Well Jakob did have a time talking his brother into going along with him now didn't he? You see, Wilhelm didn't believe in such things back then, but in time he did wholeheartedly. Now listen carefully children. The brothers are about to enter a very strange place and meet some very odd people. But then again sometimes you really can't tell by...

First Impressions

Wilhelm and Jakob had left the next morning and had donned their best clothes to make a good impression on the King upon their arrival. They had made good time traveling after they had found a farmer hauling a wagonload of vegetables into town that was willing to give them a lift. Upon arriving at the gates of the town they opted to walk the rest of the way with their bags with the goal of either finding an inn or failing that, going straight to the castle.

At first glance the town looked like any other, with the townsfolk bustling about and the children playing in the streets. However, as Wilhelm and Jakob wandered through the busy streets, it became quite clear there was something rather odd going on.

They came upon a man standing in a paddock shearing one lone black sheep. The pile of wool behind him was twice as tall as he was and several feet wide. The brothers stared as they realized that no matter how many passes the man took with the shears, the wool just seemed to grow right back. They found this puzzling, but not as puzzling as the young boy whom they saw repeatedly jumping over a candle in a brass holder in front of his house. His mother lamented that he should stop, but it was as if he couldn't hear her and just kept jumping. Farther down the street a woman came running out of her house holding a large knife following a small herd of mice that were running over the top of each other and bumping into things. Across the street a man and a woman were scooping up eggs into baskets, crates and pans as fast as they could while a single black hen was laying them nine and ten at a time.

Jake and Will looked at each other and decided it was best to keep moving. Just then a small boy came running up to them dressed in a nightshirt. He yelled at them, "Do you know where your children are? It's ten o'clock you know!" He then ran off and proceeded to knock on doors all the way down the street.

"What is wrong with these people?" asked Will looking very uneasy.

"I'm not sure", replied Jake, "but I'm willing to venture it's connected to those missing girls. Remember I told you there had been talk of some odd goings on."

"Yes, very odd indeed", said Will moving a little closer to his brother's side.

Trying to talk to any of them or get directions to an inn or the castle was just useless. They stopped to speak to a street vendor who was having an argument with a supposed customer and were completely ignored. "Don't you see I don't have any pies right now? You are a simpleton indeed!" They also tried a young girl who came running past them, but all she could say to them was "Have you seen my sheep?" No matter who they tried to talk to they were either ignored or pushed out of the way as people went on with what they were doing as if the brothers didn't exist. The village was in total chaos.

Will leaned closer to his brother and whispered, "I believe we are possibly the only sane people in this town at the moment." He was considering perhaps his agreeing to go along with Jakob's idea might not have been a sound decision after all.

As they rounded a corner a young lad came running straight at them with a small squealing pig tucked under his arm. He was running full tilt and ran right between them, shoving them apart in opposite directions. They both looked back and watched him cut around the corner they just left. Jake and Will looked at each other and shrugged. They resumed their direction, but one just step later, a young woman with brunette curls, wearing a plain brown dress and white apron slammed full force straight into Jakob knocking him backward a few steps. The girl wasn't so lucky. She bounced backward off of Jake, tripped on the hem of her skirt and landed flat on her backside in the dirt with a thump. She looked up at Jakob with fire in her eyes.

"Why don't you look where you're going!" she snapped at him while she tried to get up, "Knocking down women on public streets. What is wrong with you, you great clumsy jackass!!"

Jake, totally confused, pushed his glasses up on his nose from where they'd been dislodged during the impact and stared at her with one eyebrow cocked up in the air and his mouth agape. Will however, being Will, rushed to her rescue and took her arm trying to help her up. It wasn't the best move at the moment. She wrenched her arm from Will's grasp and gave him an extremely offended look.

"Take your hands off me! I'm perfectly capable of getting up on my own, thank you!"

She got up and proceeded to brush the dirt off of her skirts. Jake just stood there staring at her a bit stupidly. Normally he would have apologized wholeheartedly, whether it was his fault or not and moved on, but something about this woman gave him a very unsettling feeling. He found himself quite offended by her remark and he felt his temper slipping.

"I beg your pardon", snapped Jake, "but it was you who ran into me and considering as it was you who ended up in the street, I would venture to say I'm not the clumsy one!"

"Oh!? Well how could I avoid it with you walking blindly right out in front of me?" she snapped back getting closer to his face, "And now you've cost me my best pig! Despite all your fancy clothes, you're obviously an uneducated oaf that pays little attention to anything but yourself!"

Jakob, with his face scrunched up in a huff, leaned forward directly into hers. He brought his hands up as if he were about to strangle her and after working his fingers back and forth for a few seconds as if debating whether he should or not, he dropped his left hand down to his side and stuck the index finger of his other hand directly at the end of her nose. Will was mystified; he had never seen his brother like this before. He thought it best to intervene before this got too far out of hand.

"And you…" Jakob began, practically shouting.

Wilhelm pushed his brother's hand out of the way he stepped between them and quickly grabbed the girl's hand in both of his. He put on his most charming smile and his brown eyes twinkled with his best fake sincerity.

"Oh I'm so sorry Fraulein, We meant no harm", He practically oozed with charm and grace trying to smooth things over, "My brother can be a bit oafish at times."

He turned and gave him a look that said 'say anything and I'll kick you, I swear!', then he turned and continued smiling broadly at the girl. "It seems we've gotten off on the wrong foot. Let's try again, shall we? I'm Wilhelm Grimm, at your service." He bowed at the waist deeply, "and this is my brother Jakob." Jake smiled at her begrudgingly. "We've heard about the King's predicament and we've only come here to see what assistance we can render in the return of his lovely daughter. I am so very sorry about the loss of your pig. Perhaps we can find some way to help you recover it, yes?"

