Household Tales · Chapter
Old Rinkrank explained
A king sets a challenge for suitors to cross a glass mountain to win his daughter's hand.
What happens
A king sets a challenge for suitors to cross a glass mountain to win his daughter's hand. One suitor attempts with the princess, but she falls into the mountain and is trapped. An old man named Old Rinkrank forces her to be his servant. After many years, she tricks him into revealing his ladder, escapes, and returns to her father. The king kills Old Rinkrank, seizes his treasure, and the princess marries her betrothed.
Themes in this chapter
Transformation and Redemption
The princess transforms from a trapped servant to a free woman, ultimately redeeming her lost years by marrying her betrothed.
Virtue Rewarded and Vice Punished
The princess's cleverness and patience are rewarded with freedom and marriage, while Old Rinkrank's cruelty leads to his death.
Promises and Their Consequences
The king's promise to give his daughter to whoever crosses the mountain sets the story in motion, leading to both peril and eventual fulfillment.
Characters to notice
- the princess
The king's daughter who falls into the glass mountain and becomes Old Rinkrank's servant, later escapes by tricking him.
- Old Rinkrank
The old man with a long gray beard who traps the princess and forces her to serve him; he is eventually killed.
- the young King
The king who sets the challenge and later rejoices at his daughter's return.
- Unknown
The princess's betrothed who attempts to cross the mountain with her and later marries her.
Key passages
“There was once on a time a King who had a daughter, and he caused a glass mountain to be made, and said that whosoever could cross to the other side of it without falling should have his daughter to wife.”
A king built a glass mountain and decreed that any man who could cross it without falling would marry his daughter.
Sets up the central challenge of the story.
“An old fellow with a very long gray beard came to meet her, and told her that if she would be his servant and do everything he bade her, she might live, if not he would kill her.”
An old man with a long gray beard threatened to kill the princess unless she became his servant and obeyed his orders.
Introduces Old Rinkrank and the princess's captivity.
“Then he ran all round his house, and saw that the little window was open, and thought, 'I will look in and see what she can be about, and why she will not open the door for me.'”
Old Rinkrank ran around his house, noticed the open window, and decided to peek inside to see why the princess wouldn't open the door.
Leads to the princess's trick to trap his beard.
“She went to her father, and told him all that had happened to her. The King rejoiced greatly, and her betrothed was still there, and they went and dug up the mountain, and found Old Rinkrank inside it with all his gold and silver.”
The princess returned to her father and recounted her ordeal. The king was overjoyed, and with her still-waiting betrothed, they excavated the mountain, discovering Old Rinkrank and his treasure.
Climax where the princess is reunited and Old Rinkrank is captured.