Jorinde and Joringel - A "Never Ending Story"

 Once upon a time 

there was an old castle in the middle of a large, dense forest. An old woman lived all alone in the castle, she was a sorceress. During the day she turned into a cat or a night owl, but in the evening she became human again. She could lure all the animals, and then she slaughtered, boiled fried them.

If you came within a hundred paces of the castle, you had to stand still and could not move from the spot until she absolved you. But if a young woman came into this circle, she turned her into a bird and locked her in a basket. She probably had seven thousand such baskets in the castle with such rare birds.

At the same time there lived a girl named Jorinde. She was prettier than any other girl. She and a very handsome young man named Joringel were engaged to be married and they were having the greatest pleasure together.

One beautiful evening they went for a walk in the woods and Joringel said to his loved one: "Beware, don't get that close to the castle!" 

Between all the hugging and the kissing they didn't mind their way and after a while they were completely lost.

The sun was almost down and it was getting dark, when they saw the walls of a castle close by. Joringel was very scared, but Jorinde sang:

"My tiny bird with the little red ring
Sing Sorrow, Sorrow, Sorrow;
It sings its death to the little dove,
Sing Sorrow, Zickuth! Zickuth! Zickuth!"

Joringel looked at Jorinde and saw that she was transformed into a nightingale that sang "Zickuth! Zickuth".

Joringel couldn't move. He stood there like a stone and could not weep, nor speak, nor move his hands or feet. Now the sun was down. 

An owl flew into a bush and a moment later a mean looking old woman came out of it, yellow and thin with big red evil eyes. She murmured, caught the nightingale and carried it away in her hand. Joringel couldn't say anything, he still couldn't move. The nightingale was gone when the woman finally came back and adressed the owl in a muffled voice:

"Greetings, owl! When the girl is in the basket, untie!"

Then Joringel could move again. He fell on his knees before the woman and begged her to give him his fiancee back. But she just said: „Never!“ and went away.

He shouted, he cried, he wailed, but in vain.

Joringel went away and finally came to a strange village. There he tended the sheep, the cattle and the horses for a long time. Often he walked around the castle, but not too close. 

Finally, one night he dreamed that he found a blood-red flower over the center of which was flying a glowing magic moth. He broke off the flower and went with it to the castle. Anything he touched with the flower was released from the magic. He also dreamed that he could free Jorinde with that flower.

In the morning when he awoke, he began to search through hill and valley to see if he could find such a flower. 

He searched until the ninth day, when early in the morning he found the blood-red flower. Over the center was flying the most beautiful moth he had ever seen. He carried this flower many days and many nights until he reached the castle. 

When he came close to the castle, he didn't get stuck, but went straight on to the gate. Joringel was very happy, touched the gate with the flower and it opened. He went in, through the yard and heard many birds sing.

Finally he found the large hall where the sorceress was feeding the birds in the seven thousand baskets. When the wicked old woman saw Joringel, she became very angry, spat poison and gall at him, but she could not get within two steps of him. Paying no attention to her, Joringel went and looked at the baskets of birds. But there were many thousands of nightingales. How was he supposed to find Jorinde?

As he looked on, he noticed that the old woman was secretly taking a basket with a bird and going out of the door with it. He jumped up quickly, touched the basket and the old woman with the flower.

 Now she couldn't do magic anymore and Jorinde stood there, hugging him, as beautiful as ever. And with his flower he turned all the other birds into girls again.

Then Joringel and Jorinde went home... 

"Never ending story" of ieko Logic on the grid Barefoot Dreamers.
The beautiful build of a french small town has inspired this post. I highly recommend you to visit it. It can be found here:
login.barefoot-dreamers.com:8002:ieko land

Don't forget your magic red flower, lest you might get stuck in the castle...