The spiritual Message of German Fairy tales

King Thrushbeard

Tale of the Brothers Grimm translated by M. Hunt [1884]
Interpretation by Undine & Jens in green [2024]

After having looked at the path of the soul as a “goose girl” through this world to the mystical marriage of spirit and nature, we want to turn our attention back to the male side. At least the role of the groom is dealt with in more detail in this fairy tale. And so, this fairy tale begins with a king.

A king had a daughter who was beautiful beyond all measure, but so proud and haughty withal that no suitor was good enough for her. She sent away one after the other, and ridiculed them as well. Once the King made a great feast and invited thereto, from far and near, all the young men likely to marry. They were all marshalled in a row according to their rank and standing; first came the kings, then the grand-dukes, then the princes, the earls, the barons, and the gentry.

We read of a king who had only one daughter. For just as there is only one king in a kingdom, so too in the realm of nature there is only one soul, which appears in many forms, similar to the waves on the sea, which appear to be many but are actually only one wave, because no one can say exactly where a wave ends or begins. A queen is not mentioned, and so one could assume that the daughter grew up without a mother, was raised more by her father, and was therefore naturally the most beautiful in the royal court. She was not in her mother’s shadow and felt connected to her father, who had probably always protected and admired her. So too, the pure soul is boundless beauty herself, but she must unite with a man or spirit who can work with her and is neither above nor below her. Just as in the biblical parable Eve was taken from Adam’s side, and only in this way can they unite again.

What does this beauty mean? Etymologically, (German: schön) “beautiful” comes from “to look” (German: schauen), and so beauty means a holistic view of perfect harmony of a pure consciousness. And that is certainly the essence of a holistic soul.

Well, the soul now has the free choice of which spirit she wants to unite with, and the royal or holistic soul in particular has this freedom because she is basically pure consciousness that can take on any form. The active spirit can have a more or less large sphere of influence, i.e., he can be “king, duke, prince, etc.” But the daughter does not want to unite because no man was “good enough” for her. Here the original problem of the separation of king and queen is revealed again, so that a “proud and haughty” egoistic soul appears, which also sees herself as separate and “judges” others accordingly in order to feed and maintain her separate self-image of the “most beautiful”.

Then the King’s daughter was led through the ranks, but to every one she had some objection to make; one was too fat, “The wine-cask,” she said. Another was too tall, “Long and thin has little in.” The third was too short, “Short and thick is never quick.” The fourth was too pale, “As pale as death.” The fifth too red, “A fighting-cock.” The sixth was not straight enough, “A green log dried behind the stove.” So, she had something to say against everyone, but she made herself especially merry over a good king who stood quite high up in the row, and whose chin had grown a little crooked. “Well,” she cried and laughed, “he has a chin like a thrush’s beak!” and from that time he got the name of King Thrushbeard.

The German Wikipedia writes about this name in the article on this fairy tale regarding a throat or neck beard, as was already known in Roman sculptures, e.g. by Nero:
A “thrush beard” (Drosselbart) was understood to be a type of beard in which - as in the case of Richard Wagner and Baron Haussmann - the face was completely shaved and the beard only remained under the chin and on the neck and throat. The German “Drossel” (thrush) is an outdated term for the “throat” or neck, still preserved in the word “drosseln” (to strangle) and in hunting language (there as the windpipe of the game). That the king had a crooked face, similar to the crooked beak of a thrush, cannot therefore be deduced from the name; this may be a falsification of the story based on ignorance of the beard shape. The girl’s rejection of the king was then purely a matter of taste, and the criticism of her is directed at the fact that she rejects a man solely because of a minor external appearance.

Whether, in the further course of the fairy tale, the function of the “thrush” might indicate the curbing of high spirits and whether the “thrush” as a bird’s name also indicates the minstrel’s song is left to the reader’s imagination.

But the old King, when he saw that his daughter did nothing but mock the people, and despised all the suitors who were gathered there, was very angry, and swore that she should have for her husband the very first beggar that came to his doors.

