The Pack of Ragamuffins

Illustration by Heinrich Vogeler

"The Pack of Ragamuffins" is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm, number 10.[1] The title has been variously translated into English, as in "The Adventures of Chanticleer and Partlet: How They Went to the Mountains to Eat Nuts", "The Pack of Ragamuffins", "The Vulgar Crew", "A Pack of No-goods", "Riffraff", and "The Pack of Scoundrels".[2]

It is Aarne-Thompson type 210, The Traveling Animals and the Wicked Man.[3] Another tale of this type is the Grimms' Herr Korbes.[2] The Grimms also compared it to The Town Musicians of Bremen.[1]

Synopsis

A cock and hen went to eat nuts. They made a carriage of nutshells to come back in; the hen rode and the cock drew it. The duck attacked them for eating nuts, but the cock defeated him, and he let himself be harnessed to the carriage instead. A pin and needle joined them. They offered an innkeeper the hen's egg and the duck to let them stay, but in the morning, they ate the hen's egg, stuck the needle in the innkeeper's chair and the pin in his towel. The duck also went off. The innkeeper was pricked by both the needle and pin and the eggshell from the hen flew at his eyes. He resolved to never have such ragamuffins in his inn again.

References

  1. 1 2 Jacob and Wilheim Grimm, Household Tales, "The Pack of Ragamuffins"
  2. 1 2 D. L. Ashliman, The Pack of Scoundrels
  3. ↑ D. L. Ashliman, "The Grimm Brothers' Children's and Household Tales (Grimms' Fairy Tales)"
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