Grimm Reviews – “Simeli Mountain”

My introductory post.  

“Simeli Mountain”

There were two brothers, one rich the other poor. The poor one tried to make a living selling corn, but didn’t have much success.

One day, he was in the forest with a wheelbarrow when he saw a bare mountain he had never seen before. As he watched it, he saw a dozen great, wild men go to the mountain and cry, “Semsi Mountain, Semsi Mountain, open.” The mountain opened, and the men went inside. When they came out, they carried great sacks, and said, “Semsi Mountain, Semsi Mountain, shut thyself,” and the mountain closed.

Once they were out of sight, the poor brother went to the mountain and called for it to open, and it did. He went inside and saw piles of gold, silver, and jewels. Not sure what to do, the poor brother just filled his pockets with gold. He closed the mountain and went home.

He and his family lived comfortably for some time, but when the money ran out he went to his rich brother and borrowed a bushel container. He went back to the mountain and filled it with the least valuable things, and lived well again.

The rich brother grew curious, and jealous, of where his brother’s money came from. So the next time his brother borrowed the container, the rich brother put some pitch on the bottom. When his brother returned it, there was some money stuck in the pitch. The rich brother threatened the poor brother unless he told him what he was doing. So the poor brother took the rich one to the mountain.

The rich brother went to the mountain and opened it. He went in and filled his pockets with gems. But then he forgot the name of the mountain, calling it Semeli, and it wouldn’t open to let him out. Then the great, wild men returned, and killed him because they thought he was the one who had been stealing from them.

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Is this some version of “Open Sesame” from “Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves?”

So the poor brother, apparently, didn’t know how to manage his money. And he never thought to buy himself something to carry away the riches, he always had to borrow one from his brother?  What happened to his wheelbarrow?

These wild men must have been good accountants if they could tell a pocket full of gold had been taken from a pile.