Now, if the soul spurns every spiritual sphere of activity because it does not seem “good enough” to her, then of course she automatically unites with the poorest beggar. For that is the spiritual law that the old king “swore”, namely the law of cause and effect. In this way, the young king also becomes a beggar when he, as a pure spirit, cannot unite with the pure soul of nature, because he must now beg for the forms of nature in order to work in her. Therefore, this “beggar as a man” does not mean pure “poverty in spirit”, but a spiritual state of lack and needy dependence that arises through separation. And that is also the nature of the egoistic soul, which in her illusionary bubble of self-consciousness is dependent on “others” in every respect, for otherwise there could not be the idea of “mine” and “yours”. In this respect, a large and rich ego is in reality the smallest and poorest being in this world.

A few days afterwards a fiddler came and sang beneath the windows, trying to earn some small alms. When the King heard him, he said, “Let him come up.” So, the fiddler came in, in his dirty, ragged clothes, and sang before the King and his daughter, and when he had ended, he asked for a trifling gift. The King said, “Your song has pleased me so well that I will give you my daughter there, to wife.”

Here, one could already recognize the old King as a holistic reason, who is pleased by the song and who also sees through the role played by the “fiddler”. It is probably not difficult for him to hand over his daughter as a soul to the flow of life, because he is not deceived by the external form, in contrast to his daughter’s conceptual mind, which only understands and judges certain forms based on external characteristics. Now a voice within us may speak: “The fiddler is “King Thrushbeard”, who has only disguised himself and shaved his beard!”

From our point of view, this is the key to the depth of this fairy tale. Because here, too, it is still the conceptual mind that speaks, which separates into this and that, and not yet holistic reason. What does “holistic” mean? If we could see the king in every beggar, then we would come a little closer to this holistic reason. Similarly, Christ answered his disciples’ question:
“Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?” Then he will answer them and say, “Truly I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it for one of the least of these, you did not do it for me.” (Matthew 25:44)

We also find a similar symbolic story about the Indian god Shiva as a pure spirit, who revealed himself as a dancing and singing beggar to his eternal Shakti or female side, who here bears the name Parvati as the daughter of Mena and Himavat, the king of the mountains. But she recognizes the god in the beggar and chooses him as her husband:
In the meantime, Shiva mingled with the crowd in the form of a poor dancer. He held the horn in his left hand and the drum in his right hand, wore a red robe and had pushed his money bag behind his back. Dancing and singing with extraordinary skill, he let his sweet voice ring out and presented Mena and the others with many songs. He blew the horn, played the drum, and his melodies were so pleasant that the citizens all gathered around him. They heard the sweet songs and watched the enchanting dance and quickly fell into blissful ecstasy.

Parvati, however, fainted because she saw Shiva in his beautiful form, carrying the trident and the other symbols in his hands. His body was rubbed with ashes, a garland of bones hung around his neck, and his face shone with three eyes. The sacred thread was a writhing snake, and his face was bright and beautiful. Lord Shiva, the friend of the afflicted and this treasure of compassion, repeated his words to her: “Choose the blessing, choose the bridegroom.” And she bowed to him in her mind and chose the blessing: “Be my husband.” With joy he granted her the blessing and disappeared. Then Parvati too saw only the beggar, who danced so gracefully that the people became euphoric. (Shiva Purana 5.30, or also 8.34)

But our egoistic princess could not yet recognize her beautiful husband. Because with her conceptual understanding she is still stuck on the external forms, and when the characteristics change, she is frightened and believes that in the play of opposites she sees something completely different.

The King’s daughter shuddered, but the King said, “I have taken an oath to give you to the very first beggar-man, and I will keep it.” All she could say was in vain; the priest was brought, and she had to let herself be wedded to the fiddler on the spot. When that was done the King said, “Now it is not proper for you, a beggar-woman, to stay any longer in my palace, you may just go away with your husband.”

Well, the great freedom is over, the ego soul binds herself, makes herself dependent on others and becomes a poor beggar woman who must now follow the “fiddler”. This marriage is also concluded by a priest before God or the whole, and is therefore a holy or healing marriage, which naturally has the great goal of returning from separation to unity. Today we often forget that this is the purpose of every marriage, when man and woman unite and marry in order to start a family together. Because what is initially a connection or bond of egos is intended to break down egoism and overcome separation, in order to then also find the inner wholeness of man and woman as well as spirit and nature in the union.

