“I wish that when she cries her tears may turn to pearls.”
“I wish,” said the second, “that when she laughs the most delicately
perfumed roses may fall from her lips.”
“And I,” said the third, “wish that when she touches water golden fish
spring up in it.”
“So shall it be,” said the old man, and he and his companions vanished.
When the girl saw that, she gave thanks to Heaven, and ran joyfully into
the house. Hardly had she entered when her step-mother met her and gave
her a slap on the face, saying—
“Where are you running to?”
The poor girl began to cry, but behold! instead of tears pearls fell
from her eyes. The step-mother forgot her rage, and set herself to
gather them up as quickly as possible. The girl could not help laughing
at the sight, and from her lips there fell roses of such a delightful
scent that the step-mother was beside herself with pleasure. After that
the girl, wishing to preserve the flowers she had plucked in the garden,
poured some water into a glass: as soon as she touched the water with
her finger, it was filled with beautiful golden fish.
From that time the same things never failed to happen. The girl’s tears
turned to pearls, when she laughed roses, which did not die, fell from
her lips; and water which she only touched with her little finger became
filled with golden fish.
The step-mother became better disposed towards her, and by little and
little learned from her the secret of how she had obtained these gifts.
On the following Sunday she sent her own daughter into the garden to
pluck flowers as if for the altar. Hardly had the girl gathered some
roses, when, lifting up her eyes, she saw the three young men sitting on
a grassy bank, beautiful, and shining like the sun, and by them was the
old man, clad in white, who asked her for alms. When she saw the young
men, the girl pretended to be afraid, but when the old man spoke to her,
she ran to him, took out of her pocket a gold piece, looked hard at it,
and then gave it to him, but evidently very much against her will. The
old man put the money in his bag, and said to the three others—
“You see this girl who is her mother’s spoilt child? She is
bad-tempered, wicked, and is hard-hearted as regards the poor. We know
very well why she has been so charitable, for the first time in her
life, to-day. Tell me then what you wish for her.”