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King Thrushbeard
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A proud and haughty princess refuses to marry because no man is good enough for her. She mocks every suitor, especially a king whom she calls “Thrushbeard”. Her father devises a plot to make her less proud.
You may notice that this story by the Brothers Grimm has much in common with The Taming of the Shrew, the comedy by William Shakespeare.
Read by Natasha. Duration 10.34.
A king had a daughter who was beautiful beyond all measure, but so proud and haughty that no suitor was good enough for her. She sent away one after the other, and ridiculed them as well.
Once the king made a great feast and invited, from far and near, all the young men likely to marry. They were all marshaled in a row according to their rank and standing. First came the kings, then the grand-dukes, then the princes, the earls, the barons, and the gentry. Then the king’s daughter was led through the ranks, but to each one she had some objection to make. One was too fat, the wine-barrel, she said. Another was too tall, and long and thin has little in. The third was too short, and short and thick is never quick. The fourth was too pale, as pale as death. The fifth too red, a fighting cock. The sixth was not straight enough, a green log dried behind the stove.
So she had something to say against each one, but she made herself especially merry over a good king who stood quite high up in the row, and whose chin had grown a little crooked. Look, she cried and laughed, he has a chin like a thrush’s beak. And from that time he got the name of King Thrushbeard.
But the old king, when he saw that his daughter did nothing but mock the people, and despised all the suitors who were gathered there, was very angry, and swore that she should have for her husband the very first beggar that came to his doors.
A few days afterwards a fiddler came and sang beneath the windows, trying to earn a few pennies. When the king heard him he said, let him come up. So the fiddler came in, in his dirty, ragged clothes, and sang before the king and his daughter, and when he had ended he asked for a trifling gift. The king said, your song has pleased me so well that I will give you my daughter there, to wife.
The king’s daughter shuddered, but the king said, I have taken an oath to give you to the very first beggar-man and I will keep it. All she could say was in vain. The priest was brought, and she had to let herself be wedded to the fiddler on the spot. When that was done the king said, now it is not proper for you, a beggar-woman, to stay any longer in my palace, you may just go away with your husband.
The beggar-man led her out by the hand, and she was obliged to walk away on foot with him. When they came to a large forest she asked, to whom does that beautiful forest belong.
“It belongs to king Thrushbeard. If you had taken him, it would have been yours.”
“ Ah, unhappy girl that I am, if I had but taken king Thrushbeard.”
Afterwards they came to a meadow, and she asked again, to whom does this beautiful green meadow belong.
“It belongs to king Thrushbeard. If you had taken him, it would have been yours.”
“ Ah, unhappy girl that I am, if I had but taken king Thrushbeard.”
Then they came to a large town, and she asked again, to whom does this fine large town belong.
“It belongs to king Thrushbeard. If you had taken him, it would have been yours.”
“ Ah, unhappy girl that I am, if I had but taken king Thrushbeard.”
“ It does not please me”, said the fiddler, “to hear you always wishing for another husband. Am I not good enough for you?”
At last they came to a very little hut, and she said,
“Oh goodness. What a small house! To whom does this miserable, tiny hovel belong?”
The fiddler answered, “That is my house and yours, where we shall live together.”
She had to stoop in order to go in at the low door. “Where are the servants?”, said the king’s daughter.
“What servants?” answered the beggar-man. “You must yourself do what you wish to have done. Just make a fire at once, and set on water to cook my supper, I am quite tired.”
But the king’s daughter knew nothing about lighting fires or cooking, and the beggar-man had to lend a hand himself to get anything fairly done. When they had finished their scanty meal they went to bed. But he forced her to get up quite early in the morning in order to look after the house.
For a few days they lived in this way as well as might be, and came to the end of all their provisions. Then the man said, wife, we cannot go on any longer eating and drinking here and earning nothing. You must make baskets. He went out, cut some willows, and brought them home. Then she began to make baskets, but the tough willows wounded her delicate hands.
“I see that this will not do”, said the man. “You had better spin, perhaps you can do that better.”
