The Jew Among Thorns (Grimm)
Short summary
A servant worked diligently for three years, but his miserly master paid him only three farthings total.
Leaving his master, the servant met a dwarf begging for money. Out of kindness, he gave away all three farthings. The grateful dwarf granted him three wishes: a gun that never missed, a fiddle that made everyone dance, and the power that no one could refuse his requests. Soon after, the servant encountered a Jew admiring a singing bird in a tree. The servant shot the bird into thorn bushes.
When the Jew crawled into the thorns to retrieve it, the servant played his fiddle, forcing him to dance painfully among the thorns until he gave the servant a purse of gold. The Jew reported the servant to the authorities for robbery. At the trial, the servant was sentenced to hang. As his last request, he asked to play his fiddle.
At the third scrape they all leaped up and began to dance; the judge and the Jew being the best at jumping... and the longer he played, the higher sprang the dancers.
The judge promised to spare the servant's life if he stopped playing. The servant then forced the Jew to confess he had stolen the gold. The judge hanged the Jew as a thief instead.
Detailed summary
Division into chapters is editorial.
The faithful servant and his meager reward
A diligent and honest servant worked faithfully for a rich master for three years. He was always the first to rise in the morning and the last to go to bed at night, never complained about difficult tasks, and remained cheerful and content with everything. However, his master proved to be miserly and cunning.
When a year was ended, his master gave him no wages, for he said to himself, 'That is the cleverest way; for I shall save something, and he will not go away.'
After three years of faithful service, the servant finally asked for his wages. The master reluctantly reached into his pocket and counted out only three farthings, claiming this was generous payment that few masters would give.
The encounter with the magical dwarf
The naive servant, understanding little about money, happily put his fortune in his pocket and set off singing and jumping with joy. As he passed by a thicket, a little man stepped out and asked about his cheerful mood. When the servant explained he had three years' wages jingling in his pocket, the dwarf inquired about the amount.
Learning it was only three farthings, the dwarf claimed to be poor and needy, asking for the money since the young servant could easily earn his bread. The good-hearted servant gave him all three farthings. In return, the grateful dwarf granted him three wishes, promising they would all be fulfilled and that no one would be able to refuse any request he made.
The servant wished for a gun that would hit everything he aimed at, a fiddle that would compel all who heard it to dance, and the power to have any favor granted. The dwarf produced these magical items from the bush.
The Jew trapped in the thorns
Soon afterward, the servant encountered a man with a long goat's beard listening to a bird singing at the top of a tree. The man exclaimed about the bird's loud voice and wished someone would sprinkle salt on its tail so he could catch it.
The servant offered to help, took aim with his magical gun, and shot the bird down into the thorn bushes. He told the man to fetch the bird himself, calling him a rogue. The man agreed to retrieve it and crawled into the thorny thicket. Once he was trapped among the thorns, the servant took up his fiddle and began to play.
Immediately, the man's legs began to move and jump in the air. The more the servant played, the better the dance became, but the thorns tore his shabby coat, combed his beard, and pricked him all over. He begged the servant to stop fiddling, crying that he didn't want to dance, but the servant continued playing mercilessly.
You have fleeced people often enough, now the thorn-bushes shall do the same to you; and he began to play over again, so that the Jew had to jump higher than ever.
Finally, the desperate man offered the servant a purse full of gold to stop the music. The servant accepted the payment and departed, leaving the man to curse and threaten him with revenge.
Trial and magical escape
The angry man ran to town and complained to the judge, claiming he had been robbed and ill-treated on the public highway. He described his attacker as having a gun and fiddle. The judge sent his people to find the servant, and they discovered both him and the purse of money.
When brought before the judge, the servant explained that he hadn't stolen the money but that it was given to him freely to stop his fiddling. The accuser denied this vehemently, and the judge refused to believe such an unlikely story. He sentenced the servant to be hanged for highway robbery.
As the servant was led to the gallows, he made one final request to the judge - to play his fiddle once more before dying. Despite the accuser's frantic protests, the judge granted this last favor, unable to refuse due to the servant's magical gift. When the servant began to play, everyone present - judge, clerk, hangman, and all the spectators - began to dance uncontrollably.
Justice revealed
The dancing became so frenzied that people knocked against each other's heads and began to shriek terribly. Finally, the judge, completely out of breath, promised to spare the servant's life if he would only stop playing. The servant showed mercy and hung up his fiddle.
You rascal, now confess, whence you got the money, or I will take my fiddle and begin to play again. I stole it, I stole it! cried he; but you have honestly earned it.
Under threat of more dancing, the accuser confessed that he had stolen the money, while acknowledging that the servant had honestly earned it. The judge then had the real thief taken to the gallows and hanged, while the innocent servant went free with his rightfully obtained reward.