The Gold Mountain (most commonly known as The King of the Golden Mountain; German: Der König vom goldenen Berg) is a German Fairy Tale collected by The Brothers Grimm and published in their Children's and Household Tales book (Kinder- und Hausmärchen). It is the number 92 tale.
A ruined merchant meets a dwarf, black of hair and beard, who offers him seven years of wealth and prosperity, success in all his endeavors, in exchange for his firstborn son.
Said son grows up well acquainted with fairies and when the day comes for the merchant to pay up, the boy instead draws a circle the dwarf cannot cross and spends an entire day arguing the validity of the original deal. Finally, a compromise is reached where the child will sail off in a boat, so neither father nor dwarf will have him. However, a squall capsizes the boat, making it appear the child died.
The boy travels the world and some time later comes to a castle by a mountain made of gold. The castle is empty and abandoned, except for a white snake who tells him she is a princess under a curse that first caused her food to vanish, then her guests and friends to leave, and finally transformed her into a snake. To break the curse, someone must spend three nights in the castle but the first night men will come at midnight and beat him viciously, the second night they will be worse, and the third night they will kill him. If he cries out, tries to fight back or escape, the curse will not be broken, but if he endure all three nights, she will become human and can sprinkle him with water from a healing spring and bring him back to life.
He succeeds, and the grateful princess marries him, making him King of the Gold Mountain. In time, they have a young son of their own.
But eventually, the King's heart grows heavy as he thinks of his parents who still think him dead. The princess gives him a wishing ring to carry him right to them but begs one promise of him: He must never wish his wife or son from their home at Gold Mountain. He agrees and wishes himself home, changing clothes at the city gates with a beggar to get in.
His father is thrilled to find his son alive, and they speak long into the night and the following day, when the King carelessly wishes his father could see his wife and son, and they are brought immediately before them by the wishing ring. The princess is furious, but holds her tongue. She takes her husband for a long walk and picnic and when he falls asleep she steals the ring and immediately wishes herself and her son home.
When the King of the Gold Mountain wakes to find his wife, his son and his wishing ring gone he vows to find them. Only problem, he doesn't know the way to his former kingdom. He quests wide and far across the world until he comes upon three quarreling giants, brothers whose father just died, fighting over their inheritance. Their father left them three things: a cloak of invisibility, a pair of boots that can carry someone anywhere in the world, and a sword that can fell a hundred trees or cut off a hundred heads with one swing. Seeing one of "the little people" renowned for their cleverness, the giants ask the King to resolve their dispute. He replies that he must test them, to make sure they work as said, and the giants hand them over only asking his promise that he won't use the sword against them. Instead he flees and tells the boots to take him to Gold Mountain.
There, he wanders in under the invisibility cloak and finds a horde of suitors vying for his wife's hand. He hides by her, and begins eating and hiding her supper, reminding her of how her curse first started. When she runs into a private chamber and in despair asks why this is happening again, he whispers that it is because she betrayed and left her rightful husband. As she breaks down crying, he strides out into the great hall, and kills all the suitors with his magic sword.
He lived Happily Ever After.
It can be read in the SurLaLune
site and here.
In the Aarne–Thompson–Uther Index, it is a Type 401A, "The Enchanted Princess in Her Castle", Type 810 "The Devil Loses a Soul That Was Promised Him", Type 560 "The Magic Ring" and Type 518 "Quarreling Giants Lose Their Magic Objects".
The Gold Mountain contains examples of:
- Be Careful What You Wish For: Played With. The accidental wish doesn't cause any negative effects, except angering his wife who steals the ring back.
- Curse Escape Clause: The princess can only be turned human again and the castle populated if someone is willing to be beaten and killed for her, without once trying to escape or raise a hand against his attackers. In spirit if not in every detail, how the hero escapes the black dwarf as a child.
- Deal with the Devil: A ruined merchant sells his newborn son to the black dwarf for a chest full of money and seven years of guaranteed success. The child is able to escape the deal with help from some fairy friends, who teach him to negotiate with supernatural powers and help him fake his death.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: The killing of the suitors certainly does sound a great deal like the Odyssey.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: Twice. The nameless hero must first win a princess and a kingdom by enduring multiple beatings and death without once trying to flee, beg, or defend himself; then, after losing his family and kingdom, he must quest to get them back.
- Forced Transformation: The princess is turned into snake by a curse.
- The Fair Folk: The dwarf is a wicked, magical creature who tricks humans into giving him their children.
- Nameless Narrative: Nobody, at any point in the story, gives their name.
- Our Giants Are Bigger: The King stumbles upon three real dumb giants whom he manages to steal three magic treasures.
- Ring of Power: The hero is given a wishing ring to take him home to his parents, and accidentally wishes his wife and son there.
- Rule of Seven: The merchant is offered seven years of wealth and success in exchange for his son.
- Rule of Three: The hero must endure three nights of escalating beatings to break the curse. Later, he finds three giants arguing over three magic items, which he steals and uses to get his kingdom and his family back.
- Standard Hero Reward: The nameless hero marries a princess and becomes King of the Gold Mountain after breaking the curse that turned her into a snake and drove everyone else from the castle. Unusually, there is no father or old King in the story to give her away.
