The Devil with the Three Golden Hairs (German: Der Teufel mit den drei goldenen Haaren) is a German Fairy Tale collected by The Brothers Grimm in Children's and Household Tales (Kinder-und Hausmärchen). It is the number 29 tale.
A poor woman gives birth to a little child; and since he is born with a caul
on, which is seen as a symbol of good fortune, it is predicted that the baby is a luck-boy who will marry the king's daughter when he is fourteen.
Shortly afterwards the king, who is travelling incognito, arrives at the town and hears about the prophecy. Unwilling to allow the luck-boy to get married to his daughter, the king meets up with the parents and offers to buy their son, assuring that he will take care well of him. After having the parents take up his offer, the king puts the baby in a box, rides away until he finds a stream, and dumps the box into it.
Nonetheless, the box does not sink as the king expected; instead, it floats down the river and comes to a stand-still at the milldam, near the king's chief city. The baby is found by the miller and his wife, who are happy to adopt and raise him since they are childless.
Fourteen years later, the king goes into the mill, seeking shelter from a storm. As speaking to the miller, the king figures out his adopted son is the luck-child whom he attempted to kill, and he asks him to take a letter to the queen. The boy agrees and the king writes a letter ordering his wife to get the letter's bearer executed immediately, without waiting for his return.
The boy sets out to the city, but he gets lost and seeks shelter in a cabin in a nearby forest. An old woman answers the door and warns him he is seeking shelter in a den of thieves, and he will surely be killed. Nonetheless, the boy is so tired he decides to spend the night in the cabin anyway. The gang of robbers arrive while the boy is sleeping, and demand to know why a strange child is lying on their bench. After hearing he is taking a letter to the queen, the thieves grab and read the letter. The gang take pity on the boy when they learn the king wants him to put to death, so they replace the letter with another stating he must be married to the princess immediately. The next day, they show him the right way and the luck-boy takes the letter to the queen. A wedding ceremony is held at once, and the princess is quite satisfied with her husband because he is "handsome and agreeable".
After some time, the king returns to his palace and learns the prophecy has come to pass. Angrily, the king says he will only allow the luck-boy to keep his daughter if he fetches three golden hairs from the head of the Devil. The luck-boy replies he is not afraid of the Devil and sets off on his quest.
Sometime later, the luck-boy arrives at a town. The gatekeeper asks him what his trade is, and the boy answers he knows everything. Then the gatekeeper asks him why the market-fountain, from which before flowed wine, has completely dried up. The boy assures he will answer his question on his way back. Later, he arrives at another town and likewise promises to answer why their golden apple tree does not bear fruit anymore. Still later, the boy comes upon a wide river, and he promises the ferryman to discover why he must be always rowing backwards and forwards.
Beyond the river, the luck-boy finds the entrance to Hell. However, the Devil is not at home. The boy happens upon the Devil's grandmother, who takes pity on him and turns him into an ant to keep him safe. Later, the Devil comes back home, and although he smells human flesh, he cannot find the boy. His Grandmother manages to pull three hairs from his head as he is sleeping, and stealthily asks the three questions the boy needs to know. The next day, after the Devil has left, the luck-boy is turned back into human and bids goodbye to the grandmother.
After crossing the river again, the boy tells the ferryman he will be freed if he puts his oar in someone else's hand. Later he arrives at the second town and is given two donkeys laden with gold after telling them they must kill the mouse gnawing the tree's roots. Later, he arrives at the first town and is given more gold after telling them about the toad causing the fountain to dry up.
At last, the luck-boy gets home and gives the king the three golden hairs. However, the king notices the four donkeys laden with gold, and greedily asks where the boy got his newfound fortune. The luck-boy answers he was rowed across a river, and he found gold lying on the shore instead of sand. He also assures his father-in-law that anybody can take as much gold as they want.
Driven by greed, the king sets out in haste. When he reaches the river, he asks the ferryman to row him across. When they get to the other shore, though, the ferryman puts the oar in his hand and springs out. Since then, the king has been ferrying travelers across the river as a punishment for his sins.
It can be read in the SurLaLune site, here and in the Project Gutenberg.
It is an Aarne-Thompson Type 461 "Three Hairs from the Devil" and Type 930 "The Prophecy That a Poor Boy Will Marry a Rich Girl".
Compare with Joseph Jacobs "The Fish And The Ring" here, Andrew Lang's "The King Who Would Be Stronger Than Fate", Alexander Afanasyev's "The Story of Marko the Rich and Vasily the Luckless" and other Russian tales like "The Three Golden Hairs of Grandfather Allknow" and "Right Always Remains Right".
Tropes:
- Animorphism: The Devil's grandmother turns the main character into an ant to keep him hidden from her grandson.
- Antagonist Title: The main character must get three hairs from the head of the titular Devil.
- Badass Boast: During his journey, when he is asked what his trade is, the luck-boy answers "I know everything". An impressive claim, since he has no way to back it up.
