The Shroud (Grimm)

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Brothers Grimm

The Shroud

ger. Das Totenhemdchen · 1812

Summary of a Fairy Tale

The original takes ~1 min to read

Microsummary

A grieving mother wept endlessly after her young son died. His ghost appeared by night and warned that her tears soaked his burial shroud and kept him from rest. She stopped crying, and he slept.

Division into chapters is editorial.

The beloved childs death and the mothers inconsolable grief

In a household lived a devoted mother with her young son, who possessed such remarkable beauty and charm that everyone who encountered him felt immediate affection. The mother cherished him above all else in the world, loving him with complete devotion.

There was once a mother who had a little boy of seven years old, who was so handsome and lovable that no one could look at him without liking him

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The Little Boy — seven years old, handsome and lovable, dies suddenly, appears as a ghost in white shroud with flower wreath, compassionate toward his mother.

Tragedy struck when the child fell suddenly ill without warning. Despite all care and prayers, God took the beloved boy to himself, leaving the mother devastated by her profound loss.

Now it so happened that he suddenly became ill, and God took him to himself; and for this the mother could not be comforted, and wept both day and night.

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The Mother — woman, mother of a seven-year-old boy, deeply loving and devoted, grief-stricken, weeps constantly after her child's death.

After the funeral, the mother's grief knew no bounds. She wept continuously, unable to find any comfort or peace in her overwhelming sorrow. Her tears flowed endlessly as she mourned the loss of her precious child, refusing all attempts at consolation from those around her. The depth of her anguish seemed bottomless, consuming her entirely with its intensity.

The childs return from the grave and the warning about tears

Soon after the burial, something extraordinary began to occur. The deceased child started appearing during the nighttime hours in the very places where he had once sat and played during his earthly life. These supernatural visitations followed a pattern - whenever the mother wept, the child's spirit would also weep in response, sharing her sorrow from beyond the grave. When morning arrived, the ghostly apparition would vanish, leaving no trace of its presence.

But soon afterwards, when the child had been buried, it appeared by night in the places where it had sat and played during its life

The mother's relentless weeping continued without cease, and her tears seemed to have a profound effect on her departed child's eternal rest. One night, the situation reached a critical point when the child appeared in a more direct and urgent manner. The spirit manifested dressed in the burial garments - the small white shroud that had been placed in the coffin, adorned with the wreath of flowers that had crowned its head during the funeral ceremony.

Standing at the foot of the mother's bed, the child's ghost delivered a heartbreaking plea that revealed the supernatural connection between the mother's grief and the child's afterlife condition.

Oh, mother, do stop crying, or I shall never fall asleep in my coffin, for my shroud will not dry because of all thy tears, which fall upon it.

This supernatural revelation terrified the mother, who realized that her excessive mourning was preventing her child from finding peace in death. The ghost's words made clear that the mother's tears were somehow reaching the grave, keeping the burial shroud perpetually wet and preventing the child from achieving the rest that death should bring. Frightened by this otherworldly warning, the mother immediately ceased her weeping. The next night brought another visitation, but this time the child appeared holding a small light and delivered more hopeful news about the improving condition of the shroud, indicating that the mother's restraint was allowing the healing process to begin.

The mothers acceptance and the childs final rest

The mother's encounter with her child's spirit brought about a profound transformation in her approach to grief. Understanding now that her excessive mourning was causing supernatural harm to her beloved child's eternal rest, she made the difficult but necessary decision to change her behavior. Rather than continuing to weep uncontrollably, she chose to entrust her overwhelming sorrow to God's care, accepting divine will in her loss.

This act of faith and surrender allowed her to bear her grief with quiet dignity and patience, no longer allowing her tears to disturb her child's peace.

Then the mother gave her sorrow into God's keeping, and bore it quietly and patiently, and the child came no more, but slept in its little bed beneath the earth.