The Iron Stove (Grimm)
Short summary
A princess lost in a forest discovered an iron stove with a bewitched prince inside.
He promised to help her home if she'd return to free and marry him. She agreed and scraped the stove, releasing him.
But she spoke more than three allowed words to her father. The stove vanished. She crossed a glass mountain, swords, and a lake to find him at a castle, where he was to marry another. Using magic nuts with dresses, she bought three nights in his room. She cried:
I set thee free when thou wert in an iron stove in the wild forest, I sought thee, and walked over a glass mountain, and three sharp swords, and a great lake before I found thee, and yet thou wilt not hear me!
The third night, he heard her and they reunited.
Detailed summary
Division into chapters is editorial.
The bewitched prince and the lost princess
In ancient times when wishing still held power, a prince fell victim to dark magic. An old witch cast a spell upon him, trapping him inside an iron stove deep within a forest.
For many years, the prince remained imprisoned with no hope of rescue. Meanwhile, a king's daughter became lost in the same forest after wandering for nine days, unable to find her way back to her father's kingdom. Exhausted and desperate, she eventually came upon the mysterious iron stove. A voice emerged from within, asking where she came from and where she was going. When she explained her plight, the voice made her an offer:
I will help thee to get home again, and that indeed most swiftly, if thou wilt promise to do what I desire of thee. I am the son of a far greater King than thy father, and I will marry thee.
Failed rescue attempts by substitutes
Though frightened by the prospect of marrying an iron stove, the princess's desire to return home compelled her to agree. The voice instructed her to return with a knife to scrape a hole in the iron, then provided her with a silent companion who guided her home in just two hours. When she told her father about her promise, he was terrified at the thought of losing his only daughter.
The princess frees the prince but loses him
The king devised a plan to deceive the voice in the stove. First, he sent the miller's daughter as a substitute.
She scraped at the stove for twenty-four hours but could not remove even the smallest piece. When dawn broke, the voice inside recognized her deception by her mention of her father's mill. Next came the swineherd's daughter, even prettier than the first substitute.
She too failed after twenty-four hours of scraping, betraying herself by mentioning her father's horn. The voice threatened that if the true princess did not come, the entire kingdom would be destroyed. Faced with this ultimatum, the princess finally went to the forest herself. When she began scraping, the iron gave way easily, and within two hours she had created a hole large enough for the imprisoned man to escape.
Then she peeped in, and saw a youth so handsome, and so brilliant with gold and with precious jewels, that her very soul was delighted.
The freed prince declared her his bride and wanted to take her to his kingdom immediately. However, she begged permission to say farewell to her father first. He agreed but warned her to speak no more than three words, then return. Tragically, she spoke more than the allotted three words, and instantly the iron stove vanished, transported far away over glass mountains and piercing swords. Though the prince was now free, he was lost to her.
The quest for the vanished stove and magical aid
The princess bid farewell to her father and set out to search for the vanished stove. For nine days she searched the great forest but found nothing.
For nine days she sought it, and then her hunger grew so great that she did not know what to do, for she could no longer live.
As evening fell, she climbed a small tree to spend the night safely. Near midnight, she spotted a distant light and made her way toward it, praying as she walked. The light led her to a small old house overgrown with grass, with a pile of wood in front. Peering through the window, she saw an extraordinary sight: toads of all sizes sitting around a table set with wine, roast meat, and silver plates and glasses. Gathering her courage, she knocked on the door. A fat toad called out in verse to a small green waiting-maid with a limping leg, who opened the door.
Disguised as a servant, winning back the prince
The toads welcomed her warmly and listened to her story.
After providing her with food, drink, and a comfortable bed, the old toad gave her three magical items from a great box: three large needles, a plough-wheel, and three nuts. These would help her cross a glass mountain, three piercing swords, and a great lake. Using the needles for the glass mountain, rolling over the swords on the plough-wheel, and crossing the lake, she reached a beautiful castle where she learned the prince now lived. She requested work as a scullery-maid, discovering that the prince was about to marry another woman who believed the princess to be dead.
Each evening after her work, the princess cracked open one of the magical nuts, revealing increasingly beautiful royal garments. She traded each dress to the false bride for permission to spend one night in the prince's chamber. However, the bride gave the prince sleeping draughts the first two nights, preventing him from hearing the princess's tearful pleas as she reminded him of their story and her sacrifices. The servants heard her weeping and informed their master. On the third night, the prince was prepared.
The King's son was, however, on his guard, and threw the sleeping-draught away.
When the princess began her lament again, the prince finally heard her voice and recognized his true bride.
Dearest love, I set thee free when thou wert in the iron stove in the terrible wild forest, the King's son leapt up and said, 'Thou art the true one, thou art mine, and I am thine.'
Return journey and royal wedding
That very night, the prince and princess departed together in a carriage, taking the false bride's clothes to prevent her from following. They retraced the princess's difficult journey, sailing across the great lake, riding the plough-wheel over the three sharp swords, and using the three needles to cross the glass mountain. When they reached the little old house, it had transformed into a magnificent castle.
The toads were all disenchanted, and were King's children, and full of happiness. Then the wedding was celebrated, and they had two kingdoms, and lived in happy wedlock.
The wedding celebration was grand, uniting the prince and princess who now ruled over two kingdoms together. Because the old king grieved at being left alone, they brought him to live with them, and all lived happily in their expanded realm, their love having triumphed over magic, deception, and seemingly impossible obstacles.