed was still there, having waited all those years. Together, they organized an expedition to dig up the mountain and discovered Old Rinkrank trapped inside with all his accumulated gold and silver.
Then the King had Old Rinkrank put to death, and took all his gold and silver. The princess married her betrothed, and lived right happily in great magnificence and joy