She gave her her morning's work to do, and said to her:
"We are fairies. I must go from home, but your work is in the kitchen;
smash the pitcher, break all the plates, pound the children, give
them breakfast (by themselves), dirty their faces, and rumple their
hair." [50]
While she was at breakfast with the children, a little dog comes to
her and says:
"Tchau, tchau, tchow; I too, I want something."
"Be off from here, silly little dog; I will give you a kick."
But the dog did not go away; and at last she gave him something to
eat--a little, not much.
"And now," says he, "I will tell you what the mistress has told
you to do. She told you to sweep the kitchen, to fill the pitcher,
and to wash all the plates, and that if it is all well done she will
give you the choice of a sack of charcoal or of a bag of gold; of a
beautiful star on your forehead, or of a donkey's tail hanging from
it. You must answer, 'A sack of charcoal and a donkey's tail.'"
The mistress comes. The new servant had done all the work, and she
was very well satisfied with her. So she said to her:
"Choose which you would like, a sack of charcoal or a bag of gold?"
"A sack of charcoal is the same to me."
"A star for your forehead, or a donkey's tail?"
"A donkey's tail would be the same to me."
Then she gives her a bag of gold, and a beautiful star on her
forehead. [51] Then the servant goes home. She was so pretty with
this star, and this bag of gold on her shoulders, the whole family
was astonished at her. The eldest daughter says to her mother:
"Mother, I will go and be a servant too."