Reading Notes: The Brothers Grimm (Ashliman), Part B

Today, I finished my reading in our European unit with a few more stories from Dan Ashliman's adaptation of the Grimm Brothers' Children's and Household Tales. Unlike yesterday's reading, this section featured many more unfamiliar stories, at least by their titles. However, in reading The Hare and the Hedgehog and The Peasant and the Devil, I found they mirrored tales like The Tortoise and the Hare and Tops and Bottoms by Janet Stevens. 

Tops and Bottoms by Janet Stevens 

The Peasant and the Devil
In this story, a peasant comes across a devil as he is working the fields. The peasant suspects that the devil holds great riches, and seeks to make a deal with him. The devil wants "fruits of the earth" and promises the peasant his treasures in exchange for half of the growth of the field for two years.
In the first year, the peasant plants turnips, giving the devil only the top leafy half. The devil is angry that he has been outsmarted, and demands the bottom half of the crop in the next year. Thus, the peasant plants wheat, leaving the devil only roots. Ultimately, the peasant inherits the devil's treasure, and the devil is thwarted.

In Tops and Bottoms, the peasant is represented by a poor by clever hare, and the devil by a lazy bear. The bear agrees to let the hare have a portion of his crops, but only if the hare and his family do all of the work of planting and harvesting. In the first harvest, the hare plants carrots, giving the bear the tops. This trickery goes on until the bear is poor and hungry and the rabbit has stockpiled enough food that his family can survive.

If I were to rewrite the story of The Peasant and the Devil, I would love to put an animal twist on it like the one above, or possible make it a more realistic tale of human dishonesty.