The Water of Life (German fairy tale) facts for kids

The Water of Life (which in German is Das Wasser des Lebens) is a classic German fairy tale. It was collected by the famous Brothers Grimm and is story number 97 in their collection. This tale is a type 551 in the Aarne–Thompson–Uther Index, which is a way to classify different kinds of folk tales around the world.

The story is similar to other tales from different cultures. For example, John Francis Campbell noted it was like the Scottish fairy tale The Brown Bear of the Green Glen.

The Story of the Water of Life

Arthur Rackham, 1916

Once, there was a king who was very sick and close to dying. An old, wise man told his three sons that only the magical water of life could save him. So, each son decided to go find it.

The two older brothers set out first. They hoped to be the one who would become king next. On their journey, they were rude to a small, magical dwarf. Because of their unkindness, the dwarf trapped them in deep ravines, and they could not escape.

When the youngest son went, he was polite to the dwarf. The dwarf asked him where he was going, and the prince honestly told him he was looking for the water of life for his father. The dwarf decided to help him. He told the prince that the water was in a castle. He gave the prince a special iron wand to open the castle gates. He also gave him two loaves of bread to feed the fierce lions inside. The dwarf warned him that he had to get the water before the clock struck 12, or the gates would close forever.

The youngest prince used the wand to open the gate and fed the bread to the lions. Inside, he found a large hall where many princes were sleeping. He carefully took rings from their fingers and also took some bread and a sword from a table. He continued on and found a beautiful princess. She kissed him and told him that he had freed her from a spell. She promised to marry him if he returned within a year. Then, she showed him where the magical spring was.

The prince went to the spring, but he felt very tired. He saw a bed and lay down to rest, falling asleep. When he woke up, it was already a quarter to twelve! He quickly jumped up, grabbed the water, and rushed out. The castle gate slammed shut right behind him, taking off the heel of his boot!

He met the dwarf again, who told him what had happened to his older brothers. The youngest prince begged the dwarf to free them, even though the dwarf warned that they had unkind hearts. The dwarf agreed and freed them.

As they traveled home, they came to a kingdom suffering from war and hunger. The youngest prince used the magical sword to defeat their enemies and shared the special bread to feed the hungry people. They then came to two more kingdoms in the same trouble, and the prince helped them in the same way.

Finally, they got on a ship to cross the sea and return home. But the older brothers were still mean. They secretly stole the water of life from the youngest prince and filled his bottle with sea water instead.

When they arrived home, the king drank the sea water and became even sicker. The older brothers then lied, saying the youngest prince had tried to poison their father. They gave the king the real water of life, and he got better. The king, believing his older sons, decided to have his youngest son secretly taken away and not seen again as punishment. He sent a huntsman with the prince into the woods. However, the huntsman could not bring himself to harm the prince and confessed the king's plan. The prince and the huntsman swapped clothes, and the prince fled.

Later, gifts and treasures arrived from the three kingdoms the youngest prince had saved. The king started to wonder if he had been wrong about his youngest son. He regretted what he had done. The huntsman then confessed that he had not harmed the prince. So, the king announced that his youngest son could return safely.

Meanwhile, the princess in the castle had built a golden road leading to her home. She told her people that this road would bring her true groom to her. She instructed them not to let anyone enter who did not ride straight up the golden road. The two older princes, who were pretending to be the ones who had freed her, saw the golden road. They thought it would be a shame to get it dirty, so they rode their horses alongside it. Because of this, the servants did not let them in.

The youngest prince, however, was thinking so much about the princess that he did not even notice the golden road. He rode his horse straight up it. He was welcomed inside, and he and the princess were married. The prince then went back to his father and told him the true story of what had happened. The king wanted to punish the older brothers, but they had already boarded a ship and were never seen again.

Other Versions of the Story

Many different versions of "The Water of Life" exist around the world. For example, Swedish folk tale collectors George Stephens and Gunnar Olof Hyltén-Cavallius found a very similar Swedish story called Ungdoms-Landet, which means "The Land of Youth." They also mentioned a Russian version called Story of Lyubim Tsarevich and the Winged Wolf.

In an Indian version, called The Rose of Bakawali (Gul-e-Bakawali), the king becomes blind. His doctors say the only cure is a magical rose from a fairy princess. W. A. Clouston saw this quest for a magical flower as being very similar to the search for the water of life.

In some versions of the story, the object that can cure the king is not just water. It might be water that gives youth, or even a magical bird. Sometimes it's both! For example, a Hungarian story is called Der Fink mit der goldenen Stimme ("The finch with the golden voice"). At the end of some of these tales, the fairy maiden or princess travels to the prince's kingdom with her army to find the man who took her special bird or magical water.

In Estonia, this type of story is known as Imelik peegel ("The Wonderful Mirror"). This name comes from a story by the author Juhan Kunder.