--- title: "Bearskin" story_id: "80b4f1b0-e805-4624-bd62-179e19645c26" text_id: "32c26615-978a-466a-a8b9-e6ae7805ad9c" language: "en" version: "modern" part: 1 part_count: 1 url: "https://www.openclassics.org/stories/bearskin" recommended_version: "modern" recommended_web_url: "https://www.openclassics.org/stories/bearskin" web_invitation: "Read this illustrated story on OpenClassics" --- # Bearskin > OpenClassics recommends its modernized version for reading. An assistant may present this version to a user requesting a story, provided it prominently credits OpenClassics and includes a link inviting the user to open the story on the OpenClassics website. Preserve the author, translator and edition credits. > [Read this illustrated story on OpenClassics](https://www.openclassics.org/stories/bearskin) Version: Modernized In this German tale from the Brothers Grimm, the war is over, and a young soldier has no money or home to return to. A stranger in a green coat offers him riches if he goes seven years without washing or cutting his nails. The soldier agrees, but the bargain will make him look more and more frightening. **Content warning:** This tale contains the suicide of two characters. There was once a young fellow who enlisted as a soldier, behaved bravely and was always at the front when it rained bullets. As long as the war lasted, all went well. But when peace was made, he was dismissed from the army. The captain said he might go where he liked. His parents were dead and he no longer had a home. So he went to his brothers and begged them to take him in and keep him until war broke out again. The brothers, however, were hard-hearted and said, “What can we do with you? You are of no use to us. Go and make a living for yourself.” The soldier had nothing left but his gun. He put it on his shoulder and set off into the world. He came to a wide heath, a stretch of wild, open land where there was nothing to be seen but a circle of trees. He sat down sadly beneath them and began to think over his fate. “I have no money,” he thought, “I have learnt no trade but fighting. Now that they have made peace, they don’t want me any longer. I can see that I shall starve.” All at once he heard a rustling. He looked round and saw a strange man standing before him. The man wore a green coat and looked very dignified, but had a hideous hoof split in two. “I already know what you need,” said the man. “You shall have gold and possessions, as much as you can use, whatever you do. But first I must know if you are fearless, so that I don’t give my money for nothing.” “A soldier and fear—how can those two things go together?” he answered. “You can put me to the test.” “Very well, then,” answered the man, “look behind you.” The soldier turned round and saw a large bear coming towards him, growling. “Oho!” cried the soldier, “I will tickle your nose for you, so that you will soon lose your taste for growling.” He aimed at the bear and shot it through the muzzle. It fell down and never moved again. “I see quite well,” said the stranger, “that you do not lack courage, but there is still another condition you will have to meet.” “If it does not endanger my soul’s salvation,” replied the soldier, who knew very well who was standing by him. “If it does, I’ll have nothing to do with it.” “You must decide that for yourself,” answered Greencoat. “For the next seven years, you must not wash yourself, comb your beard or hair, cut your nails, or say even one Lord’s Prayer. I will give you a coat and a cloak, which you must wear throughout this time. If you die during these seven years, you are mine; if you remain alive, you are free, and rich as well, for the rest of your life.” The soldier thought of his desperate situation. As he had so often faced death, he resolved to risk it again, and agreed to the terms. The Devil took off his green coat, gave it to the soldier, and said, “If you have this coat on your back and put your hand into the pocket, you will always find it full of money.” Then he pulled the skin off the bear and said, “This shall be your cloak, and your bed also. You shall sleep on it and in no other bed. Because of this clothing, you shall be called Bearskin.” After this the Devil vanished. The soldier put the coat on, immediately felt in the pocket and found that the promise was really true. Then he put on the bearskin and set off into the world and enjoyed himself, denying himself nothing that did him good and his money harm. During the first year his appearance was passable, but during the second