Shortshanks

Did You Know?

• In Andrew Lang's version, Shortshanks is called Minnikin and King Sturdy is called King Pippin.
• A version titled Lillekort was published in The Diamond Fairy Book and attributed to Xavier Marmier.
• In the Lillekort version, the protagonist does not have a twin brother.

Synopsis

A poor couple with many children had two more sons. Both boys left home quickly, and the second son caught up to the first. They baptized each other as Shortshanks and King Sturdy, then parted ways. King Sturdy said Shortshanks could summon him by calling his name three times, but only in the last extremity.

Shortshanks encountered three one-eyed old women, stealing each eye. The women bought back their eyes with an enchanted sword, an enchanted ship that could fly over land, and the art of brewing one hundred lasts of malt at once. Using the ship, Shortshanks reached a king's castle hung with black, where he worked for the kitchen-maid. The princess had been promised to three ogres; Ritter Red had vowed to save her but hid in a tree when the first ogre came.

Shortshanks fought the five-headed ogre, then the ten-headed ogre, and finally the fifteen-headed ogre, each time cutting out the ogre's tongue and liver. The princess threw a tinsel, silver, and golden robe over him as he slept. Ritter Red threatened to kill the princess if she revealed the truth. On the third day, the princess told Shortshanks of Ritter Red's threats. Shortshanks instructed her to demand him as cup-bearer at the wedding; he would spill Ritter Red's wine but not hers, and Ritter Red would strike him three times. On the third strike, the princess proclaimed Shortshanks the true killer. Ritter Red produced the lungs and tongues, but Shortshanks showed the gold and silver. The king judged Shortshanks the true killer and threw Ritter Red into a snake pit.