The Youth Who Learned Fear (Grimm)
Short summary
A father had two sons - one clever and one considered stupid. The younger son couldn't understand fear or shuddering, which everyone else experienced naturally.
His father sent him away with fifty thalers to learn a trade. The youth only wanted to learn how to shudder. A sexton tried to frighten him by pretending to be a ghost in the church tower, but the youth pushed him down the stairs, breaking his leg. Cast out for this, he met a man who directed him to spend a night under the gallows with hanged men. The corpses didn't frighten him either.
At an inn, he learned of a haunted castle where anyone who spent three nights would win the king's daughter. The youth asked for fire, a lathe, and a cutting board. The first night, talking cats tried to play cards with him; he killed them. The second night, body parts fell down the chimney and formed a man, then others played ninepins with skulls. The third night, six men brought a coffin with his dead cousin. When the youth warmed the corpse, it tried to strangle him. An old man with a white beard challenged him to a contest of strength; the youth trapped his beard in an anvil and beat him until he revealed three chests of gold.
Having survived three nights, he married the princess but still couldn't shudder. His wife's maid suggested pouring cold water with fish over him while he slept.
Oh, what makes me shudder so?—what makes me shudder so, dear wife? Ah! now I know what it is to shudder!
Detailed summary
Division into chapters is editorial.
The youth who cannot shudder
A father had two sons with vastly different temperaments. The elder was smart and sensible, capable of handling any task, but easily frightened by dark places and scary stories. The younger was considered stupid by everyone, unable to learn or understand anything.
When others spoke of things that made them shudder, the younger son was puzzled. He thought to himself that shuddering must be an art he did not understand. When his father demanded he learn a trade to earn his living, the youth expressed his willingness to learn.
The sextons failed lesson in the tower
Well, father... I am quite willing to learn something—indeed, if it could but be managed, I should like to learn how to shudder. I don't understand that at all yet.
The sexton offered to teach the youth how to shudder and took him to ring the church bell at midnight.
The sexton disguised himself as a ghost and stood on the stairs. When the youth demanded he answer or leave, the sexton remained motionless. After three warnings, the youth pushed the figure down the stairs, breaking the sexton's leg. The father, ashamed of his son's actions, gave him fifty thalers and banished him.
The gallows and the strangers wager
When day dawned... the boy put his fifty thalers into his pocket, and went forth on the great highway, and continually said to himself, 'If I could but shudder!'
A stranger offered to teach him to shudder by spending a night under the gallows where seven men hung. The youth agreed and wagered his fifty thalers. At the gallows, he built a fire and, feeling pity for the hanged men in the cold wind, climbed up and brought them down to warm by the fire. When their clothes caught fire and they did not move, he hung them back up. The next morning, the stranger saw the youth had not learned to shudder and left without the money.
The wagoner and the haunted castle
A wagoner found the youth muttering about shuddering and took him to an inn.
The innkeeper told him about a haunted castle where anyone could learn to shudder by spending three nights there. The king had promised his daughter in marriage and great treasures to whoever succeeded. The youth went to the king and requested permission to attempt the challenge.
First night: battling supernatural cats and creatures
The king allowed the youth to take three lifeless things into the castle: a fire, a turning lathe, and a cutting-board with knife. On the first night, the youth made a bright fire and seated himself by the lathe. At midnight, two great black cats appeared and asked to play cards. The youth agreed but first insisted on cutting their long claws.
You simpletons!... what are you crying about? If you are cold, come and take a seat by the fire and warm yourselves... Oh... what long nails you have! Wait, I must first cut them.
He seized the cats, put them on the cutting-board, and killed them. More black cats and dogs with red-hot chains emerged from every corner, trying to destroy his fire. The youth fought them off with his knife, killing some and throwing others into the fishpond. Later, a bed began moving wildly around the castle with him on it, but he enjoyed the ride. When the king found him in the morning, the youth reported that one night had passed successfully.
Second night: playing ninepins with the dead
On the second night, the youth again sat by his fire. At midnight, half a man fell down the chimney, followed by the other half. The pieces joined together into a frightful man who tried to claim the youth's bench. The youth refused and pushed him away. More men appeared, bringing nine dead men's legs and two skulls to play ninepins. The youth asked to join their game, complaining that the skulls were not round enough. He put them in his lathe to make them perfectly round, then played and lost some money. At midnight, everything vanished. The king found him well the next morning, and the youth reported he had enjoyed playing ninepins.
Third night: the dead cousin and the bearded mans treasure
On the third night, six tall men brought in a coffin containing a dead man. The youth recognized him as his little cousin who had died recently. He tried to warm the corpse by the fire and even took him to bed to share body heat.
Stop... I will warm thee a little... When two people lie in bed together, they warm each other... See, little cousin, have I not warmed thee?
The dead man came to life and tried to strangle the youth, who threw him back into the coffin. Then a terrible old man with a long white beard appeared, threatening to teach the youth what it meant to shudder.
The youth challenged him to a contest of strength. At a forge, the old man struck an anvil into the ground, but the youth split an anvil and trapped the old man's beard in it. The youth beat him until he begged for mercy and showed him three chests of gold in the cellar.
Marriage and learning to shudder at last
The king declared the castle delivered and gave the youth his daughter in marriage.
Then... said the King, thou hast delivered the castle, and shalt marry my daughter. That is all very well... but still I do not know what it is to shudder.
Despite his happiness as king, the youth continued lamenting his inability to shudder, which eventually angered his wife. Her waiting-maid devised a solution: she had a bucket of cold water with small fish poured over the sleeping king. He awoke crying that he was shuddering and finally understood what it meant to shudder.