Sweetheart Roland (Grimm)
Short summary
A witch loved her ugly daughter but hated her beautiful stepdaughter.
The witch planned to kill the stepdaughter for her pretty apron but accidentally beheaded her own child instead. The stepdaughter fled with her sweetheart Roland after leaving blood drops that spoke to delay the witch. When pursued, they transformed into a lake and duck, then a flower and fiddler. The witch died dancing to Roland's magical music. Roland went home to arrange their wedding but forgot her under another woman's influence. The girl became a red landmark, then a flower. A shepherd found her and she kept his house. When Roland married another, all girls sang at the wedding.
But when she began her song, and it reached Roland's ears, he sprang up and cried, I know the voice, that is the true bride, I will have no other!
Roland remembered everything and married his faithful maiden.
Detailed summary
Division into chapters is editorial.
The witchs plan backfires and the stepdaughter escapes
A witch lived with two daughters - one ugly and wicked whom she loved because she was her own child, and one beautiful and good whom she hated because she was her stepdaughter.
The witch's daughter envied her stepsister's pretty apron and demanded it from her mother.
Be quiet, my child, and thou shalt have it. Thy stepsister has long deserved death, tonight when she is asleep I will come and cut her head off.
The stepdaughter overheard this murderous plan from a corner where she had been standing.
That night, when the witch's daughter got into bed first to lie at the far side, the stepdaughter waited until she was asleep, then gently pushed her to the front and took the back position by the wall. When the old witch crept in with an axe, she felt for whoever was lying on the outside and cut off her own child's head instead.
Magical pursuit and transformations
The girl immediately went to her sweetheart Roland and knocked at his door.
Hear me, dearest Roland, we must fly in all haste; my stepmother wanted to kill me, but has struck her own child. When daylight comes, and she sees what she has done, we shall be lost.
Roland advised her to first take the witch's magic wand so they could escape if pursued. The maiden fetched the wand, took the dead girl's head, and dropped three drops of blood - one in front of the bed, one in the kitchen, and one on the stairs. Then they fled together. When the witch awoke and called for her daughter, each drop of blood answered from its location, delaying the witch's discovery of the truth.
Upon finding her own dead child, the witch flew into a rage and spotted the fleeing couple from her window. She put on her many league boots and quickly overtook them.
The girl, however, when she saw the old woman striding towards her, changed, with her magic wand, her sweetheart Roland into a lake, and herself into a duck swimming in the middle of it.
The witch tried to entice the duck with breadcrumbs but failed and had to return home. The couple resumed their natural forms and walked all night. At daybreak, the maiden transformed herself into a beautiful flower in a briar hedge and Roland into a fiddler. When the witch arrived and asked to pluck the flower, Roland began playing magical music that forced her to dance violently among the thorns until she died from her wounds.
Death of the witch and Rolands departure
With the witch dead, Roland decided to go to his father to arrange their wedding. The girl agreed to wait for him, transforming herself into a red stone landmark so no one would recognize her. However, when Roland reached home, he fell under the influence of another woman who made him forget his faithful maiden completely.
But when Roland got home, he fell into the snares of another, who prevailed on him so far that he forgot the maiden.
The poor girl waited as a red landmark for a long time, but when Roland never returned, she sadly changed herself into a flower, thinking someone would surely come and trample her down.
The forgotten bride and the shepherds house
A shepherd found the beautiful flower, plucked it, and took it home to keep in his chest.
Strange things began happening in the shepherd's house - all the work was done by morning, the room swept, table cleaned, fire lit, and water fetched. At noon, he would find a good dinner prepared. Frightened by this mysterious help, he consulted a wise woman.
She advised him to throw a white cloth over whatever he saw moving early in the morning. The shepherd followed her advice and saw the flower emerge from the chest at dawn. When he threw the white cloth over it, the transformation ended and a beautiful girl appeared. She told him her story and, though he proposed marriage, she refused, wanting to remain faithful to Roland despite his desertion. However, she promised to continue keeping house for him.
Recognition and reunion at the wedding
When Roland's wedding was announced, all the girls in the country were invited to sing in honor of the bridal pair. The faithful maiden grew so sad she thought her heart would break, but the other girls took her along. When her turn came to sing, she stepped back until she was the only one left and could not refuse. As soon as she began her song and Roland heard her voice, he sprang up and cried that he knew this voice - she was his true bride and he would have no other. All his forgotten memories suddenly returned to his heart.
Then the faithful maiden held her wedding with her sweetheart Roland, and grief came to an end and joy began.