- Big Bad: After failing to get the main character killed twice, the king tasks him with an impossible mission to get rid of him. To put this in perspective, a band of thieves and the Devil commit less acts of onscreen villainy than the king.
- Complexity Addiction: Most assuredly, the king would have gotten rid of his daughter's future suitor if he had stabbed the baby to death instead of putting him in a box and throwing said box into a river.
- Cool Old Lady: The Devil's grandmother protects the young boy and helps him fulfill his quest.
- Dating What Daddy Hates: Despite of the king disapproving of the luck-boy to the point of attempting to kill him several times, the princess considers her handsome, nice husband a good spouse.
- Dude, Where's My Respect?: A king who discovers his daughter is doomed to marry a poor boy tries to kill him several times, before and after the wedding.
- Engagement Challenge: Subverted at what it happens after the wedding. The main character must get three hairs of the Devil so that his royal father-in-law approves of him.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: The Devil loves and respects his grandmother enough to listen to her and to calm down when she disturbs his sleep three times by pulling hairs out of his head.
- Even Evil Has Standards: A gang of bandits are not pleased when they go back to their den and find a young boy sleeping on a bench. However, they take pity on him when they find out the King wants him dead, so they tear up the letter and write another, saying he must be married to the princess immediately.
- Exact Eavesdropping: After being turned into an ant, the luck-boy overhears the devil give solutions to the three problems he encountered on his journey to Hell.
- Fatal Flaw: The king's downfall is caused by his Pride and his Greed. If he had not been so outraged at his daughter getting married to a poor suitor, the prophecy would have not come to pass, and his son-in-law would have not developed a good reason to resent him. And if he had not been so blatantly greedy, the luck-boy would have not found an easy way to get rid of him.
- Happily Adopted: The miller and his wife "took great care of the foundling, and he grew up in all goodness."
- I'm a Humanitarian: Upon walking into his home and smelling human flesh, the Devil wants to find and eat the human intruder right away.
- Impossible Task: The king orders the luck-boy to fetch three hairs from the head of the Devil, expecting to rid of him one way or another.
- King Incognito: In the beginning of the tale, the king visits the main character's hometown passing himself off as an anonymous rich traveler.
- Law of Inverse Fertility: The miller and his wife who find the luck-baby are happy to adopt it, since they had been unable to have a child.
- Love-Obstructing Parents: The king attempts to get rid of his daughter's "unlooked-for" suitor even after they marry, despite the princess showing she finds her husband suitable.
- Nameless Narrative: No character is referred to by name, unless you count "The Devil".
- Offscreen Inertia: The last lines imply the king might be still ferrying travelers if no one has taken the oar from him.
- Our Demons Are Different: Although he is supposed to be explicitly Satan, the Devil behaves more like the kind of giant seen in tales like "Hop-o'-My-Thumb" (living in a house, being looked after and bossed around by a female relative, having an appetite for humans...). Being called a snake is the only classic devil trait he has.
- Pay Evil unto Evil: The luck-boy tricks the king into going to the river bordering the Hell and taking the oar from the ferryman.
- Please Shoot the Messenger: The king tries to avert his daughter's marriage to the luck child by having the boy carry a letter to his wife with instructions to kill him. A band of robbers change the letter to direct her to marry him to their daughter out of pity.
- Rags to Royalty: The main character gets married to a princess.
- Reptiles Are Abhorrent:
- A toad sitting under a stone in the well is the cause of the wine fountain drying up.
- The Devil is also called "the old serpent".
- Rule of Three:
- The King attempts to get rid of the main character three times.
- The main character must get three hairs of the Devil's head.
- The main character must help three persons in order to go on his journey.
- Sacred Hospitality: The main character gets lost and seeks shelter in a cabin. An old woman warns him he will surely be killed by the thieves who live in that cabin, but the boy decides to spend the night anyway; and even though the thieves are not happy when they discover a stranger in their den, not only do they leave him alone but also take pity on him.
- Secondary Character Title: The Devil is an obstacle for the main character overcoming as fulfilling the main antagonist's quest.
- Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: As foretold, the luck-boy gets married to the princess, largely as a result of the king's attempts to prevent the prophecy from coming to pass.
- Single Woman Seeks Good Man: The princess falls in love with her just-met husband because he is nice and "agreeable".
- Snipe Hunt: When the king asks where he found enough gold coins to fill several saddlebags, the boy tricks him into believing the shores beyond the river bordering the Devil's kingdom are covered with gold instead of sand. The king leaves to satisfy his greed, and never returns.
- To Hell and Back: The luck-boy finds the entrance to the Hell beyond a wide river traversed by a lonely ferryman's boat. Though, the place is merely described as black and "sooty".
- Uptown Girl: Despite her father's disapproval, the princess is quite fond of her husband, and she does not mind being married to a miller's son.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: The luck-boy's adoptive parents are not mentioned again after he takes the letter to the queen.
- Would Hurt a Child: The king attempts to murder a baby because he might get married to his daughter someday.
- You Dirty Rat!: The golden apple tree has withered because a mouse is gnawing at the roots.
