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| The Godfather | |
|---|---|
 Illustration by Otto Ubbelohde, 1909 | |
| Folk tale | |
| Name | The Godfather |
| Data | |
| Aarne–Thompson grouping | ATU 332 |
| Country | Germany |
| Published in | Grimms' Fairy Tales |
"The Godfather" (German: Der Herr Gevatter) is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm as tale number 42. [1]
An impoverished man has had so many children that (by the time he has another) he finds that he has already asked everyone in the world to be godparents for his previous children. Befuddled as to how he is supposed to find anyone to act as godparent for his newly-born child, he withdraws to his chamber for the night. While fast asleep, he has a dream that tells him to leave his house and ask the first person he encounters to be his child's godparent. As soon as he awakens, he proceeds to do this. The man he meets and makes godparent of his newly-born child hands the impoverished man a small bottle containing water that the man claims the impoverished man can use to heal the sick, so long as the sickness stems from the head and not the feet.
The impoverished man subsequently becomes both well-known and wealthy because of the magical water. He has a certain bout with treating the child of the King, in which he is able to use the magical water on two successive occasions, but is unable to do so on a third occasion, announcing thus to the King that his child will die.
Not too long after the death of the King's child, the man decides to visit the Godfather (to tell him of his undertakings with the magical water). However, when he arrives at the Godfather's house, he notices that everything there is in disarray. On the first stair, a dustpan and brush quarrel with each other. On the second stair, many fingers lie. On the third stair is a stack of bowls. On the fourth stair are fish that are cooking themselves. On the fifth stair is the Godfather's room, and (when the man looks through the keyhole on the door to the room) he sees the Godfather, donning very long horns. The man opens the door, and (as soon as he does so) the Godfather retreats to a bed and cloaks himself. The man asks the Godfather about the odd happenings occurring in the house, to which the Godfather brushes off most of and counter-claims that the man was seeing things. Once the man brings up the self-cooking fish, however, the fish enter the room and present themselves (on a dish) to the Godfather. Finally, the man brings up how, when peeking through the keyhole on the door to the room, he saw the Godfather with long horns. At this, the Godfather bellows at the man that he is telling falsehoods—frightened by his shouting, the man bolts from the house.
"Hansel and Gretel" is a German fairy tale collected by the German Brothers Grimm and published in 1812 in Grimm's Fairy Tales. It is also known as Hansel and Grettel, or Little Step Brother and Little Step Sister.
A godparent, in infant baptism practicing denominations of Christianity, is someone who bears witness to a child's christening and later is willing to help in their catechesis, as well as their lifelong spiritual formation. In the past, in some countries, the role carried some legal obligations as well as religious responsibilities. In both religious and civil views, a godparent tends to be an individual chosen by the parents to take an interest in the child's upbringing and personal development, to offer mentorship or claim legal guardianship of the child if anything should happen to the parents. A male godparent is a godfather, and a female godparent is a godmother. The child is a godchild.
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"The Elves and The Shoemaker" is a set of fairy tales collected by the Brothers Grimm about a poor shoemaker who receives much-needed help from three young helpful elves.
"The Goose Girl" is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm and first published in Grimm's Fairy Tales in 1815. It is of Aarne-Thompson type 533.
"The Twelve Dancing Princesses" is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm and published in Grimm's Fairy Tales in 1812. It is of Aarne-Thompson type 306.
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"The Three Little Men in the Wood" or "The Three Little Gnomes in the Forest" is a German fairy tale collected in 1812 by the Brothers Grimm in Grimm's Fairy Tales. Andrew Lang included it in The Red Fairy Book (1890) as "The Three Dwarfs," and a version of the tale appears in A Book of Dwarfs (1964) by Ruth Manning-Sanders.
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"The Old Woman in the Wood" is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm, tale number 123. It is Aarne-Thompson type 442.
"The Three Little Birds" is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm, tale number 96. The story is originally written in Low German. It is Aarne-Thompson type 707, the dancing water, the singing apple, and the speaking bird. The story resembles Ancilotto, King of Provino, by Giovanni Francesco Straparola, and The Sisters Envious of Their Cadette, the story of the 756th night of the Arabian Nights.
"The Water of Life" is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm, tale number 97.
"Ferdinand the Faithful and Ferdinand the Unfaithful" is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm, tale number 126.
"Thumbling" and "Thumbling's Travels" are two German fairy tales collected by the Brothers Grimm in Grimm's fairy tales in 1819.
American McGee's Grimm is a 23-part episodic video game series based upon Grimm's Fairy Tales, designed by American McGee, developed by Spicy Horse and distributed online initially by GameTap starting July 31, 2008. Grimm was originally thought to resemble the warped fairy tale style of American McGee's Alice, but the art style appears to be much more child-friendly and simplistic. Grimm is written and executive-produced by the same person as American McGee's Alice, R. J. Berg. The original announcement was made in the June 2007 issue of PC Gamer.
"Godfather Death" is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm and first published in 1812. It is a tale of Aarne-Thompson type 332.
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The Six Servants is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm and published in Grimm's Fairy Tales. It is of Aarne-Thompson type 513A.