The beggar-man led her out by the hand, and she was obliged to walk away on foot with him. When they came to a large forest she asked, “To whom does that beautiful forest belong?” “It belongs to King Thrushbeard; if you had taken him, it would have been yours.” “Ah, unhappy girl that I am, if I had but taken King Thrushbeard!”

Afterwards they came to a meadow, and she asked again, “To whom does this beautiful green meadow belong?” “It belongs to King Thrushbeard; if you had taken him, it would have been yours.” “Ah, unhappy girl that I am, if I had but taken King Thrushbeard!”

Then they came to a large town, and she asked again, “To whom does this fine large town belong?” “It belongs to King Thrushbeard; if you had taken him, it would have been yours.” “Ah, unhappy girl that I am, if I had but taken King Thrushbeard!”

So, the egoistic soul speaks to the mind, because that is the active spirit with which she now walks through the world “hand in hand and on foot”. And the conceptual ego-mind naturally revolves around mine and yours with regard to the things of this world, so that she now feels completely poor in the midst of wealth. Yes, the egoistic soul is so paradoxical, because everything belongs to her, but she does not recognize it because she cannot give off herself, but wants to hold on. Whether forest, meadow or town, in all areas of human life the question is always asked: “Who does it belong to?” And the answer is always heard: “If you had taken the king back then, it would be yours now!” But that is not how it works. Reason cannot be taken, it can only be earned and received by giving, that is, by devotion, forgiveness and love. So, this path through the world is about pure love between soul and reason, but the desire for property still prevails in the ego-mind. It is also typical for the ego-mind to constantly falter between the past and the future with this “If only I had, then…” attitude, thereby feeling sorry for itself and not being able to be content and happy in the present for long.

“It does not please me,” said the fiddler, “to hear you always wishing for another husband; am I not good enough for you?”

Now that we have learned a little more about the function of the mind, something suddenly changes and the “fiddler” utters a sentence like a thunderclap that we would rather ignore: “Why do you want a different spirit? Am I not good enough for you?” What is this “I am” that we are always so dissatisfied with and long for something else? Well, long books could be written about this, and that has already been done in detail. For example, Christ says in the Bible:I am the way and the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father except through me. (John 14.6)” And in another place he says:I am the light of the world. (John 8.12)” Why is that not good enough for us?

The Indian seer Nisargadatta says in the book “I Am”:
“Everything is secondary to the tiny thing that is the “I am”. Without the “I am” there is nothing. All knowledge revolves around the “I am”. False ideas about this “I am” lead to bondage, and correct knowledge leads to freedom and bliss. (Chapter 19)”
“When the mind is quiet, we know ourselves as pure witness. We withdraw from both the experience and the experiencer and stand beyond them in the pure consciousness that exists between the two and beyond. The personality based on self-identification, on the idea that one is something specific - “I am this, I am that” - still remains as part of the external object world, but the witness breaks his identification with it. (Chapter 6)”

What then is this odd “I” that wants to make itself “separate” or “emancipated” with the ego-mind in order to hold on?

At last, they came to a very little hut, and she said, “Oh, goodness! what a small house; to whom does this miserable, mean hovel belong?” The fiddler answered, “That is my house and yours, where we shall live together.” She had to stoop in order to go in at the low door. “Where are the servants?” said the King’s daughter. “What servants?” answered the beggar-man; “you must yourself do what you wish to have done. Just make a fire at once, and set on water to cook my supper, I am quite tired.”

Through her idea “I am a body”, the egoistic soul ends up in a “miserable mean house” together with the mind. There they have to “live together.” And so, the royal or holistic soul becomes a small person and has to serve herself as a separate egoistic soul in this body, which actually does not correspond to her pure nature, which serves the whole of nature holistically. That is why she has a hard time with it, and the mind has to help. But it is just a poor mind that she is now connected to.

