Podcast Benomtad20 Okt 2025

The Brothers Grimm's "Bearskin"

A soldier returns from the wars, and now that his parents have died, he seeks shelter with his brothers. But they reject him, and he wanders, penniless and starving, into a field. The wind shifts, and a sly man in a green coat appears. The soldier is to kill a bear, and he does so unflinchingly, so the green frocked man offers him a deal: if he wears the bearskin, which is what he will be known by, for seven years, without washing or dying, he will have great fortune. But if he fails, his soul will go to the devil.

Bearskin agrees, and wanders the world wearing the devil’s green coat with its unlimited gold underneath the beastial covering. After some time, rejected by humanity, he despairs at an inn. However, hearing the cries of another man, he asks what is wrong. The man has debts he cannot pay to support his family. Bearskin pays them and the man offers his daughter’s hand in return.

At the man’s house, Bearskin is surprised at the man’s three daughters’ comeliness. However, the eldest two are shocked at his appearance and reject him outright. The third, however, quietly assents to pay her father’s debt. Bearskin takes a gold ring, breaks it in two, and inscribes her name on his half and his on hers. He says if she can wait for him for three years and pray to God for his life, they can be married.

Bearskin then wanders the world, giving alms to the poor that they may pray for his soul. At the end of the contractual term, he returns to the clearing. The wind shifts and the Devil reappears, looking at Bearskin angrily. He moves to re-exchange their coats, but Bearskin insists he cleans him first. After, he disappears and Bearskin, handsomer than ever, acquires a velvet coat and white horses.

Riding to the father’s house, he is not recognized and taken for a great general. The eldest daughters ply him with wine, and laughing, leave to put on their best dresses. The youngest, silent, remains, and Bearskin pushes a wineglass to her with his half of the ring in the bottom. Finishing the glass, she sees it and fits it perfectly to her own, hung around her neck with a ribbon. They embrace, and the sisters, returning and realizing what happened, run out of the house in jealousy and rage. One drowns herself and the other hangs herself. The Devil in his green coat knocks on the door and thanks Bearskin, for he has gotten two souls instead of one.

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For the full video episode:

https://youtu.be/4oT1UC1ReKM

Audio episode:

https://benomtad.podbean.com/e/the-brothers-grimms-bearskin/

Von Schonwerth’s “The Scorned Princess:” https://youtu.be/F6gC0Sk9qJQ

For more in this podcast, please go to:

Podbean:

https://benomtad.podbean.com

Apple Podcasts:

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/podcast-benomtad/id1748320863

YouTube:

https://m.youtube.com/@scissorsandpaper/videos

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/show/4kJPGlaJjGVyLa9AKhci6t?si=8XXrX9FUT3CU71reCfA5kQ

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I plan to conduct more interviews with various guests, so please check back later for those.

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