She sat down and tried to spin, but the hard thread soon cut her soft fingers so that the blood ran down.
“See, said the man, you are fit for no sort of work. I have made a bad bargain with you. Now I will try to make a business with pots and earthenware. You must sit in the market-place and sell the ware.”
“Alas”, thought she, “if any of the people from my father’s kingdom come to the market and see me sitting there, selling, how they will mock me.” But it was of no use, she had to yield unless she chose to die of hunger. For the first time she succeeded well, for the people were glad to buy the woman’s wares because she was good-looking, and they paid her what she asked. Many even gave her the money and left the pots with her as well. So they lived on what she had earned as long as it lasted, then the husband bought a lot of new crockery. With this she sat down at the corner of the market-place, and set it out round about her ready for sale. But suddenly there came a drunken hussar galloping along, and he rode right amongst the pots so that they were all broken into a thousand bits. She began to weep, and did now know what to do for fear.
“Alas, what will happen to me?”, cried she. “What will my husband say to this? She ran home and told him of the misfortune.
“Who would seat herself at a corner of the market-place with crockery?” said the man. “Leave off crying, I see very well that you cannot do any ordinary work, so I have been to our king’s palace and have asked whether they cannot find a place for a kitchen-maid, and they have promised me to take you. In that way you will get your food for nothing.”
The king’s daughter was now a kitchen-maid, and had to be at the cook’s beck and call, and do the dirtiest work. In both her pockets she fastened a little jar, in which she took home her share of the leavings, and upon this they lived.
It happened that the wedding of the king’s eldest son was to be celebrated, so the poor woman went up and placed herself by the door of the hall to look on. When all the candles were lit, and people, each more beautiful than the other, entered, and all was full of pomp and splendor, she thought of her lot with a sad heart, and cursed the pride and haughtiness which had humbled her and brought her to so great poverty.
The smell of the delicious dishes which were being taken in and out reached her, and now and then the servants threw her a few morsels of them. These she put in her jars to take home.
All at once the king’s son entered, clothed in velvet and silk, with gold chains about his neck. And when he saw the beautiful woman standing by the door he seized her by the hand, and would have danced with her. But she refused and shrank with fear, for she saw that it was King Thrushbeard, her suitor whom she had driven away with scorn. Her struggles were of no avail, he drew her into the hall. But the string by which her pockets were hung broke, the pots fell down, the soup ran out, and the scraps were scattered all about. And when the people saw it, there arose general laughter and derision, and she was so ashamed that she would rather have been a thousand fathoms below the ground. She sprang to the door and would have run away, but on the stairs a man caught her and brought her back. And when she looked at him it was king Thrushbeard again. He said to her kindly,
“Do not be afraid, I and the fiddler who has been living with you in that wretched hovel are one. For love of you I disguised myself so. And I also was the hussar who rode through your crockery. This was all done to humble your proud spirit, and to punish you for the insolence with which you mocked me.”
Then she wept bitterly and said, I have done great wrong, and am not worthy to be your wife. But he said, be comforted, the evil days are past. Now we will celebrate our wedding. Then the maids-in-waiting came and put on her the most splendid clothing, and her father and his whole court came and wished her happiness in her marriage with king Thrushbeard, and the joy now began in earnest. I wish you and I had been there too.
The Brothers Grimm collected folk stories from German households in the 19th C. Some of their tales have dark under-currents of psychology, others are romantic and amusing.
the story had a great meaning to it thank you. it was spectaculer and splendid indeed
Ah, unhappy girl that I am…..my eyes are full of tears.learnt a lesson from this story.
cool
its pretty good XD
Ok I Guess.
A great story from agreat tailer . I want to say to NATASHA that her pronouncing is very lovely and accurate as her voise .
I wish for her a huge futur.I thank all the poeple in storynory but I like NATASHA the most and I want her to make more stories
a wonderful story!!!
Good lesson for her
I will have my daughter listen to it today!
not good
i like this storee a lot. good gob i hope u make a lots of storees like this 1. plees re pley 2 this cooment. i wish i can rite storees like this 1. :)
luv
Mary Beth Ruth
Intresting its so coooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooool
i love it!!!