But the King’s daughter knew nothing about lighting fires or cooking, and the beggar-man had to lend a hand himself to get anything fairly done. When they had finished their scanty meal, they went to bed; but he forced her to get up quite early in the morning in order to look after the house. For a few days they lived in this way as well as might be, and finished all their provisions. Then the man said, “Wife, we cannot go on any longer eating and drinking here and earning nothing. You must weave baskets.” He went out, cut some willows, and brought them home. Then she began to weave, but the tough willows wounded her delicate hands. “I see that this will not do,” said the man; “you had better spin, perhaps you can do that better.” She sat down and tried to spin, but the hard thread soon cut her soft fingers so that the blood ran down.

So, the path of suffering takes its course, and the hunger for life drives the embodied couple forward. While it is easy for the pure soul of nature to weave a basket that can contain the entire universe with all its worlds, and to spin threads of life that reach and last for thousands and billions of years, it is full of suffering for the embodied soul to work with hard matter. But it is not for nothing that they say: “Whoever God loves, he lets suffer.” Because only in this way proud arrogance can become true humility again. And that is also what the mind serves us for, complaining about us and trying to find another path of life and suffering.

“See,” said the man, “you are fit for no sort of work; I have made a bad bargain with you. Now I will try to make a business with pots and earthenware; you must sit in the market-place and sell the ware.” “Alas,” thought she, “if any of the people from my father’s kingdom come to the market and see me sitting there, selling, how they will mock me?” But it was of no use, she had to yield unless she chose to die of hunger. For the first time she succeeded well, for the people were glad to buy the woman’s wares because she was good-looking, and they paid her what she asked; many even gave her the money and left the pots with her as well. So, they lived on what she had earned as long as it lasted, then the husband bought a lot of new crockery. With this she sat down at the corner of the market-place, and set it out round about her ready for sale. But suddenly there came a drunken hussar galloping along, and he rode right amongst the pots so that they were all broken into a thousand bits.

The embodied soul now trades on the world’s marketplace in and with her physicality and thus becomes an acting person who earns her money or karma in order to live in the worldly flow of cause and effect.

Yes, our bodies are basically just earthen pots made of earth or stardust into which we fill our material and spiritual food. And as a family, this symbolism of the “pot trade” can also remind us of the embodied children that the physical couple now produces and “offers” on the world’s market or sells as working power. In the past, it was mainly the poor people who had many children who were supposed to care for and feed their aging parents. At first the soul is ashamed of this trade and fears being recognized, but driven by hunger she gets used to it. Her beauty also pays off, and she earns money with her physicality and her children, often even without having to give them away. We are reluctant to take anything away from beauty because we would like to enjoy it and maintain harmony.

But just as the most beautiful flower must wither at some point, as long as it is only an external form of beauty, this happiness of physicality does not last long either. Soon the illusion of time appears, which rides on physicality in the intoxication of the world, so to speak, with transience, loss and death, in order to destroy everything external and break everybody into “a thousand pieces”. And of course, this idea of time as transience, loss and death is also a form of the conceptual mind, which wants to hold on to the formal and cannot comprehend the formless.

She began to weep, and did now know what to do for fear. “Alas! what will happen to me?” cried she; “what will my husband say to this?” She ran home and told him of the misfortune. “Who would seat herself at a corner of the market-place with crockery?” said the man; “leave off crying, I see very well that you cannot do any ordinary work, so I have been to our King’s palace and have asked whether they cannot find a place for a kitchen- maid, and they have promised me to take you; in that way you will get your food for nothing.”

What will the mind say to this? He reproaches us: “Why do you set out on the path of transience in order to act in and trade with the physicality?” And what happens now? The mind recognizes that the pure soul is not useful for this kind of life, because all these paths end in suffering. He leads her out of the narrow house of the body and back into the royal palace of reason, where he too “had been” and still is. In doing so, she leaves the external marketplace of the world and goes right down to the bottom, where no one serves her anymore and she must serve everyone. And in doing so, she approaches her true nature as a pure soul again, and the proud arrogance of her egoistic part burns up in the true humility of serving the whole.

