Grim

“ Nay to the jaws of Taenarus too he came,
Of Dis the infernal palace, and the grove
Grim with a horror of great darkness- came,
Entered, and faced the Manes and the King
Of terrors, the stone heart no prayer can tame. ”

“ GRIM. I will not, and if I can choose.
ROB. Nay, come away, and bring your love with you.
GRIM. Joan! you were best go to him, Joan.
ROB. What, shall I fetch thee, man? The cream is sweet.
GRIM. No, sir, I am coming: much good do't you. I had need of a long spoon, now I go to eat with the devil. [478]
ROB. The parson's penance shall be thus to fast.
Come, tell me, Grim, dost thou not know me, man?
GRIM. No, truly, sir; I am a poor man fetcheth my living out of the fire; your worship may be a gentleman devil, for aught I know.
ROB. Some men call me Robin Goodfellow.
GRIM. O Lord, sir! ”

“ O Master Parson Shorthose, Grim is but a man as another man is: colliers have but lives, as other men have. All is gone if she go from me: Grim is nobody without her. My heart is in my mouth; my mouth is in my hand; my hand threatens vengeance against the miller, as it were a beadle with a whip in his hand, triumphing o'er a beggar's back!
SHO. Be silent, Grim; stand close, and see;
So shall we know how all things be.
GRIM. In wisdom I am appeased; but in anger I broil, as it were a rasher upon the coals.
JOAN. I'll not despise the trades ye either have ”

“ Terror twists and turns in her efforts to get a bite; but Grim has been fortunate in taking hold so far forward that there is no room left for her to bite. Terror has only her tail-end to strike with, and with it she sweeps up clouds of mud sufficient to hide an elephant. ”

“ A grim fraternity, passing grim lives in that sweet spot, that God had made so bright! Strange that Nature’s voices all around them—the soft singing of the waters, the whisperings of the river grass, the music of the rushing wind—should not have taught them a truer meaning of life than this. They listened there, through the long days, in silence, waiting for a voice from heaven; and all day long and through the solemn night it spoke to them in myriad tones, and they heard it not. ”

“ I find myself stark naked, and as cold as a stone. Now judge how I am tumbled and tossed; poor Grim the collier hath wished himself burnt up amongst his coals.
SHO. O Grim! be wise, dream not of love,
Thy sorrows cannot fancy move:
If Jug love thee, love her again;
If not, thy kindness then refrain.
GRIM. I am not skilled in your rhyming. Master Parson; but that which is bred in the flesh will never come out of the bone. I have seen as much as another man; my travel should teach me. There's never a day in the week but I carry coals from Croydon to London ”

“ That of their care thou hast no stronger proof?
Perhaps they do not like to hear or see
Thy last deep groan, thy dying agony!
The grass upspurn’d,
Thine eye upturn’d,
Bespeak its weight to heedless passers by!
That hoarse deep sigh, the sad effect of sin,
Proclaims the depth of agony within!
On man and beast,
Greatest and least,
Grim Death doth feed, and glad his victim win! ”

“ When Grim was but a little more than a babe, he took a spear and killed a wolf-cub that his father had brought into the hut alive. And it was said of him, by them that were wise among the folk, that he would live to be a slayer of beasts.
“Now when he was grown a tall youth, it befell one day that he went forth into the woods to kill meat. He carried his bow and arrows at his back, and in his hand a spear. By his side hung his trusty axe, a stone of the best. So he went, armed like a man, but without the wit of a man, and heeding naught. ”

“ The grim monster death having done its terrible work leaves its impress on the faces of its unfortunate victims. Passion, determination and conflicting emotions plainly stamped on the faces of the victims now wrapt in the cold embrace of death. ”

“ GRIM. I say, my heart bleedeth when thou speaketh, and therefore do not provoke me. Yet, miller, as I am monstrous angry, so I have a wonderful great mind to be repeas'd. Let's think what harm cometh by this same fighting; if we should hurt one another, how can we help it? Again, Clack, do but here forswear Joan's company, and I'll be thine instead of her, to use in all your businesses from Croydon to London; yours, Gilbert Grim, the chief collier for the king's majesty's own mouth. ”