It was a good story but I don’t like one of the characters.The princess was very rude and greedy,but in the end she learned a valuable lesson and I hope everyone learned one too from the book.The first guy she married not that smart he should’ve know that princess from a palace does not or never will do ordinary work but then basically he divorced her and she got what she deserved.:-);-):-P:-O<3<3<3<3<3<3
I loved the story. It’s a good lesson too. Hope there’s gonna be even more just like it!
wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn
dddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd
eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
ffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff
uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu
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this book was the bom!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I loved it cool
nice :) :P
loved it :p
i like it………
thank you….
i loved the story sleepingbeuty2.
Beautiful story, everyone must read and learn from it that one should always be down to earth and not mock at others.
L0ve this st0ry so nice
I mike it somuch
Loved this story
I love this story fairy tales are my faverite books
:( sad
it was not a good story.
i like the story because it was fun and l like the brothers gram
when are you going to get a new fairy tale?
There is film of this story. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087580/
wow great nathasha. your storiese are brillient .i need your sympathetic more storiese in this websit .wooooooow one more plsss.
gooodd!!!
good
Hello
Thanks for your comment. This is a wise moral lesson to draw from the tale of King Thrushbeard. The young princess learns the value of not being too proud when she denies the hand in marriage of King Thrusbeard, believing he is not good enough for her. When she is carried off by the fiddler, she finds a way to make living for herself out of making baskets, which is not something many princess are likley to have to do…
Thanks for listening
Bye Bye
N *
it’s a nice story indeed. It is amoral story and I have learnt ”never be proud”. good bye Natasha
yeah its a good story
hi
very nice story
I love it and I love the pricess bad man to marry.
Very, very good.
i like your story… but i would ask is there another fairytale that is similar to this, i would be happy to know it… tnx
this was a excellent story me an my sister loved it
how do you git all of your storys?Do you have iny arignon fariytaies oct,26,11 name.aidan
Dear Natasha,
I loved the story. Its awesome.
BYE! N/A
i love it.. it makes me smile. :)
I love this story, but I can’t believe that a little old man can tell a princess to do the most dirtiest work. Princesses should marry princes, not little old men, anyway that little old man was ugly, and where are his eyes.
hi
Hello
Thank you for your comment.
The young princess has to pave her way after turning down king Thurshbeard. She uses her basket weaving skills to earn her keep.
It is a story about Journey, for which she has to change her ways. These are often a little longer in length but worth reading for the moral spin at the end.
Thanks for listening
Bye bye
N *
It was a good story but kinda long
i hated it
I liked it lol :) Vive France
like grimms stories……
.nice
you should make this a movie
Hello everybody!
I loved this story. It was very interesting.And I think that King’s Thrushbeard story should be a movie. It will be proper and romantic as well.
Bye!
verry long story but i enjowed it much. i love computer i get to reed on it an have fun alot. i like carrots
so cool and awesome ,sure is fun reading it sorry about the latest comments i have given
you are all so foolish people
it was awesome and cool !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
mmm…i like the candy! aaa i like the chocolate! uhh the ice cream is very good but i just love my lolly pop!:]
they loved it – wished it was longer
thanks Natasha you make me listen and learn English in a very pleasant way
French listener from French west Indies Guadeloupe
nice story
Hello
King Thrushbeard is a wise tale about a proud young princess who refuses the hand in marriage of the young prince and
is forced to marry the fiddler. After the marriage, she is shown all the different lands that she could have gained with King thrusbeard, and she becomes regretful that she did not accept him. She soon discovers a way to find how to work by weaving baskets and this gives her an independence.