Will was doing a rather good job at it this time and the girl began to calm down a bit. She looked past Will and glared at Jakob as he glared back, biting his lower lip in an effort to keep his mouth shut. She looked back at Will and smiled slightly. 'At least he was trying to be a gentleman' she thought, but when she realized he was still holding her hand, she pulled it away.

"My name is Katherine and I live here with my brother Fredrick. I am pleased to meet you sir." She curtsied politely but a bit stiffly. She still wasn't sure about trusting them, but somehow she thought their names sounded familiar.

"Would you be so kind as to tell us just what seems to be going on here?" asked Will, "If you don't mind my saying so, everyone here seems to be acting a bit strangely."

Kate explained that about mid-summer a few young girls had disappeared in the woods and that anyone who went looking for them also never came back. It was said that it happened in other towns and villages as well. About that time the townsfolk started reciting rhymes for no apparent reason as if they were being made to do so and not unlike some evil spell, they became real. Thankfully most only lasted a short time, but it occurred several times a day making it almost impossible to get any of their daily chores completed.

The explanation got Jakob's mind going. With a very puzzled look on his face, he closed his eyes and concentrated. With his hands out in front of him, fingers pointing, he mentally ran down the list of odd occurrences they had seen on the way through town checking each one off with a flick of his wrist. "Rhymes…rhymes…" he muttered as he thought. "Oh yes, of course. Nursery rhymes!!" he said ecstatically as his eyes popped open, "Will this is fantastic! Can you believe it? The sheep, the mice, the little boy, even the pig! These people are actual living nursery rhymes! See didn't I tell you this trip would be worth it? I don't know why I didn't see it before!" Jake dug out his journal from his shoulder bag and started making notes about everything they had seen.

Will just shook his head and turned once again to Kate, "I don't suppose after all this that you would mind helping us out? Perhaps, as we haven't much money with us, you could point us towards an inexpensive inn for the night? Also, if it's not too much to ask, we will need directions to the castle so that we might proceed with our task.

First she looked at Jakob standing in the middle of the street mumbling to himself and writing quickly in his journal. There was something about him that made her feel rather odd. She was sure she didn't like him, but at the same time she was rather curious about him as well. Then she turned back to Will, who greeted her look with his best winning smile. She wasn't to sure what to make of the tall one, but she was beginning to like Will well enough.

By now she was beginning to realize who they were and their reputation had preceded them. Luckily for them, she had only heard the good parts. She decided it shouldn't be too risky to have them around if they are as good as the stories said they were. "Done and done", she said, "I have an extra room. Why don't you stay the night with me and my brother? You can keep your coins in your pocket a while longer. It will be no trouble and I'm sure Fredrick would be happy to meet you. He's been making me insane trying to come up with ways to save the Princess for days now. Perhaps if he meets the famous Brothers Grimm, who are experts in this sort of thing, he will see that what's in his head is just utter foolishness and forget about it."

Will thought things couldn't have worked out better. Acquiring a free room and no doubt a free meal plus the company of a rather lovely woman? Perfect! Will bowing to her once again said, "Thank you, I believe we shall." He grabbed a satchel in one hand and extended an elbow to Kate. She smiled and took his arm, leading the way.

"Jake!" yelled Will behind him, "Get the bags and hurry up!"

"Um…yes right!" he said looking up at the two of them as they left him standing alone in the street. He tucked away his book and struggled to grab the rest of the bags. As he trotted along to catch up, he noticed the woman talking to his brother and laughing at his bad jokes. There was still something about her that irritated him somehow and for some unknown reason he couldn't identify, he really didn't like her being so close to his brother, No, he really didn't like it one little bit!

Upon arriving at the cottage Kate introduced the brothers to Fredrick. He was overjoyed that they were there to help him rescue the Princess. Kate had to remind him that this might be well out of his league, but he persisted in believing he could be of great help.

After the brothers had settled in, they listened to Fred's story about the day the Princess went missing and Kate recalled the legend of the old witch and told them of that as well.

As Kate and Fredrick went about laying out supper Will leaned over and looked Jake straight in the eye, "An evil witch?" he said sounding quite irritated, "I thought you said this wouldn't be like the other time, that this would be easy. This is just like the other time! Jakob, how could you?"

"Well how was I to know?" he said sounding irritated as well. He was still a bit on edge from the earlier event in the street and was feeling uncomfortable about staying in the house even if it were just for one night, "Look, the difference this time is that we are going in with more information than before. We have experience in this area now. At least we know what we're up against and it should be a cut and dried thing. Besides, these people desperately need our help. What are we supposed to do now? Just say 'Sorry, but we've made a big mistake in coming here and now you're on your own' and leave?"

Will thought for a moment. They were certainly well into this now and they could back out, but it really just wouldn't be right.

"Besides", said Jakob, ribbing his brother a bit, "Aren't you the expert on removing evil witches?"

Will just shook his head and smiled, "Very well, we're onto it then. But the minute it gets too dangerous, we back off, right? I mean, there is a limit."

"Very well", said Jake smiling back.

As they all sat down to supper, plans were laid out and discussed. The planning, discussion and even an argument or two continued well into the night.

Ouch! Four obviously clashing personalies. Isn't this going to be a fun ride. This is just the tip of the iceburg when it comes to the odd goings on in this town. In the next chapter the brothers find out just how really wrong things can go here.

What, no love for the Grimmies? Please read and review. Just so you know, I've turned on anonymous reviews so anyone can post.

Thanks to SakuraKiss234 for putting this on her favorite stories list. *Hugs!!