--- title: "The Seven Ravens" story_id: "29fab2da-910b-4c2e-8909-0f14c0f45e78" text_id: "5cf0e4db-0db6-457b-9240-00fd8ce602c8" language: "en" version: "modern" part: 1 part_count: 1 url: "https://www.openclassics.org/stories/the-seven-ravens" recommended_version: "modern" recommended_web_url: "https://www.openclassics.org/stories/the-seven-ravens" web_invitation: "Read this illustrated story on OpenClassics" --- # The Seven Ravens > 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/the-seven-ravens) Version: Modernized In this German story collected by the Brothers Grimm, a girl learns that her seven brothers have been turned into ravens. She sets out to find them, even at the ends of the earth. **Content warning:** Characters eat or threaten to eat children. A girl injures herself to rescue her brothers. Once upon a time there was a man who had seven sons, and still he had no daughter, however much he wished for one. At last his wife was expecting another child, and when it came into the world it was a girl. They were overjoyed, but the child was small and very weak. She had to be baptized at home, a Christian ceremony for which they needed water. The father sent one of the boys quickly to the spring to fetch water for the baptism. The other six went with him, and as each of them wanted to be first to fill the jug, the jug fell into the well. There they stood and did not know what to do, and none of them dared to go home. As they still did not return, the father grew impatient, and said, “They must have forgotten all about it while playing, the wicked boys!” He became afraid that the girl would die without being baptized, and in his anger cried, “I wish the boys were all turned into ravens.” The words were hardly out of his mouth when he heard wings whirring overhead. He looked up and saw seven coal-black ravens flying away. The parents could not take back the curse, and however sad they were at the loss of their seven sons, their dear little daughter still gave them some comfort. She soon grew strong and became more beautiful every day. For a long time she did not know that she had had brothers, for her parents were careful not to mention them in front of her, but one day she happened to hear some people talking about her. They said she was certainly beautiful, but she was to blame for her seven brothers’ misfortune. This upset her deeply, and she went to her father and mother and asked if it was true that she had had brothers, and what had happened to them. The parents no longer dared to keep the secret, but said that what had happened to her brothers was the will of Heaven, and that although her birth had led to it, she was not to blame. But the girl worried about it every day, and felt she must rescue her brothers. She had no rest or peace until she set out secretly, and went out into the wide world to find her brothers and set them free, whatever it might cost her. She took nothing with her but a little ring belonging to her parents as a keepsake, a loaf of bread for when she was hungry, a little pitcher of water for when she was thirsty, and a little chair for when she was tired. And now she kept on travelling, far, far to the very end of the world. Then she came to the sun, but it was too hot and terrible, and devoured little children. Hastily she ran away, and ran to the moon, but it was far too cold, frightening and cruel, and when it saw the child, it said, “I smell, I smell the flesh of men.” At this she ran swiftly away, and came to the stars, which were kind and good to her, and each of them sat on its own little chair. But the morning star stood up, and gave her a chicken’s leg bone, and said, “Without that leg bone you cannot open the Glass mountain, and in the Glass mountain are your brothers.” The girl took the leg bone, wrapped it carefully in a cloth, and set off again until she came to the Glass mountain. The door was shut, and she thought she would take out the leg bone; but when she undid the cloth, it was empty, and she had lost the good star’s present. What was she now to do? She wished to rescue her brothers, and had no key to the Glass mountain. The good sister hurt one of her little fingers and used it as a key to open the door. When she had gone inside, a little dwarf came to meet her and said, “My child, what are you looking for?” “I am looking for my brothers, the seven ravens,” she replied. The dwarf said, “The lord ravens are not at home, but if you will wait here until they come, step in.” Then the little dwarf brought in the ravens’ dinner on seven little plates and in seven little glasses. The little sister ate a little from each plate and took a sip from each little glass. Into the last little glass she dropped the ring she had brought with her. ![Illustration](https://www.openclassics.org/api/illustrations/50c153c0-3078-4534-ad8d-f4b5a613a877) Suddenly she heard a whirring of wings and a rushing through the air, and then the little dwarf said, “Now the lord ravens are flying home.” Then they came, and wanted to eat and drink, and looked for their little plates and glasses. One after another, they said, “Who has eaten something from my plate? Who has drunk out of my little glass? It was a human mouth.” And when the seventh came to the bottom of the glass, the ring rolled against his mouth. Then he looked at it, and saw that it was a ring belonging to his father and mother, and said, “God, if only our sister were here! Then we would be free.” When the girl, who was standing behind the door watching, heard that wish, she came out, and at once all the ravens became human again. And they embraced and kissed each other, and went joyfully home. ## Modernization notes - took a knife, cut off → hurt: The original describes cutting off a finger with a knife. This reading keeps her injury and the finger used as a key, while leaving out the method and graphic detail. ## Presented text (with modernization) © OpenClassics.org — All rights reserved. ## Original text Grimm’s Household Tales, with the Author’s Notes, volume 1, 1884, George Bell and Sons, London - author: Jacob Grimm - author: Wilhelm Grimm - translator: Margaret Hunt ## Illustration [Arthur Rackham](https://www.openclassics.org/api/illustrations/50c153c0-3078-4534-ad8d-f4b5a613a877) — The Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm, 1909, Constable & Co., London ## Reading music Fairy Tale Pictures, Op. 113 Robert Schumann Paul Neubauer (viola) Anne-Marie McDermott (piano) [Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (source)](https://www.gardnermuseum.org/experience/music) [CC BY-NC-ND 3.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/) ## Quiz ### Which family includes the common raven? - Ducks - Parrots - Corvids (Correct answer) - Eagles It also includes crows and magpies. [National Park Service — Common raven](https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/common-raven.htm) ### What vocal ability do common ravens have? - Mimicking sounds (Correct answer) - Whistling without breathing - Speaking every language - Singing only underwater They can mimic sounds, including human speech. [National Park Service — Ravens](https://www.nps.gov/arch/learn/nature/ravens.htm) ### Venus, sometimes called the “morning star”, is actually a… - Comet - Moon - Planet (Correct answer) Venus is a very bright planet that can appear near sunrise or sunset. [NASA — Venus facts](https://science.nasa.gov/venus/venus-facts/) ### Where does moonlight come from? - Its volcanoes - The Sun (Correct answer) - Oceans - Its trees The Moon reflects sunlight. [NASA — Moonlight](https://science.nasa.gov/moon/moonlight/) ### What is commonly used to make glass? - Wool - Butter - Leaves - Silica-rich sand (Correct answer) Sand supplies silica for glassmaking. [Corning Museum of Glass — Sand](https://allaboutglass.cmog.org/definition/sand) ## Other languages - [Français](https://www.openclassics.org/fr/stories/the-seven-ravens?format=markdown) - [简体中文](https://www.openclassics.org/zh/stories/the-seven-ravens?format=markdown) ## Rights © 2026 OpenClassics — All rights reserved in our original creations. [Rights](https://www.openclassics.org/information/terms)