Der Reußenstein

Wilhelm Hauff

Reußenstein Castle is perched on jagged rocks high up in the air and has no neighbours but the clouds and, at night, the moon. Just opposite the castle, on a mountain called Heimenstein, lies a cave in which a giant once lived. He had an enormous amount of gold and could have lived in splendour and joy if there had been more giants and giantesses besides him. Then it occurred to him that he wanted to build himself a castle like the ones the knights had on the Alb. The rock opposite seemed just right for him.

But he himself was a poor builder. He dug house-high rocks out of the Alb with his nails and placed them on top of each other, but they kept falling in and wouldn't make a skillful castle. So he lay down on the Beuren rock and shouted down into the valley for craftsmen: carpenters, bricklayers and stonemasons, locksmiths, all should come and help him, he wanted to pay well. His cries were heard throughout Swabia, from the Kocher river up to Lake Constance, from the Neckar to the Danube, and masters and journeymen came from everywhere to build the giant's castle. Now it was funny to see him sitting in front of his cave in the sunshine and building his castle on the high rock above the valley; the masters and journeymen were quick at work and built as he shouted across the valley to them; they had all sorts of jokes and merry amusement with him, because he knew nothing about building.

At last the building was finished, and the giant moved in and looked out of the highest window down into the valley, where the masters and journeymen were assembled, and asked them whether the castle looked well to him when he looked out of the window like that. But when he looked round, he became angry, for the masters had sworn that everything was finished, but there was still a nail missing from the top window where he was looking out.

The master locksmiths apologized and said that no one had dared to sit in front of the window and hammer in the nail. But the giant would not hear of it and would not pay the wages until the nail had been hammered in.

So they all went back into the castle. The fiercest of the lads presumed it would be a small matter for them to hammer in the nail. But when they came to the top window and looked out and down into the valley that lay so deep below them, with nothing but rocks all around, they shook their heads and departed in shame. Then the masters offered tenfold wages to anyone who hammered in the nail, but for a long time no one was found.

Now there was a nimble journeyman locksmith who loved his master's daughter, and she loved him too, but her father was a hard man and would not give her to him in marriage because he was poor. He took heart and thought he could earn his bride here or die, for life was miserable for him without her. He went before the master, her father, and said: "Will you give me your daughter if I hammer in the nail?" But he thought to get rid of him in this way if he fell down on the rocks and broke his neck, and said yes.

The nimble locksmith's apprentice took the nail and his hammer, said a pious prayer and prepared to go out of the window and drive the nail for his girl. Then a cry of joy arose among the builders, so that the giant awoke from his sleep and asked what was the matter. And when he heard that someone had been found who was willing to drive the nail, he came and looked at the young locksmith for a long time, and said, "You are a good fellow, and have more heart than that riff-raff there; come, I will help you." Then he took him by the scruff of the neck, so that it went through their marrow and bones, lifted him out of the window into the air, and said, "Now hit it, I will not let you fall." And the servant drove the nail into the stone, so that it stuck; but the giant kissed and caressed him, so that he nearly died, and led him to the master locksmith, and said, "To this one you give your little daughter. Then he went over to his cave, took out a money-bag, and paid each of them in pence and farthing. At last, he came to the nimble journeyman locksmith; to him he said, "Now go home, you hearty fellow, get your master's little daughter and move into this castle, for it is yours."

Wilhelm Hauff: Der Reußenstein, In: Die Fackel, Lesebuch für höhere Schulen, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht

• See also
• Heimensteinhöhle
• Search Google for "Der Reußenstein"
• Der Reußenstein on Projekt Gutenberg (visited: 06-MAR-2024)