Once upon a time there was a man and a woman. They had one daughter;
and when the child was a year old, her mother died. The man, poor
creature, was now left alone with this little girl. No wonder,
therefore, that he, like so many other men in a similar plight, began
to think of taking a second wife, and duly married again. By this
second wife also he had a daughter. The two girls were nearly of the
same age, there being not much more than two years’ difference between
them. They grew up together in the house; but it may be imagined which
of them the woman made the most of; for, whilst she gave her own
daughter everything that was nice, and let her have her way both in
good and evil, she could not bear the sight of the elder child, her
step-daughter, but struck and trounced her both early and late. The
poor girl was made to do all the worst work: to clean the cowhouses in
winter; to crush every grain of corn that was eaten in the house; to
pick the wool, and the like. In summer, she had to go into the fields
to milk the cows both morning and evening, often a long way up the
mountains, without anything to eat.
The step-mother was perpetually gnawed with envy of the elder of the
girls because she was as beautiful as the finest summer apple, red and
white like blood upon snow; whilst the younger was ugly in appearance
and disgusted every man. The wicked woman wanted, therefore, to spoil
her step-daughter’s pretty face; and with this intention, compelled
her to do all the worst and hardest work both at home and in the
fields; but in spite of it all, she grew yet more beautiful, while
her half-sister became pale and sickly from sitting indoors and never
stirring out to lend a helping hand to any one.
The woman now resolved to make her step-daughter so thin by starvation
that she could not fail to lose her beauty, and come to be as
insignificant as her own daughter. She refused to give her any supper,
so that the poor girl had to go into the fields to do the milking
without having had anything to eat the previous evening, and without
breakfast that day. With a heavy heart and a hungry stomach, she now
left home with the milk-pail on her back, not knowing how to get
anything to eat. While she went along crying, and so exhausted that she
was ready to fall to the ground, she saw a hill straight before her
open, and a table standing there decked with meat and drink. She asked
God to guide her, went in, and refreshed herself with the meat and
drink. Then she thanked God for the meal, and went on joyfully in quest
of the cattle. The hill opened for her in the same place every morning
and evening, and by this means she kept so strong and healthy that her
step-mother’s scheme quite failed.
The younger sister now asked how it was that she herself, who had good
things every day and all she wanted, did yet not thrive so well as the
other, who was always working and got little to eat? But the elder
sister would not at first answer her questions; she simply said that
she had taken nothing from her or her mother. In the end, however, she
told her that she got meat and drink in the hill. When the younger
sister heard this, she immediately wanted to go into the fields and
milk the cows, that she might see what took place in the hill, and she
besought her mother’s permission to go the very next day. This the
mother granted at once, though she wondered that her daughter should
conceive such a fancy. Accordingly, the girl went. The hill was open.
She sat down, ate and drank of the good things, and never bethought
herself how they came thither; nor, when she had finished eating, did
she think of asking God to be with her or of thanking Him. This she was
not accustomed to do. In the evening, she would not eat at home, so
that she might eat the more when she went again on to the hill. But the
second time, when she was come thither, the hill was shut for her; so
she had for once to experience what it was to go hungry into the fields
and look after the cows. She had to go high up the mountains and search
a long time before she found the animals; and she returned home in the
evening angry, and said that she would not make many such excursions.
And so the elder sister had again to go in the old way; but for her the
hill was never closed. She went without shoes and dressed in rags, like
the most miserable of beggars; and the worse she looked, the better
pleased was the step-mother.
One day, when the poor girl came to the hill, her rags were ready
to fall off her, so that she had good cause to cry and grieve over
herself. How great, then, was her joy when she saw some beautiful
clothes held towards her within the hill, and heard a voice say that
they were for her. She hastened to dress herself in these new clothes,
and sat down in the field, the better to examine them. But she had no
sooner seated herself, than a grand king’s son, with a large suite of
attendants, came riding towards her, and entered into conversation
with the fair maid. The king’s son liked her so much that he fell in
love with her immediately and asked whom she was. The girl replied to
his declaration of love, that if he did not change his mind within a
year, then he might come back to her parents and ask their consent; she
herself would not say him ‘Nay.’ On this understanding they separated.
When she reached home again, the girl said not a word about this
meeting. Her fine clothes were taken from her by her half-sister, and
again she had to go to the fields in her rags, as before.
When the year had gone by, the king’s son came riding into the farmyard
as a suitor. He shone with gold from top to toe, and likewise the man
who accompanied him. He explained his mission, and asked for the hand
of the farm-people’s daughter. They consented to the match; but the
woman went away and locked up her step-daughter in the strong-room,
made her own daughter array herself in the clothes which the king’s son
had seen on the elder of the girls, and brought her before him. The
prince said that he had never seen this girl before, and had not come
to court her. The mother replied that the girl was the same, but that
she had been so disfigured by a severe illness as to be unrecognisable.
When the king’s son heard this, his blood rushed to his heart, and he
begged her to go apart alone with him. The girl followed behind him;
but no sooner were they out of the house, than she fell down and burst
asunder.
Then the king’s son re-entered the house. He perceived that the woman
had deceived him, and he threatened to kill them all unless they
instantly gave him the real girl whom he had come to court. They could
go out and see the consequence of having already lied to him.
The man now fetched his elder daughter, and the king’s son was joyful
when he saw her. He gave her the choicest clothes and presents; then he
set her upon a fine horse; and they rode away home to his kingdom. When
the king his father died, the prince himself became king, and the poor
girl his queen, and they lived happy together all the rest of their
days.
As for the wicked step-mother, she died of grief and vexation.