The Soul Destroyed by Worry
There was once a mother, to whom the good God had given a son, but she was so poor and lonely that she had nobody who could stand godmother to him. And she sighed, and said, “Where shall I get a godmother?” Then one evening there came a woman to her house who was dressed in gray and had a gray veil over her head. She said, “I will be your son’s godmother, and I will take care that he grows up a good man and does not let you starve; but you must give me his soul.”
Then his mother trembled, and said, “Who are you?”
“I am Dame Care,” answered the gray woman; and the mother wept; but as she suffered much from hunger, she gave the woman her son’s soul and she was his godmother.
And her son grew up and worked to procure her bread.
But as he had no soul, he had no joy and no youth, and he often looked at his mother with reproachful eyes, as if he would ask, “Mother, where is my soul?”
Then the mother grew sad and went out to find him a soul. She asked the stars in the sky, “Will you give me a soul for my son?” But they said, “He is too low for that.” And she asked the flowers on the heath; they said, “He is too ugly.” And she asked the birds in the trees; and they said, “He is too sad.” And she asked the high trees; they said, “He is too humble.” And she asked the clever serpents, but they said, “He is too stupid.”
Then she went away, weeping. And in the woods she met a young and beautiful princess surrounded by her court. When the Princess saw the mother weeping, she descended from her horse and took her to the castle, which was all built of gold and precious stones.
There she asked the mother, “Tell me why you weep?” And the mother told the Princess of her grief that she could not procure her son a soul, nor joy, nor youth.
Then said the Princess, whose name was “Love-of-Man,” “I cannot see anybody weep; I will tell you something—I will give him my soul.”
Then the mother fell down before the Princess and kissed her hands. “But,” said the Princess, “I cannot do it unless he asks me for it.” Then the mother went to her son, but Dame Care had laid her gray veil over his head, so that he was blind and could not see the Princess.
The mother pleaded, “Dear Dame Care, set him free.” But Dame Care smiled—and whoever saw her smile was forced to weep—and she said, “He must free himself.”
“How can he do that?” asked the mother.
“He must sacrifice to me all that he loves,” said Dame Care.
Then the mother grieved very much, and lay down and died. But the Princess waits for her suitor to this very day.
—Hermann Sudermann.
Alternate Reading: 1 Thessalonians 5:12-24.