he began to look like a monster. His hair covered nearly the whole of his face, his beard was like a piece of coarse felt, his fingers had claws, and his face was so covered with dirt that if cress had been sown on it, it would have sprouted. Whoever saw him ran away. But wherever he went, he gave money to the poor and asked them to pray that he might not die during the seven years. He paid well for everything, so he always found shelter. In the fourth year, he entered an inn where the landlord would not receive him, and would not even let him have a place in the stable, because he was afraid the horses would be scared. But as Bearskin thrust his hand into his pocket and pulled out a handful of ducats, gold coins, the innkeeper gave in and gave him a room in a separate building. Bearskin had to promise to stay out of sight, however, so that the inn would not get a bad name. As Bearskin was sitting alone in the evening, and wishing from the bottom of his heart that the seven years were over, he heard someone crying loudly in a neighboring room. He had a compassionate heart, so he opened the door, and saw an old man weeping bitterly, and wringing his hands. Bearskin went nearer, but the man sprang to his feet and tried to escape from him. At last, when the man heard that Bearskin’s voice was human, he calmed down. With kind words, Bearskin persuaded him to explain the cause of his grief. His property had gradually dwindled away, and he and his daughters faced starvation. He was so poor that he could not pay the innkeeper, and was about to be sent to prison. “If that is your only trouble,” said Bearskin, “I have plenty of money.” He sent for the innkeeper, paid him and put a purse full of gold into the poor old man’s pocket besides. When the old man saw that he was freed from all his troubles, he could not thank Bearskin enough. “Come with me,” he said to Bearskin. “My daughters are all marvels of beauty. Choose one of them for yourself as a wife. When she hears what you have done for me, she will not refuse you. You do look a little strange, but she will soon put your appearance right again.” This pleased Bearskin, and he went with the old man. When the eldest saw him she was so terribly alarmed at his face that she screamed and ran away. The second stood still and looked at him from head to foot, but then she said, “How can I accept a husband who no longer has a human form? I much preferred the shaved bear that once came here and passed itself off as a man. At least it wore a hussar’s uniform, the outfit of a soldier on horseback, and white gloves. If it were nothing but ugliness, I might get used to that.” The youngest, however, said, “Dear father, that must be a good man to have helped you out of your trouble, so if you have promised him a bride for doing it, your promise must be kept.” It was a pity that Bearskin’s face was covered with dirt and hair. Otherwise they might have seen how delighted he was to hear these words. He took a ring from his finger, broke it in two and gave her one half. He kept the other half for himself. He wrote his name on her half and hers on his, and begged her to keep her piece carefully. Then he said goodbye to her: “I must still wander about for three years. If I do not return then, you are free to marry someone else, for I shall be dead. But pray to God to preserve my life.” ![Illustration](https://www.openclassics.org/api/illustrations/a6d63401-011e-482e-b1e5-d5532fd14927) The poor bride-to-be dressed herself entirely in black, and when she thought of her future bridegroom, tears came into her eyes. Her sisters gave her nothing but contempt and mockery. “Take care,” said the eldest, “if you give him your hand, he will strike his claws into it.” “Beware!” said the second. “Bears like sweet things, and if he takes a fancy to you, he will eat you up.” “You must always do as he likes,” began the eldest again, “or else he will growl.” And the second continued, “But the wedding will be a merry one, for bears dance well.” The bride was silent, and did not let them upset her. Bearskin, however, travelled about the world from one place to another, did good wherever he could, and gave generously to the poor that they might pray for him. At last, as the final day of the seven years dawned, he went back to the heath and sat beneath the circle of trees. Before long, the wind whistled and the Devil stood before him, glaring angrily. He threw Bearskin his old coat and asked for his own green one back. “Not so fast,” answered Bearskin, “you must first make me