The House in the Wood and Other Old Fairy Stories with drawings by Leslie Brooke
This short and richly illustrated collection of Grimm fairy tales was published by Frederick Warne & Co, London, New York, and printed by Ballantyne Hanson & Co at the Ballantyne Press in Edinburgh, in 1909.
The illustrator was Leonard Leslie Brooke, in this case, presented only as Leslie Brooke and signed as LLB. He was one of the most popular illustrators of the time, excelling in line drawings and color illustrations. Both are used in the book, which is especially interesting because it presents some of the less well-known fairy tales from the collection of the Brothers Grimm.
Of course, the publisher used the opportunity to promote other books illustrated by the same artist (and published by the same publisher) as well.
The so-called frontispiece is an illustration from the famous scene where the animals scare the robbers in The Bremen Town Musicians.
The title page follows.
Here we go with the contents. There are ten tales altogether, all of them illustrated by L. Leslie Brooke.
Are you ready? Here we go.
The House in the Wood
A wood-cutter had three daughters. The eldest was lost in the wood. She came to the house where an old man lived with three animals.
The man asked the animals if she can stay and they agreed. She made some food and went to sleep.
She didn't give any food to the animals. While she was sleeping the old man opened the trap door and she was thrown into the cellar.
The same happened to the middle sister.
But the youngest was different. She made food for everybody, including the animals.
In the middle of the night, the house changed into a castle, and the animals into servants.
The old man changed into a handsome prince and they married soon. Her sisters worked as servants of charcoal-burner until they learned how to be kind.
The Brave Little Tailor
One day a tailor managed to kill seven flies with one strike. He proudly stitched 'Seven at one stroke' to his waist-belt.
He decided to go out into the world. He put some cheese into his pocket and saved a bird stuck in the bushes putting the bird into the other pocket.
After a while, he met a giant and convinced him he is stronger because he could squeeze water from the stone and the giant could only crush it. He actually squeezed water from cheese. He also convinced him he could throw the stone higher because the giant's stone fell down and his didn't. He actually threw the bird which never returned.
He only got a minor accident when he tried to carry a tree together with the giant but he was still optimistic.
When he found out two giants terrorized the country he defeated them by another trick. He was throwing stones at them while they were sleeping and the giants, believing the other one was hitting each one of them, killed each other.
Brave little tailor proved himself in several dangerous situations and the king gave him his daughter as wife.
King's daughter wasn't very happy with the situation and planned the murder of her groom, but the tailor-prince overcame this danger as well. Eventually, he became the king.
The Goblin and the Grocer
There was a house where a grocer and a student lived. There also lived a goblin.
The goblin spent his time mostly at the grocer because he had the jam.
One day the goblin discovered the student's book with spectacular stories. He was enchanted.
When the fire broke out in the neighboring house everybody was scared and tried to save the most precious thing. Goblin opted for the book.
Yet he still couldn't decide to live with the student. Because the grocer had the jam.
The Bremen Town Musicians
A few animals were too old to be useful to people.
So they decided to travel to Bremen where they could become town musicians. But the day was about to end and they were tired. When they spotted the light in the wood, they came to the hut and looked through the window (check the frontispiece from the beginning). They saw a bunch of robbers who were afraid of the strange-looking animals.
The robbers ran out and the hut was empty. Just perfect for the new home of the animals.
There was no need to travel to Bremen anymore.
The Table, the Ass, and the Cudgel
Father had three sons and a goat. One by one the boys tried to satisfy the hunger of the animal but every time she claimed she didn't get any food. Father chased his sons from home.
Only later he found out the goat was a liar.
Boys went in the world and each one of them got a job. After a while they earned rewards. Each one got a magical object.
The eldest got a wishing table with unlimited food but lost it due to a cunning innkeeper.
The second son got an ass who could cough out an unlimited number of gold coins but lost it due to the cunning innkeeper.
Luckily, the third son got a magical cudgel. With the help of the cudgel, he got both magical objects of his brothers back.
They returned home and lived happily ever after. The goat had to go.
The Jew in the Brumble Bush
A young man had a stingy master who paid him only three pennies for three years of hard work.
