ONCE on a time there was a poor man who lived in a hut far away in the
wood, and got his living by shooting. He had an only daughter who was
very pretty, and as she had lost her mother when she was a child, and
was now half grown up, she said she would go out into the world and earn
her bread.
“Well, lassie!” said the father, “true enough you have learnt nothing
here but how to pluck birds and roast them, but still you may as well
try to earn your bread.”
So the girl went off to seek a place, and when she had gone a little
while, she came to a palace. There she stayed and got a place, and the
queen liked her so well, that all the other maids got envious of her. So
they made up their minds to tell the queen how the lassie said she was
good to spin a pound of flax in four and twenty hours, for you must know
the queen was a great housewife, and thought much of good work.
“Have you said this? then you shall do it,” said the queen; “but you may
have a little longer time if you choose.”
Now, the poor lassie dared not say she had never spun in all her life,
but she only begged for a room to herself. That she got, and the wheel
and the flax were brought up to her. There she sat sad and weeping, and
knew not how to help herself. She pulled the wheel this way and that,
and twisted and turned it about, but she made a poor hand of it, for she
had never even seen a spinning-wheel in her life.
But all at once, as she sat there, in came an old woman to her.
“What ails you child?” she said.
“Ah!” said the lassie, with a deep sigh, “it’s no good to tell you, for
you’ll never be able to help me.”
“Who knows?” said the old wife. “May be I know how to help you after
all.”
Well, thought the lassie to herself, I may as well tell her, and so she
told her how her fellow-servants had given out that she was good to spin
a pound of flax in four and twenty hours.
“And here am I, wretch that I am, shut up to spin all that heap in a day
and a night, when I have never even seen a spinning-wheel in all my born
days.”
“Well, never mind, child,” said the old woman, “if you’ll call me Aunt
on the happiest day of your life, I’ll spin this flax for you, and so
you may just go away and lie down to sleep.”
Yes the lassie was willing enough, and off she went and lay down to
sleep.
Next morning when she awoke, there lay all the flax spun on the table,
and that so clean and fine, no one had ever seen such even and pretty
yarn. The queen was very glad to get such nice yarn, and she set greater
store by the lassie than ever. But the rest were still more envious, and
agreed to tell the queen how the lassie had said she was good to weave
the yarn she had spun in four and twenty hours. So the queen said again,
as she had said it she must do it; but if she couldn’t quite finish it
in four and twenty hours, she wouldn’t be too hard upon her, she might
have a little more time. This time, too, the lassie dared not say No,
but begged for a room to herself, and then she would try. There she sat
again, sobbing and crying, and not knowing which way to turn, when
another old woman came in and asked,—
“What ails you, child?”
At first the lassie wouldn’t say, but at last she told her the whole
story of her grief.
“Well, well!” said the old wife, “never mind. If you’ll call me Aunt on
the happiest day of your life, I’ll weave this yarn for you, and so you
may just be off, and lie down to sleep.”
Yes, the lassie was willing enough; so she went away and lay down to
sleep. When she awoke, there lay the piece of linen on the table, woven
so neat and close, no woof could be better. So the lassie took the piece
and ran down to the queen, who was very glad to get such beautiful
linen, and set greater store than ever by the lassie. But as for the
others, they grew still more bitter against her, and thought of nothing
but how to find out something to tell about her.
At last they told the queen the lassie had said she was good to make up
the piece of linen into shirts in four and twenty hours. Well, all
happened as before; the lassie dared not say she couldn’t sew; so she
was shut up again in a room by herself, and there she sat in tears and
grief. But then another old wife came, who said she would sew the shirts
for her if she would call her Aunt on the happiest day of her life. The
lassie was only too glad to do this, and then she did as the old wife
told her, and went and lay down to sleep.
Next morning when she woke she found the piece of linen made up into
shirts, which lay on the table—and such beautiful work no one had ever
set eyes on; and more than that, the shirts were all marked and ready
for wear. So when the queen saw the work, she was so glad at the way in
which it was sewn, that she clapped her hands and said,—
“Such sewing I never had, nor even saw in all my born days;” and after
that she was as fond of the lassie as of her own children; and she said
to her,—
“Now, if you like to have the Prince for your husband, you shall have
him; for you will never need to hire workwomen. You can sew, and spin,
and weave all yourself.”
So as the lassie was pretty, and the Prince was glad to have her, the
wedding soon came on. But just as the Prince was going to sit down with
the bride to the bridal feast, in came an ugly old hag with a long
nose—I’m sure it was three ells long.