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Back to EpisodesThe Brothers Grimm's "The Knapsack, the Hat, and the Horn" Summary and Discussion
Description
Three brothers, tired of poverty, go out into the world. In the forest, they come to a hill of silver and the first brother decides to load his pockets and return home. The second does so with a hill of gold, but the third goes further into a much-larger forest, one of unknown breadth. There, starving, he climbs a tree to look around, wishes for food, and finds a knapsack that always provides a feast.
Going on, he finds a succession of coal-burners who live on potatoes. He trades them the knapsack for each of the unused gifts they have, using one of those gifts– a squad of soldiers at his beck and call– to steal back his feast sack each time. Returning home and unacknowledged in his shabbiness, he raises raises cain with his brothers and punishes them, drawing the attention of the neighborhood and then of the king, but beating all opposing forces back.
He uses his superiority to negotiate with the king and demands his daughter’s hand in marriage. She also rejects him because of his appearance, but she tries to guile him out of his gifts. He is able to successfully counterattack each time and eventually destroys much of the kingdom, taking the life of the king and his daughter in the process. He then ruled over the whole land.
We summarize and then discuss this tale of ambition, risk, luck, gifts and judging based on appearance.
Grimm's "The Knapsack, the Hat, and the Horn"
Three brothers, tired of poverty, go out into the world. In the forest, they come to a hill of silver and the first brother decides to load his pockets and return home. The second does so with a hill of gold, but the third goes further into a much-larger forest, one of unknown breadth. There, starving, he climbs a tree to look around, wishes for food, and finds a knapsack that always provides a feast.
Going on, he finds a succession of coal-burners who live on potatoes. He trades them the knapsack for each of the unused gifts they have, using one of those gifts– a squad of soldiers at his beck and call– to steal back his feast sack each time. Returning home and unacknowledged in his shabbiness, he raises raises cain with his brothers and punishes them, drawing the attention of the neighborhood and then of the king, but beating all opposing forces back.
He uses his superiority to negotiate with the king and demands his daughter’s hand in marriage. She also rejects him because of his appearance, but she tries to guile him out of his gifts. He is able to successfully counterattack each time and eventually destroys much of the kingdom, taking the life of the king and his daughter in the process. He then ruled over the whole land.
We summarize and then discuss this tale of ambition, risk, luck, gifts and judging based on appearance.
(From a discussion on the Brothers Grimm’s ”The Knapsack, the Hat, and the Horn”)
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