“ A man is dead, his skull shattered and a deep stab wound in his heart. Two persons firmly believe that they have killed him, and yet there is every reason to believe that neither of them did! And if Roger Farrier or the Corsican woman had not killed him, who had?
I decided, while waiting for the arrival of the coroner, to poke around The Grim House. ”

“ That he is not worthy to be bid sit down?
GRIM. O Lord, save us! sure, he is some country-devil; he hath got a russet coat upon his face.
[GRIM and SHORTHOSE retire to the back of the stage.]
SHO. Now, benedicite! who is this?
I take him for some fiend, i-wis; [477]
O, for some holy-water here
Of this same place this spirit to clear!
ROB. Nay, fear not, Grim, come fall unto your cream:
Tut, I am thy friend; why dost not come and eat?
GRIM. I, sir? truly, master devil, I am well here, I thank you.
ROB. I'll have thee come, I say. Why, tremblest thou?
GRIM. No, sir, not I ”

“ In Grim the story found a character who was in reality a hero of the poor and lowly, with the characteristic devotion of the tribesman to his chief, of the vassal to his lord, a devotion which was handed on from father to son, so that a second generation continued the services, and received the rewards, of the father who risked life and all for the sake of his king’s heir. ”

“ It looks to him like one of the ancient oaks of the bog coming up to lie and float on the surface.
Gradually, as the large, pointed steel hook enters farther and farther into Grim’s intestines, and makes her cold, red blood flow the wrong way, her movements become less and less rapid.
The water makes things dim; she no longer sees clearly, and runs full tilt into banks and clumps of reeds. She feels delightfully surfeited, and darts about the pool with the sensation of dragging with her the greatest booty she had ever taken in her life. How it seems to fill her stomach! ”

“ The word Grim, in French theatrical language, is probably derived from grimace, and the expression of Rôles à manteau arises from the personages which they represent being old men, who generally appear on the stage with a cloak. ”

“ He wounded them fatally; and, when their bodily powers were quite spent, Grim, who could scarce muster a final gasp, and whose force was almost utterly gone, with his last pants composed this song:
"Though we be weak in frame, and the loss of blood has drained our strength; since the life-breath, now drawn out by my wound, scarce quivers softly in my pierced breast:
"I counsel that we should make the battle of our last hour glorious with dauntless deeds, that none may say that a combat has anywhere been bravelier waged or harder fought ”

“ This curious expression is ascertained to have the meaning here 124 assigned to it by observing (1) that grim and gore must be substantives, and (2) that they must be of like signification; but chiefly by comparing the line with others similar to it. Now the context, in the couplet following, repeats that “men might hear him roar, that foul vile wretch, a mile off;” and in l. 682, Godard calls Grim “a foul dirt, a thrall, and a churl.” The author clearly uses dirt and churl as synonyms. The word grim is the Danish grim, soot, lampblack, smut, dirt, answering to the English grime ”

“ The only safe thing I know is to follow opportunity and leave the man behind to do the worrying. More people die lingering, ghastly deaths in arm-chairs and in bed than anywhere.
So I spoke of squeamishness and second thoughts with all the scorn that a man can use who hasn't yet tasted the enmity of the desert and felt the fear of its loneliness; and Grim, who never wastes time arguing with folk who don't intend to be convinced, laughed and got up. ”

“ It seemed to him he had waited an age for some stir of the great grim hush; the life of the town was itself under a spell—so unnaturally, up and down the whole prospect of known and rather ugly objects, the blankness and the silence lasted. Had they ever, he asked himself, the hard-faced houses, which had begun to look livid in the dim dawn, had they ever spoken so little to any need of his spirit? ”

“ All sorts of reflections of this nature passed through my mind—for as I grow older I regret to say that a detestable habit of thinking seems to be getting a hold of me—while I stood and stared at those grim yet fantastic lines of warriors, sleeping, as their saying goes, "upon their spears." ”

“ Grimm himself said, "Our first care was faithfulness to the truth. We strove to penetrate into the wild forests of our ancestors, listening to their noble language, watching their pure customs, recognizing their ancient freedom and hearty faith." ”

“ Grimm, musing gently on the stupidity of mankind in general and the ease with which it is possible to lead even a clever individual into a trap, if the bait appeals to greed, took a car and went up town. ”

