The Juniper Tree — Obscure Fairy Tales

A long time ago, there was a lady who married a lord and bore him a male heir. For as kind as she was weak of health, the lady did not survive past the child’s first few years. She was subsequently buried under a beautiful juniper tree in the courtyard, where her former husband and son would come and talk to her in times of need. 

Thus, a few years after his first wife’s passing, the lord went on to marry another lady. The latter soon gave birth to a baby girl. The lord’s two children, the boy from his first marriage and the girl from his second, grew up loving and playing with each other. They had the occasional scuffle, like most siblings have, but never fought seriously with one another.  

However, the boy’s stepmother was less of a fan of his, for she feared his existence would threaten her daughter’s inheritance of the lord’s land upon his death. She then began to scheme a way to get rid of him.  

One day, as she plotted a solution to her perceived issue, she began to put her plan into action. While her husband was away hunting, the lady filled half a wooden crate up with apples, fruits she knew her stepson favoured, and called him to her chambers. After offering him his favourite treat, the boy went to the crate and happily opened it to get a fruit.  As he was leaning forward to reach down, his stepmother closed the crate on him, cutting his head clean at the neck.  

Fearing for her actions to be found out, the stepmother then placed the boy’s body on a chair in the hall, putting his head back on his neck and tying a small scarf on the scar to hide it. 

She then waited for her daughter to go get her favourite playmate. The girl tried talking to her sibling, but to no avail. He never responded. Puzzled, the girl came to get her mother and told her about her brother’s silence. The lady told her daughter she should box his ears to punish him if he was ignoring her. And so did the girl. 

Terrified and crying, the girl ran to her mother and explained her brother’s head had fallen off when she hit him. Despite being happy inside, her mother appeared horrified, shouting at her about what she had done to her dear brother! 

As the young girl was inconsolable and crying a river, the boy’s stepmother said they now had to hide her actions from her father. Thus, they brought the boy’s body down to the kitchen. The girl’s mother then proceeded to cook the body in a stew before retrieving the bones and sending her daughter to bury them with a handkerchief under the juniper tree in the courtyard. 

As the father came home from hunting, the girl and her mother left to stay with a distant relative for a while. The lady of the house fed the man the boy stew, the daughter unable to stop crying despite her mother’s dagger eyes. The man seemed skeptical about the flavour of his meal, but he ate it nonetheless and declared it to be delicious. He then asked for another bowl, while his daughter cried and cried. Despite the tears, the lord had another bowl. And another bowl. And another bowl again. Until there was no stew left. 

Suddenly, a mist oozed from the juniper tree, before turning into a bird. The bird went on to sing a song about murder to the townfolks. 

Under the juniper tree 
My stepmother she killed me 
My sister she buried me 
My father he then ate me 
Under the juniper tree 
Now, this is my song kwee-kwee 
You should sing along with me 

The common folk thought the bird’s song was so beautiful that they bribed it with gifts so the bird would keep on singing. As if in a trance, the goldsmith offered a gold chain, the shoemaker offered a pair of red shoes, and the mason offered a millstone. 

Carrying all its gifts despite their heavy weight, the little bird then went on to sing in the courtyard with the juniper tree. 

Under the juniper tree 
My stepmother she killed me 
My sister she buried me 
My father he then ate me 
Under the juniper tree 
Now, this is my song kwee-kwee 
You should sing along with me 
Under the juniper tree 

Hearing the commotion the bird was making with such little lungs, the lord and his wife and daughter went outside to the courtyard and listened to the bird’s song. 

Under the juniper tree 
My stepmother she killed me 
My sister she buried me 
My father he then ate me 
Under the juniper tree 
Now, this is my song kwee-kwee 
You should sing along with me 
Under the juniper tree 

The little girl, whose screams and tears had lessened since her father had finished the stew, shed even more tears than before. Her father, confused and scared, started to realize what was happening and looked at his wife anxiously, as if asking her to assure him the bird’s song was wrong. But he knew within himself that the bird was right and that his delicious stew had a dark and tragic origin. 

Then, the bird started dropping its gifts. For the lord, the gold chain was offered. To the little girl, a pair of beautiful red shoes were given. And on the cruel stepmother, the bird dropped the millstone, crushing her to death in painful agony. Stunned, the lord and her daughter picked up their gifts, trying not to stare at the lady’s lifeless body squished under the millstone beside them.

As they put their gifts on, the lord and his daughter felt their feelings change. The father’s bond to his second wife seemed to lessen, as he gathered the strength to overcome her. The little girl’s guilt seemed to free her mind, and no more tears did she shed for her lost brother. As for the dead stepmother, her body suddenly disappeared, as if it was never there.

The bird went on to fly close to the roots of the juniper, around the spot the boy’s bones were buried. As the little creature dove into the ground, the roots seem to move slightly, before the lord’s son rose from his resting place and sat up near the trunk, confused. Overjoyed, his father and sister ran up to him and held him tight, never wanting to let go.

The serie Obscure Fairy Tales encompasses an array of tales, myths and legends from around the world. To read more, visit this page dedicated to fiction writing.