Godfather Death
by Jakob and Wilheim Grimm. 1822
Retold by Brenda Sutton

A poor man had twelve children. He worked day and night just to get enough food for them to eat. When the thirteenth child was born, the poor man was beside himself with misery. He ran out into the street to ask the first person he saw on the highway to be his son's godparent. The first person agreed and said, "My friend, I pity you. I will carry your son to the baptismal font, look after him, and ensure his happiness on earth."

"Who are you?" asked the man.

"I am God."

"Then I don't want you for my son's godparent," the poor man said. "You allow the poor to starve while you bless the rich with plenty." This is how the poor man spoke, not understanding that God wisely gives wealth and poverty, and so he turned on his heel and walked away from God.

The next person the poor man met along the highway agreed saying, "If you let me be your child's godparent, I will give your son treasures, wealth and pleasure beyond description."

"Who are you?" asked the man.

"I am the Devil."

"Then I don't want you for my son's godparent," said the poor man. "You are the great deceiver, tricking mankind with lies and temptation." This is how the poor man spoke to the Devil, turning on his heel and continueing down the road.

After walking for miles, the poor man spied a boney figure who approached him saying, "Let me be the godparent for your child."

"Who are you?" asked the man.

"I am Death, the great leveler of mankind."

The poor man considered for a few moments and then said, "Yes, you are the right choice, for you are no respecter of rich or poor, treating all the same at their appointed time."

Death nodded saying, "Your son will become famous through the world, wealthy beyond imagination. He who befriends me wants for nothing." Death accompanyied the poor man to the chuch, held the baby in the crook of his boney arms, and promised to fulfil the duties of godfather.

The godchild grew into a fine young man and, on coming of age, Death appeared before him to fulfill his promise. "Come with me into the forest, and I will show you an herb with which you shall become the most famous physician in all the world. When you are called to attend the sick, I will appear to you. If I stand at the head of the patient's bed, you may administer the herb and announce with confidence that the patient will recover. If I stand at the foot of the patient's bed, you may tell the family that there is no hope for their loved one, and no doctor or cure on the planet who can help. Use this herb with great care, and never use it against my will, or it will go badly for you."

Death was true to His word, and soon the young man's reputation as a physician grew until he was the most famous doctor in all the world. "He merely looks at the patient and immediatly knows the person's fate: recovery or death." This is what people said of the young man, and patients flocked to him from far and wide, giving him so much gold that he soon became wealthy beyond measure.

Now one day the young doctor was summoned to bedside of a mighty king who had fallen ill. When Death appeared, He stood at the foot of the sick king's bed, and Death's godson knew that neither his herb nor any other physician could cure the king. "If only just this once I could outwit Death," thought the young doctor. "He'll be very angry with me, of that I'm sure; but he is my godparent, so he'll forgive me just this once. The king will reward me for using my healing herb, and so I'll take my chances." The young doctor lifted up the sick king and laid him in the bed so that Death was standing at the patient's head. Then he administered the herb, and the king began to recover.

Death was very angry, shaking a boney finger at His godson. "How dare you trick me! You only survive my wrath because you are my godson, but be warned -- betray me again and it will be you that I carry away to the Underworld."

Not long after the king's recovery, the king's only daughter fell seriously ill. The monarch wept and worried for the princess day and night, proclaiming that anyone who healed her would receive her hand in marriage and inheirit the kingdom. The young doctor was summoned, and saw Death standing at the foot of the princess' bed. Oh, the foolish young man should have remembered his godfather's warning, but his heart was captured by the young woman's amazing beauty, not to mention the promise of royal inheiritance. The young doctor turned his back on Death's anger, ignored the shaking boney fist, and lifted the princess to lay her head at Death's feet. Then he gave her the herb, and the color began to return to her pale cheeks.

Death was furious, and grabbed His godson by the neck. "That's it for you, boy! I warned you, and you disobeyed me a second time, cheating me yet again!" With this, Death dragged the young doctor down into an underground cave wherein burned thousands of lights of various sizes in row after row descending without end. Across this vista, some lights winked out, while other flared up "Look, my godson, these lights are all of Mankind. The large lights are young children, the middle-sized lights belong to adults at the height of their life, and the small lights are the old, the sick and the dying."

"And which one is my light?" asked the godson, whereupon Death pointed to a dwindling stub of a light, nearly extinguished. "Ah, dear godfather, please light me a new candle that my life may continue. Let me marry my princess and become the king at her father's demise. Do this for my sake." But Death shook his boney skull.

"I cannot," said Death. "A flame must go out before another can light in its place."

"Then place my old candle on top of anther candle so that it can continue to burn when the first one burns out," cried the godson.

Death tilted his boney skull to one side and tapped His boney cheek with one boney finger as if He were considering the idea. Then He stepped forward as if He might actually act on the young man's wish. But, as a last revenge, Death made a disembling stumble and dropped the guttering candle. The flame died with a splash of hot wax, and the godson collapsed to the ground having fallen into Death's last embrace.

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