'Murderer's House' - University of Victoria

3.3 “Der Räuberbräutigam”: The Story Within
The fairy tale tells the story of a miller who promises his beautiful daughter‟s
hand to a wealthy suitor. Although the suitor is rich and handsome, the daughter feels her
heart shudder with dread whenever she thinks of her husband-to-be. The stranger insists
that his fiancée visit his home in the dark woods and, so that she can find her way to his
house, he scatters ashes along the path. The miller‟s daughter begins her journey with
unease and therefore she too marks the path by scattering peas and lentils behind her.
She walks into the depths of the forest and when she arrives at her bridegroom‟s house a
talking bird warns her that she is about to enter the house of murderers calling, “Kehr um,
kehr um, du junge Braut. Du bist in einem Mörderhaus” (Sanders-Brahms, Film-
Erzählung 93). 59 The miller‟s daughter enters the house to find it deserted but for an old
woman in the cellar who repeats the warning already given to the girl. The old woman
also predicts that the girl will marry death and that her husband-to-be intends to murder
her and cut her body up into pieces.
The old woman takes pity on the heroine and hides the girl behind a large barrel,
from where she witnesses the return of her bridegroom and his accomplices who have in
their captivity a young maiden. The members of the band poison the maiden with three
glasses of wine, one red, one yellow, and one white, so that her heart bursts in two. The
robbers strip, dismember, salt, and eat the maiden. During this process, one of the
robbers notices that she is wearing a golden ring and tries to pull it off. When he is
unsuccessful, he chops off her finger to seize the ring, but the finger slips from his grasp
59 “Turn around, turn around, you young bride. You are in a murderer‟s house” (Sanders-Brahms, Film-
Erzählung 93).
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