The King’s daughter was now a kitchen-maid, and had to be at the cook’s beck and call, and do the dirtiest work. In both her pockets she fastened a little jar, in which she took home her share of the leavings, and upon this they lived.

In this way man lives from what is given to him and no longer from what he takes because he thinks it belongs to him. This can only nourish a small earthly body of his own like a “little pot” that we carry in the world under our outer garment of personality and still consider to be our home.

It happened that the wedding of the King’s eldest son was to be celebrated, so the poor woman went up and placed herself by the door of the hall to look on. When all the candles were lit, and people, each more beautiful than the other, entered, and all was full of pomp and splendour, she thought of her lot with a sad heart, and cursed the pride and haughtiness which had humbled her and brought her to so great poverty. The smell of the delicious dishes which were being taken in and out reached her, and now and then the servants threw her a few morsels of them: these she put in her jars to take home.

So, the painful boot is on the other foot, as usual in the game of opposites, in order to balance out the separation. One could now see this wedding celebration as the king’s son choosing a bride, which the king’s daughter now experiences from the other side. She no longer looks down on others proudly and arrogantly as a spoiled princess, but humbly as a poor kitchen maid, and admires the beauty and splendour of all those present. The lights are lit in the royal wedding hall, which means that her light of consciousness expands to wholeness. She finally recognizes the root cause of her painful fate and “curses her pride and haughtiness, which had humbled her and brought her into so great poverty.”

“In silence and true humility, I seek God’s glory to see it in the son He created as myself. - I am not a body. I am free. For I am still as God created me. (Course in Miracles, Exercise 211)”

And with this knowledge deep in her heart, the noble prince appears to her again as a pure spirit with the golden chains of true wholeness.

All at once the King’s son entered, clothed in velvet and silk, with gold chains about his neck. And when he saw the beautiful woman standing by the door he seized her by the hand, and would have danced with her; but she refused and shrank with fear, for she saw that it was King Thrushbeard, her suitor whom she had driven away with scorn. Her struggles were of no avail, he drew her into the hall; but the string by which her pockets were hung broke, the pots fell down, the soup ran out, and the scraps were scattered all about. And when the people saw it, there arose general laughter and derision, and she was so ashamed that she would rather have been a thousand fathoms below the ground.

Now, the king’s son chooses the king’s daughter as his bride again, and the pure soul recognizes the royal or holistic spirit that has always courted her and is also eternally promised to her. Only one obstacle stands in the way of the wedding dance, and that is the poor and needy body that she still wears under her dress. For as long as the soul believes that she is at home in a separated body, she cannot be free and pure. Well, this bond is finally torn before the eyes of the people in the royal hall of reason, who of course know that from a holistic point of view one can only laugh at this physical attachment and nourishment. For what would someone have to cling to who lives in wholeness?

Of course, this bond is not torn without deep inner suffering that feels like death, and something probably dies too, namely the illusion of an egoistic soul that wanted to live separately and independently. This experience seems unbearably hostile to her, and she would prefer to escape into eternal darkness so that she no longer has to experience anything in the light of consciousness. This is where our idea of death comes from as an end to conscious life. But the pure soul cannot die, and her husband or spirit never leaves her alone.

She sprang to the door and would have run away, but on the stairs a man caught her and brought her back; and when she looked at him it was King Thrushbeard again. He said to her kindly, “Do not be afraid, I and the fiddler who has been living with you in that wretched hovel are one. For love of you I disguised myself so; and I also was the hussar who rode through your crockery. This was all done to humble your proud spirit, and to punish you for the insolence with which you mocked me.”

One should of course be cautious here. Holy marriage is not about breaking or humiliating the other person’s ego, but one’s own. In principle, there is only ever one ego, and that is one’s own. Everything else is perfect. Therefore, this story takes place primarily within ourselves, brought about, nourished and driven by external circumstances. For as long as the proud and arrogant ego does not break and the arrogance is reduced to humility, the awareness of separation cannot be overcome in order to achieve the goal of holy and healing marriage in its entirety.

