The Godfather (Grimm)
Division into chapters is editorial.
The mysterious godfather and his gift
A poor man struggled with so many children that he had exhausted all possible godfathers in his community. When another child was born, he faced an impossible situation.
A poor man had so many children that he had already asked everyone in the world to be godfather, and when still another child was born, no one else was left whom he could invite.
In his desperation, he lay down and fell asleep. In his dream, he received clear instructions to go outside the gate and ask the first person he met to be godfather. Upon waking, he decided to follow this divine guidance and ventured outside.
The first stranger he encountered agreed to be godfather and presented him with a small glass of magical water. The mysterious figure explained the water's extraordinary properties and the conditions for its use.
This is a wonderful water, with it thou canst heal the sick, only thou must see where Death is standing. If he is standing by the patient's head, give the patient some of the water and he will be healed, but if Death is standing by his feet, all trouble will be in vain, for the sick man must die.
The healers fame and the kings child
Armed with this supernatural gift, the poor man discovered he could accurately predict whether patients would live or die by observing Death's position. His reputation as a healer spread rapidly throughout the land.
From this time forth, the man could always say whether a patient could be saved or not, and became famous for his skill, and earned a great deal of money.
His most significant case came when he was summoned to treat the King's child. When he arrived at the royal palace, he saw Death standing by the child's head and successfully cured the young patient with the magical water. A second illness befell the royal child, and again the healer found Death positioned by the head, allowing for another successful cure.
However, when the child fell ill a third time, the healer discovered Death standing ominously by the patient's feet. Following the godfather's original instructions, he knew that all efforts would be futile, and the royal child was destined to die. This tragic outcome demonstrated the absolute power of Death and the limitations of even magical intervention.
The godfathers true nature revealed
Curious about his mysterious benefactor and eager to share his success, the healer decided to visit the godfather. When he entered the strange house, he encountered increasingly bizarre and supernatural phenomena on each floor. The building defied all natural laws, filled with animated objects and macabre sights.
On the first floor, he witnessed a broom and shovel engaged in violent combat, directing him upward. The second floor revealed heaps of dead fingers, while the third floor displayed piles of severed heads. The fourth floor presented the surreal sight of fish cooking themselves in pans. Each floor's inhabitants pointed him higher up the building.
Finally reaching the fifth floor, he peered through a keyhole and witnessed the godfather's true form.
And when he had ascended the fifth, he came to the door of a room and peeped through the keyhole, and there he saw the godfather who had a pair of long horns.
When confronted about the strange household, the godfather provided mundane explanations for each supernatural sight, claiming the fighting objects were servants talking, the dead fingers were plant roots, the heads were cabbages, and the self-cooking fish were normal kitchen activity. However, when the man mentioned seeing the horns, the godfather angrily denied this revelation.
Terrified by this confrontation with Death himself, the man fled the house immediately, escaping whatever punishment the godfather might have inflicted upon him for discovering his true demonic nature.