“ By the time I got down Grim had already changed into Bedouin dress—stepped simply out of one world into-another. All he does is to stain his eyebrows dark, put on the clothes, and cease to resemble anything on earth except a desert-born Arab. I don’t know how long he was learning to make the transformation, but-no man could learn the trick in twenty years unless he loved the desert and the sinewy men who live in it. ”

“ I met Murder on the way—
He had a mask like Castlereagh—
Very smooth he looked, yet grim;
Seven blood-hounds followed him. ”

“ GRIMES. [Shrugs his shoulders.] As you please, ma'am. But you needn't mind me... I ain't easy to offend. And I'm only trying to understand you.
LAURA. [After a silence.] Mr. Grimes, I had the good fortune to be brought up in a beautiful and luxurious home; but not long ago I began to go down into the slums and see the homes of the people. I saw sights that made me sick with horror.
GRIMES. No doubt, ma'am.
LAURA. I found the people in the grip of a predatory organization that had bound them hand and foot, and was devouring them alive. ”

“ The tales are more romantic, picturesque, extravagant. The giants and monsters are more frequent and fearful. The stories of helping animals—and this is very characteristic—though not entirely absent, are far less numerous than in Grimm. ”

“ Muskets were loaded, jumpers and mittens put on, dogs caught and harnessed, and every preparation made for a sudden chase.
“There, that will do,” cried the captain, hurrying on deck with a brace of pistols and a cutlass in his belt, “six men are enough; let twelve of the remainder follow on foot. Jump on the sledge, Grim and Buzzby; O’Riley, you go too. Have a care, Fred; not too near the front! Now, Meetuck—”
One crack of the long whip terminated the sentence as if with a full stop, and in another moment the sledge was bounding over the snow like a feather at the tails of twelve dogs. ”

“ Also lith was it þer-inne,
So þer brenden cerges inne:33
“Ihesu crist!” wat dame leue,
596
“Hwat is þat lith in vre cleue!
She bids Grim come and see.
Sir34 up grim, and loke wat it menes,
Hwat is þe lith as þou wenes?”
He stirten boþe up to the knaue,
600
For man shal god wille haue,
Vnkeueleden him, and swiþe unbounden,
They find a mark on his shoulder.
And sone anon [upon] him funden,
Als he tirneden of his serk,
604
On his rith shuldre a kyne merk;
A swiþe brith, a swiþe fair:
“Goddot!” quath grim, “þis [is] ure eir
Þat shal [ben] louerd of denemark,
Grim says the lad is to be king. ”

“ What sort of grim adventure was it on which I had embarked? ”

“ DEATH'S MESSENGERS.
GRIMM'S story of "Death's Messengers" was known in Europe as early as the thirteenth century, but does not occur in the Greek or Latin fable-poets.
Grimm's legend, as Englished by Margaret Hunt, is as follows:
"In ancient times a giant was once travelling on a great highway, when suddenly an unknown man sprang up before him, and said, 'Halt, not one step further!' What!' cried the giant, 'a creature whom I can crush between my fingers wants to block my way? Who art thou that thou darest to speak so boldly?' 'I am Death,' answered the other. ”

“ I repeated. “They must be a very reticent set of people.”
“More than that—it has darkened the life of a whole family; that, I think, was my father’s exact expression,” said Rupert eagerly. “I often and often think about it, and wonder what the secret can be.”
As he said the words there suddenly flashed across my mind the remembrance of an almost similar exclamation that I had recently heard. Yes—it was Isabel speaking of the Grim House and its inhabitants. What a strange coincidence it would be if the family Rupert was speaking of should be the same people! ”

“ An attempt has been made here to give a glimpse of folk and fairy tales up to the time of the Grimms, and a view of modern publications in France, Germany, England, and America. The Grimms started a revolution in folk-lore and in their lifetime took part in the collection of many tales of tradition and influenced many others in the same line of work. ”

“ It is compounded of the first half of his No. 4, which drifts off into quite another story about a dove and a soldier, and of the second half of his number No. 2, which opens with a variant of Grimm’s ‘Robber Bridegroom’ (cf. infra, No. 47, notes) :—
The Holy Maid will not marry. The devil creeps in at window. ‘ “Now, thou fair maiden, wilt thou come to me or no?” “No”—this said the maiden—“to a dead one say I it, but to a living one No.” ’ Devil kills first her father, next her mother; lastly threatens herself. ”