With this, we now approach a further step towards holistic reason: We recognize not only the king in the beggar, but the holistically active spirit in all beings in this world. For just as there is only one pure soul in nature, there is naturally only one pure spirit, both of which appear together like a dancing couple in the diverse forms of nature and the forces at work in it. And when the diverse nature unites again with the holistic spirit, then we recognize the unity in the diversity. Then everything will be fine, because without separation there is no egoism and therefore no more suffering. Then basically only pure consciousness remains.

In this regard, the following sentence is particularly important: “Do not be afraid, I and the fiddler who has been living with you in the wretched hovel are one.” Wonderful! Christ also says something similar in the Bible: “I and the Father are one. (John 10.30)” Now the circle is complete, regarding the question above: “Am I not good enough for you?” And at the same time it answers the question of all questions: “Who am I when I am no longer a separate ego?” That would then be the last step towards holistic reason or “Christ consciousness”, where one recognizes oneself as a whole, as pure consciousness that has no property because it is not attached to anything. That is why it is said “Do not be afraid”, because it is also the end of all fears, because fear only comes from egoistic attachment and separation.

So, the fairy tale symbolically describes how the birthing soul of nature, together with the generative spirit, must go down the path of suffering in order to overcome egoism, because egoism is the cause of all suffering. And the great force that drives us to rediscover wholeness is, of course, pure love.

Then she wept bitterly and said, “I have done great wrong, and am not worthy to be your wife.”

Well, what is the value of a pure consciousness that knows no property because it is not attached to anything? For the ego it is of course completely worthless because egoism lives from attachment and therefore has “great wrong”. But for the active spirit, pure consciousness is the most valuable thing in this world because it allows him to work freely in the diversity of nature, like the king in his kingdom or God in the kingdom of heaven. Then there can no longer be any contradictions between what should be and what is. This is also the sphere of action of the spirit that the soul was initially free to choose as her spouse.

“I choose God’s joy instead of pain. - Pain is my own idea. It is not a thought of God, but one that I thought separately from Him and His will. His will is joy and only joy for his beloved Son. And I choose this instead of what I made. - I am not a body. I am free. For I am still as God created me. (Course in Miracles, Exercise 210)”

This means that there could even be a kingdom of heaven on earth, and all suffering would be over.

But he said, “Be comforted, the evil days are past; now we will celebrate our wedding.” Then the maids-in-waiting came and put on her the most splendid clothing, and her father and his whole court came and wished her happiness in her marriage with King Thrushbeard, and the joy now began in earnest. I wish you and I had been there too.

In this way, in every marriage, after a few years of struggle, we could now conquer the dividing ego, transform passionate desire into pure love and physical connection into spiritual union, and finally celebrate the true wedding when spirit and nature once again unite as one whole, the subject merges with the object again and all hostile opposites disappear. Then the “maids-in-waiting” serve as embodied beings of the pure soul and dress her in the most splendid garment of perfection. The holistic reason returns as king with all his court, and the pure joy of true bliss begins. And surely, we have always been there, for no one falls out of the wholeness that is celebrated here, neither you nor I, if only we could remember it. Otherwise, we will have to go this way again... OM


... Table of contents of all fairy tale interpretations ...
Hans Stupid - (topic: realize wishes)
The Drummer - (topic: Mind and path to salvation)
Swan Prince - (topic: soul, spirit and salvation)
The Six Swans - (topic: senses, thoughts and expansion)
The poor Girl and the Star-Money - (topic: poverty in spirit)
Death and the Goose Herder - (topic: geese and wholeness)
The Fox and the Geese - (topic: mind and wholeness)
The Goose-Girl at the Well - (topic: spirit, soul and nature)
The Golden Goose - (topic: recognize true wholeness)
The Goose-Girl and Falada - (topic: unity and diversity)
King Thrushbeard (topic: holy and healthy marriage)

[1884] Grimm's Household Tales. Translated from the German and edited by Margaret Hunt. With an introduction by Andrew Lang, 1884, Vol. 1/2, London: George Bell and Sons
[2024] Text and Pictures by Undine & Jens / www.pushpak.de