The young man didn't know anything about the value of the money and he was happy. When he met a dwarf, who asked him for three pennies, he gave him without hesitation.
The dwarf granted him three wishes. The young man asked for a gun that never misses, a fiddle that forces everybody to dance without being able to stop, and the power to ask anybody for anything and get it right away.
Then he met a Jew who wanted to catch a bird. The young man shot the bird and send the Jew into the bush with thorns. Then he started playing the fiddle. The Jew was dancing until he promised to give the young man his purse with gold.
The Jew accused the young man of robbery and the judge sent people to catch him. He was sentenced to death. His last wish was to play the fiddle for one more time.
Everybody was dancing until the judge promised to set the young man free. Then he asked the Jew how he got the money. Jew admitted he stole it. So the Jew was sentenced to death.
The Vagabonds
One day the cock invited the hen to the mountains where they could feast on nuts.
When it was time to return, the cock made a carriage of nut shells. Then a duck came by and complained about the eaten nuts. After a short fight, the duck was forced to carry the cock and the hen in the carriage.
On the way home they took a needle and a pin for additional passengers. Night fell and they stopped at the inn. The cock promised the owner hen's and duck's eggs (if any were laid during the night) if they can spend the night.
But in the morning the duck escaped. The cock and the hen ate the egg, put the shells in the kitchen fire, moved the needle and the pin in the towel and the armchair, and escaped too.
When the owner woke up, he was scratched with the pin in the towel, burnt by an eggshell, and pricked by the needle in the armchair.
The owner took an oath to not admit such vagabonds under his roof evermore.
Red Jacket; or, The Nose Tree
Once there were three soldiers who met a little man in a red jacket. He gave them three magical objects: a cloak that fulfills all wishes, a purse always full of gold, and a horn that draws crowds whenever it was played.
The soldiers enjoyed their lives for a while but soon lost all three objects thanks to a clever princess who was also a witch.
They parted and one of the soldiers found very tasty apples with magical properties. Whoever ate them got his nose much bigger.
Fortunately, the little man in the red jacket popped up again and presented the cure: magical pears. Whoever ate them, got his nose back to normal size.
So the soldiers went back to the princess in disguise and tricked her to eat some apples.
When her nose grew to an enormous size, one of the soldiers visited her as a doctor and gave her a small piece of pear. It helped a little yet not enough. He convinced her the medicine doesn't work because she stole something. After a while, she returned magical objects and got a full pear.
Soldiers got their stuff back and the princess got a normal nose.
The Straw, the Coal, and the Bean
An old woman wanted to cook some beans but one of them escaped together with a coal and a straw. They came to the stream and because there was no bridge, the straw laid down across so the other could pass the water.
When the coal was in the middle, the straw started to burn and both fell into the stream.
The bean laughed so intensely, he burst. Luckily, a tailor came by and sewed the bean. Because he had only black threat from then on all the beans have a black mark on their backs.
Snow-White and Rose-Red
Once upon a time, a woman lived in a cottage in the wood. She had two daughters: Snow-White and Rose-Red.
The girls enjoyed living in the wood, picking up flowers, and playing with the animals.
The winter came and the woman spent most of the time indoors with her daughters. One day a bear came to the door asking to join them.
They became great friends. In spring, the bear left and the girls started exploring the wood again. They met a dwarf whose beard was caught in the cleft of the tree.
The girls helped him but he lost a piece of his beard. He furiously left.
A few days later, they found the same dwarf. He was in trouble again, having his beard caught by the line by which he tried to catch a fish. They rescued him again and another piece of beard was lost.
The girls helped the dwarf for the third time when he was about to be taken by an eagle. Again, he yelled at the girls instead of being helpful.
Not much later Wnow-White and Rose-Red found the dwarf enjoying his treasures. When he tried to yell at the girls, the bear came and killed the dwarf.
Then the bear changed into a handsome prince.
He was enchanted by the dwarf who stole his properties. He asked the girls to go with him to the castle where they lived with their mother. After a while, he married one and his brother the other.
They all lived happily ever after.
The endpaper concludes our journey through the book illustrated by Leonard Lelie Brooke.