Bye bye
N*
I like this story in English very much
IT’S SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO LONG BUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT IIIIINNNTTTTTTRRRRRREEEESSSSSSSSSTINGGGGGG
luved this story
a wonderful story- good for all ages. thanks natasha ! :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :)
king thurshbeard has a weird chin
Hello,
Thank you for your comment,
The tale of King Thrushbeard Beard by the Brothers Grimm; the story in which the young princess is forced to marry the beggar fiddler by her father the king because all she believed the suitors her fathers chose were not good enough for her. When she passes the home, the land and town of King Thrush beard with the fiddler, she wishes she had taken his hand in marriage. With fear of growing poor she is made by the fiddler to weave baskets and this helps her find a way to earn a good living for herself, for people by her wares for she lovely looking.This is fairytale with a good moral ending.
Thanks for listening to the Brothers Grimm
on Storynory.com
Bye Bye
N*
It is awesome!!! It’s the best story I have heard so far on storynory. Make more stories.
Hello
Thank you for your comment,
Natasha
wow interesting story
like it
Like it very much
King Thushbeard is very lever in this story.
NICE LIKE IT.
lol
hello this is elizabeth i love this story thanks natasha!
it is so cool wahoo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! you should make more storys
good story
It is very edifying story. Talented actress reads!+it was good
it was good
It is very edifying story. Talented actress reads!
Great story! Fun to hear a Brother’s Grimm I had not hear before!
i liked this site and story too
I loved this story , I love happy ending
it is so good that i will tell this to most of the people
it is a lovely story but we need more illustrations!
he is so cute in hot i like he alot
he look like me a little in it was good
3 out of 10
Lovely story ! I love it who would hate it!
Lovely story ! I love it.
I kinda liked this story it was alright :(
when was king thrush beard born?
dude ichigo is so cool
Love this story it is soooooo CUTE
Hai…British counsil u r awesome………U helped me so lot….to improve my english language…thank u very much……I wish u improve more and more to help student thank u very much…………
very nice
i hate it i think it stunk like boom boom
boring!
be quiet this story rocks!!!!!
it was a awesome story
it was grayt
i don’t understand anything
lovely but something:) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :D :D :D :D :D :D :( :( :( :( :0 :0 :0 :0 :0 :0 :)
It is a good story!
It was kind of brilliant that she received patience and thrift and humility, the things she didn’t have, even though she had beauty and wealth and standing. She had to keep trying, and failing, and working…
Hi, I thought the story was funny and a little wierd, but it teaches a good lesson in the end.
boring!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!_! i love $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
cheese is awsome so is pie
not the best story,
hi i liked this story
I LOVE THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Cool
Dum Story
An excellent lesson in humility … for any age! There are a lot of teens and adults who might gain much from this if they wern’t so proud.
I loved it.
Good ending!
nice story with gud ending
what a great story.
I liked this story.
Not the greatest, but ok
Dear Natasha,
Thank you for telling us such a lovely story in your wonderful way. We will always remember not to be proud, and be humble in life.
i have really enjoyed the story, it tells us not to be too proud, haughty and snobbish, but rather be humble.
dear natasha u r awesome i love to hear yours stories and this was a story with a lesson for all proud people .i really enjoyed this story.may God bless u keep it up by
Dear Lizzy, we have never said that storynory is for five year olds. It always surprises me that there are a few younger listeners in that age group, but really our core audience is 7 to 11, and we have many older listeners.
I thought this was for….kids? Like 5 year olds? My son was like what?
A story with a good moral…..my son enjoyed listening to it. Thank you.
but it is not how it starts and its not like that get the story so know what relly happend:) xD
well my teacher got this book and reads us it is great xD and i am going get this book aswell if u like this then get the book u can get it in ebay :)
this story was really good
She thought she wouldnt be happy with king thrush beard , but she was when she found out she was married to him , now she is full of overwelming joy. :) (:
Dear Little Cat, That’s quite a deep question.
I think there are two sorts of “pride” – there is a good pride, when people get satisfaction from doing their best and “take pride in their work”.
But pride also has a slightly different meaning, when people are too self-satisfied to consider that they have any faults. If a person is proud in this second (bad) way, it’s hard for them to learn, because they think they are perfect and wont’ listen to anyone else.
I think this is a theme of many stories.
Dear prince Bertie the frog, Why is wisdom gained by a humble spirit and not by a proud spirit?
