The Handless Madien

The Handless Madien is a German fairy tale collected by, not written by the Brothers Grimm.

While it is a fairy tale it is not a bedtime story for children because it begins with a dismemberment of the psyche that haunts the entire story.

This was the first story I read in my early days of hunting for stories that left me puzzling over it for years..... If it captures your imagination too, I recommend listening to the afterword for more clues to the metaphors and deeper meanings.