Reading Notes: The Straw, the Coal, and the Bean

-there was a poor woman who decided to build a fire on her hearth to cook some beans
-a piece of straw fell from the bundle, a bean from the pan, and a piece of coal from the fire
-each tells the other how they were almost destroyed by the old woman
-to escape her, they decide to run away to a foreign country
-on their journey, they come to a brook which they must cross
-the straw lays itself out to form a bridge
-the coal starts to cross but becomes scared half way and stops
-the straw burns because of this and the two fall in the brook and are swept away
-the bean seeing this, laughed so hard it burst
-a tailor happened to be passing and because he had compassion for the bean, he sewed the bean back together
-he only had black thread though
-this is why every bean has a black seam

Black-eyed Peas. Source: Wikimedia Commons

"The Straw, the Coal, and the Bean" from Fairy Tales by the Brothers Grimm, an audiobook recording available at LibriVox based on a Project Gutenberg publication.