"The Three Little Men in the Wood" or "The Three Little Gnomes in the Forest" () is a German fairy tale collected in 1812 by the Brothers Grimm in Grimm's Fairy Tales (KHM 13). Andrew Lang included it in The Red Fairy Book (1890) as "The Three Dwarfs," and a version of the tale appears in A Book of Dwarfs (1964) by Ruth Manning-Sanders. It is Aarne-Thompson type 403B ("The Black and the White Bride"), with an episode of type 480 ("The Kind and the Unkind Girls"). Origin The tale was published by the Brothers Grimm in the first edition of Kinder- und Hausmärchen in 1812. Their source was Wilhelm Grimm's friend and future wife Dortchen Wild (1795–1867). The second edition was expanded with material provided by the story teller Dorothea Viehmann (1755–1815) and by Amalie Hassenpflug (1800–1871). Synopsis A woman offers her hand in marriage to a widower: in return, her daughter would wash and drink water, and the man's daughter would wash with milk and drink wine. After performing a test to determine his choice, he marries the woman, who keeps her word. However, by the second day of marriage, both daughters bathe and wash with water. By the third, the man's daughter washes with and drinks water, while the woman's daughter drinks wine and washes with milk. It remains this way afterwards, because the woman secretly hates her step-daughter due to her being prettier than her own. One day during winter, the step-mother makes her step-daughter put on a paper dress and go out to find strawberries. The girl is horrified by this, as no fruit can be found in winter and the dress will not protect her from the cold. The step-mother forces her to go out, forbidding her return until strawberries are brought. In reality, this is a plot to get rid of the girl due to the step-mother's immense hatred of her. The girl soon finds a small house with three little men inside. She shows great kindness towards them as a houseguest, offers them her coarse food given by the step-mother, and cleans house for them also. The men, feeling sorry for her circumstances, decide to give her three gifts: she will grow prettier every day, gold will fall from her mouth at every word, and she will one day marry a king. The girl eventually finds strawberries near the back of their