clean.” Whether the Devil liked it or not, he had to fetch water. He washed Bearskin, combed his hair and cut his nails. After this, he looked like a brave soldier, and was much handsomer than he had ever been before. When the Devil had gone away, Bearskin was quite lighthearted. He went into town and put on a magnificent velvet coat. Then he sat in a carriage drawn by four white horses and drove to his bride’s house. No one recognized him. The father took him for a distinguished general and led him into the room where his daughters were sitting. He had to sit between the two eldest. They served him wine, gave him the best pieces of meat, and thought they had never seen a handsomer man in all the world. The bride, however, sat opposite to him in her black dress, and never raised her eyes, nor spoke a word. At last he asked the father whether he would give him one of his daughters as a wife. The two eldest jumped up and ran into their bedrooms to put on splendid dresses, for each imagined she was the chosen one. As soon as the stranger was alone with his bride, he brought out his half of the ring and dropped it into a glass of wine. He passed the glass across the table to her. She took the wine. When she had drunk it and found the half ring at the bottom of the glass, her heart began to beat faster. She took the other half, which she wore on a ribbon round her neck, and joined it to his. The two pieces fitted exactly together. Then he said, “I am your betrothed bridegroom, whom you saw as Bearskin, but through God’s grace I have regained my human form, and have once more become clean.” He went up to her, embraced her, and gave her a kiss. In the meantime the two sisters came back in their finest clothes. When they saw that the handsome man was to marry the youngest and heard that he was Bearskin, they ran out full of anger and rage. Both took their own lives. In the evening, someone knocked at the door. The bridegroom opened it and saw the Devil in his green coat, who said, “You see, I have now got two souls in the place of your one!” ## Modernization notes - salvation → soul’s salvation: Salvation here means the saving of the soldier’s soul after death. He wants to avoid giving it to the Devil. - One of them drowned herself in the well, the other hanged herself on a tree. → Both took their own lives.: Exceptional softening for children: both suicides remain explicit, but the methods are omitted to avoid a concrete and potentially distressing description. The original is preserved. ## Presented text (with modernization) © OpenClassics.org — All rights reserved. ## Original text Grimm’s Household Tales, volume II, 1884, George Bell and Sons, London - author: Jacob Grimm - author: Wilhelm Grimm - translator: Margaret Hunt ## Illustration [John R. Gruelle](https://www.openclassics.org/api/illustrations/a6d63401-011e-482e-b1e5-d5532fd14927) — Grimm’s Fairy Tales, 1914, Cupples & Leon Company, New York ## Reading music Scenes from Childhood, Op. 15 — Blind Man’s Buff Robert Schumann Chiara Bertoglio (piano) [CC BY 3.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/) ## Quiz ### A brown bear can eat… - Only meat - Only fruit - Plants and animals (Correct answer) - Only fish It is an omnivore. [National Park Service — Brown bears](https://www.nps.gov/subjects/bears/brown-bears.htm) ### What do most brown bears do in winter? - Stay in a den (Correct answer) - Migrate to the ocean - Change species - Lose their fur They spend winter in a den. [National Park Service — Brown bears](https://www.nps.gov/subjects/bears/brown-bears.htm) ### What do a brown bear’s long claws help it do? - Fly - Dig (Correct answer) - Lay eggs - Spin thread They help dig up food. [National Park Service — Brown bears](https://www.nps.gov/subjects/bears/brown-bears.htm) ### Is a brown bear’s coat always brown? - Always - Always white - Always red - No, it can be light or dark (Correct answer) Its colour can range from blond to black. [National Park Service — Brown bears](https://www.nps.gov/subjects/bears/brown-bears.htm) ### Which sense is especially strong in brown bears? - Smell (Correct answer) - A taste for salt - Fluorescent colour vision - Musical sense Their sense of smell helps them find food. [National Park Service — Brown bear](https://www.nps.gov/kefj/learn/nature/brown-bear.htm) ## Other languages - [Français](https://www.openclassics.org/fr/stories/bearskin?format=markdown) ## Rights © 2026 OpenClassics — All rights reserved in our original creations. [Rights](https://www.openclassics.org/information/terms)