There was once a widow who had two daughters. One of them was pretty and
industrious, but the other was ugly and idle. Now the mother was much
fonder of the ugly and idle one, because this was her own daughter. She
made the other do all the work, and be the Cinderella of the house. Every
day the poor girl had to sit by a well, in the highway, and spin and spin
till her fingers bled.
One day as she worked the shuttle got marked with her blood, so she
dipped it into the well, to wash the mark off. But it dropped out of her
hand and fell to the bottom. She began to weep, and ran to her mother
and told her of the mishap. But the mother scolded her sharply, and was
so cruel as to say, “As you have let the shuttle fall in, you must fetch
it out again.”
The girl went back to the well, and did not know what to do. In the
sorrow of her heart she jumped into the well, and lost her senses from
fright.
When she awoke and came to herself again, she was in a beautiful meadow
where the sun was shining and many thousands of flowers were growing.
Along this meadow she went, and came to a baker’s oven full of bread, and
the bread cried out,
“Oh, take me out!
Take me out!
Or I shall burn;
I have baked a long time!”
So she went up to it, and took out all the loaves, one after another,
with the bread-shovel. After that she went on till she came to a tree
covered with apples, which called out to her,
“Oh, shake me!
Shake me!
We apples are all ripe!”
So she shook the tree till the apples fell like rain, and went on shaking
till they were all down, and when she had gathered them into a heap, she
went on her way.
At last she came to a little house out of which peeped an old woman. The
old woman had such large teeth that the girl was frightened, and was
about to run away.
But the old woman said, “What are you afraid of, dear child? Stay with
me; if you will do all the work in the house properly, you shall be the
better for it. Only you must take care to make my bed well, and to shake
it thoroughly till the feathers fly—for then there is snow on the earth.
I am Mother Holle.”
The old woman spoke so kindly to her, the girl took courage and agreed
to enter her service. She did everything so well that she pleased her
mistress, and always shook her bed so vigorously that the feathers flew
about like snowflakes. She had a pleasant life with the old woman, never
an angry word, and boiled or roast meat every day.
But after she had stayed some time with Mother Holle, she became sad. At
first she did not know what was the matter with her, but at last she felt
it was homesickness. Although she was many thousand times better off here
than at home, still she had a longing to be there. So one day she said
to the old woman, “I wish I were home, no matter how well off I am down
here, I cannot stay any longer; I must go up again to my own people.”
Mother Holle said, “I am glad that you long for your home, and as you
have served me so truly, I myself will take you up again.” She took her
by the hand, and led her to a large door. The door opened, and just as
the maiden was standing beneath the door-way, a heavy shower of golden
rain fell, and all the gold remained on her, so that she was covered with
it.
“You shall have that because you are so industrious,” said Mother Holle;
and at the same time she gave her back the shuttle which the girl had let
fall into the well. Then the door closed, and the maiden found herself up
above the earth, not far from her mother’s house.
As she went into the yard, the cock standing by the well-side cried,
“Cock-a-doodle-doo!
Your golden girl’s come back to you!”
So she went in to her mother. And because she arrived covered with gold,
her mother and sister were glad to have her back.
The girl told all that had happened to her. As soon as the mother heard
how she had come by so much gold, she was very anxious that the same good
luck should come to the ugly and lazy daughter. So she made _her_ seat
herself by the well and spin. But the idle girl did not work. To stain
the spindle with blood, she stuck her hand into a thorn bush and pricked
her finger. Then she threw the shuttle into the well, and jumped in after
it.
She came, like the other, to the beautiful meadow and walked along the
very same path. When she came to the oven, the bread again cried,
“Oh, take me out!
Take me out!
Or I shall burn;
I have baked a long time!”
But the lazy thing answered, “As if I had any wish to make myself dirty?”
and on she went. Soon she came to the apple-tree, which cried,
“Oh, shake me!
Shake me!
We apples are all ripe!”
But she answered, “I like that! One of you might fall on my head,” and so
went on.
When she came to Mother Holle’s house, she was not afraid, for she had
already heard of her big teeth, and she hired herself to her immediately.
The first day she forced herself to work diligently, and obeyed Mother
Holle when she told her to do anything, for she was thinking of all the
gold she would give her. But on the second day she began to be lazy, and
on the third day still more so, and then she would not get up in the
morning at all.
Neither did she make Mother Holle’s bed as she ought, and did not shake
it so as to make the feathers fly up. Mother Holle was soon tired of
this, and gave her notice to leave. The lazy girl was willing enough
to go, and thought that now the golden rain would come. Mother Holle
led her, too, to the great door; but while she was standing beneath it,
instead of the gold a big kettle of black pitch was emptied over her.
“That is the reward of your service,” said Mother Holle, and shut the
door.
So the lazy girl went home; but she was quite covered with pitch, and the
cock by the well-side, as soon as he saw her, cried out,
“Cock-a-doodle-doo!
Your pitchy girl’s come back to you!”
And the pitch stuck fast to her, and could not be got off as long as she
lived.
—FOLK TALE