The Straw, the Coal, and the Bean (Grimm)
Division into chapters is editorial.
The great escape: how three unlikely friends avoided death
In a small village lived a poor old woman who decided to cook a dish of beans for her meal. She built a fire on her hearth and lit it with a handful of straw to make it burn faster. As she poured the beans into her cooking pan, one bean fell to the ground without her noticing and landed beside a piece of straw that had escaped the flames.
Soon afterward, a burning coal leaped from the fire and joined the straw and bean on the ground. The three objects, now magically alive, began to speak to each other. The straw asked his new companions where they had come from.
I fortunately sprang out of the fire, and if I had not escaped by main force, my death would have been certainâI should have been burnt to ashes.
The bean shared a similar tale of narrow escape, explaining that if the old woman had caught him, he would have been boiled into broth like his unfortunate companions.
The straw told an equally harrowing story about how the old woman had destroyed sixty of his brothers in fire and smoke, seizing them all at once, but he had luckily slipped through her fingers.
The fateful journey: a bridge of straw and tragic consequences
After sharing their stories of escape, the three companions wondered what they should do next. The bean proposed that since they had all fortunately escaped death, they should stay together as good friends and travel to a foreign country to avoid any new dangers that might befall them in their current location. The coal and straw agreed to this sensible plan.
The three friends set out on their journey together, but soon encountered their first obstacle. They came to a small brook with no bridge or footplank to help them cross. As they pondered how to get over the water, the straw came up with a helpful solution.
I will lay myself straight across, and then you can walk over on me as on a bridge... The straw therefore stretched itself from one bank to the other.
The coal, being impetuous by nature, boldly stepped onto the newly constructed bridge. However, when she reached the middle and heard the rushing water beneath her, fear overcame her courage. She stood still, afraid to continue forward. The straw, unable to bear the heat from the burning coal, began to catch fire, broke into two pieces, and fell into the stream. The coal slipped after her, hissed when she hit the water, and died.
Laughter, rescue, and the origin of the beans black seam
The bean had wisely remained on the shore, watching the disaster unfold. When she saw what happened to her two friends, she could not help but find the situation amusing. She began to laugh at the unfortunate event and found herself unable to stop. She laughed so heartily and uncontrollably that she burst open from the force of her own laughter.
This would have been the end of the bean as well, but fortune smiled upon her. A traveling tailor who was searching for work happened to be resting by the brook at that very moment.
Having a compassionate heart, the tailor immediately came to the bean's aid. He pulled out his needle and thread and carefully sewed her back together, saving her life. The bean thanked him most graciously for his kindness.
As he had a compassionate heart he pulled out his needle and thread, and sewed her together... but as the tailor used black thread, all beans since then have a black seam.
This act of kindness not only saved the bean's life but also established a permanent mark on all beans that would follow. The black thread the tailor used created the distinctive black seam that has characterized beans ever since, serving as a reminder of this tale of friendship, misadventure, and unexpected rescue.