My English is a second language. Sorry, I didn’t give you a proper question?
Dear prince Bertie the frog, why wisdom gain by the humble spirit not by proud spirit?
ooohhhhh…….a very nice story…..i love it……..thanks………
I liked this story very mach,thanks for providing us these stories with audio,it improves our conversation and listening,
I Like the storey
i liked that story very much it was very interested and made me very happy
BEAUTIFUL STORY! IT BROUGHT TEARS TO MY EYES!
iiiiiiiii llllllllllllloooooooooooooovvvvvvvvvveeeeeddddd iiitttt
i loved it
I really enjoyed the story of King Thrushbeard. It is a Brothers Grimm tale I had not read or heard before.
One of the most appealin’ tales I’ve read by Natie.
like my name?[im related to king thrush beard shhhhh]
I love this story so much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
OOOO I really liked the story!!! NICE ONE!!!
loved the story, What a splendid story indeed!we should rethink who are we.
thanks. it is a nice story indeed
A great story but when are we gunna hear from the pond
A proud and haughty princess refuses to marry because no man is good enough for her. She mocks every suitor,
It was funny story and good story.
She said he is very fat and tall
and threshbeard was a good man.
She became a good woman, after all.
i like story!
Opps I spelled my name wrong
Hi!!
iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii loveeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee iiiitttttttttttttttt loveeeeeeee youuuuuuuuuuuuu
i loved this story so much. the voice was awesome
Nice voice.
Very nice story . Thanks for the effort in this site .
please try to make it in the television .
interesting story. Thanks
I love the story.
it takes so long
i likeeeeeeeee to mush i love all of your storys
It was kind of………………… BORING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It was okay but some parts were a little boring to me and Jacks opionin !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Aguma.M
I luv the pic of the guy up there, he looks kinda like a bank robber jk jk lol!!!!
it is to long
Sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo interesting!Please make up another fiction story!Heeee….
i like you
this story was a good storie because it had a lot good stuff in it.
it was good
Wonderful website.I’m very glad that I’ve
found it with the help of Peter,you know.
Thanks
Steffen
ok i suppose
This is a great, and funny story. Good job Storynory!
” great story “… I know it in arabic..but it’s better in english…
good.. but there are many words i didn’t know… it is difficult to me.but pronunciation is wonderful…thanks to listen for free. haha
i loved the story very much nice voice tooooooooooooooo bye
i like this story
I HATED IT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I like the beginning.I love the middle. h f v d c
I ABSOULOOTLY LOVE THE END.
Good voice!
ttttttttttttooooooooooooooooo lllllllllllllloooooooooonnnnnnnnnnnnnnggggggggggggg
GOOD STORY
I LUV IT
(Kayla) bad girl. tooooooooooo proud.
WOW!!!Great story!!!
this was a good story i sereuosly loved it i am 13 but i loved it
VERY GOOD
STORY AND READING AS WELL. I LOVE ALL OF IT.
thanks a lot for the nice stories and tha audio
The Princesess Told The King what a small house with a hut in his face.
We really loved the story. We are Year 2 students from Kowloon Junior School in Hong Kong.
I coudent find homecomeing of odysseus
I like it alot!!!
Awesome!!!
Nice story, luv it!
That’s a very nice story.
And here is the french audio version : http://aldoror.free.fr/wordpress/index.php/2009/05/08/le-roi-grive-lecture/
Michelle, you can always send a picture to bertie@storynory.com
loved the story
This story is cool Should share with everyone
Yes i love this strory my favorite part is when she to the feast.
I like to read and write stories please send me stories. thankyou,
oh and how do i send a picture to storynory please give me the address so i can send the pictures
what about the new Katie story? you said we’d have one oh please reply now gotta go cul8r
Dear Josh, the next pond story is on the writing desk.
A great story but when are we gunna hear from the pond
yes. we should rethink who are we.
thanks. it is a nice story indeed.
What a splendid story indeed!
I will show this to my kids tomorrow!
My students will laugh indeed!
loved the story