Grimm's Household Tales

There was once a widow who had two daughters. One of them was pretty and industrious, while the other was ugly and idle. But she was much fonder of the ugly and idle one, because she was her own daughter, and the other, who was her stepdaughter, was obliged to do all the work and be the Cinderella of the house. Every day the poor girl had to sit by a well beside the highway and spin and spin until her fingers bled.

Now it happened that one day the shuttle was marked with her blood, so she dipped it in the well to wash the mark off, but it dropped out of her hand and fell to the bottom. She began to weep, and she ran to her stepmother and told her of the mishap. But the stepmother scolded her sharply and was so merciless as to say, “Since you have let the shuttle fall in, you must fetch it out again.”

So the girl went back to the well and did not know what to do, and in the sorrow of her heart she jumped into the well to get the shuttle. She lost her senses, and when she awoke and came to herself again, she was in a lovely meadow where the sun was shining and many thousands of flowers were growing. Along this meadow she went, and at last she came to a baker’s oven full of bread, and the bread cried out, “Oh, take me out! Take me out, or I will burn! I have been baked for 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 until 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 until the apples fell like rain, and she went on shaking until 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 an old woman peeped. But the old woman had such large teeth that the girl was frightened and was about to run away.

But the old woman called out to her, “What are you afraid of, dear child? Stay with me. If you do all the work in the house properly, you will be the better for it. Only you must take care to make my bed well and shake it thoroughly until the feathers fly, for then there is snow on the earth. I am Mother Holle.”

As the old woman spoke so kindly to her, the girl took courage and agreed to enter her service. She attended to everything to her mistress’s satisfaction and always shook her bed so vigorously that the feathers flew about like snowflakes. So she had a pleasant life with her, with never an angry word and boiled or roasted meat every day.

She stayed some time with Mother Holle, and then she became sad. At first she did not know what was the matter with her, but at length she found that it was homesickness. Although she was many thousand times better off here than at home, she still had a longing to be there. At last she said to the old woman, “I long for home, and however 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 pleased that you long for your home again, and as you have served me so faithfully, I myself will take you up again.” Then she took her by the hand and led her to a large door. The door was opened, and just as the girl was standing beneath the doorway, a heavy shower of golden rain fell, and all the gold stuck to her, so that she was completely covered with it.

“You shall have that because you have been so industrious,” said Mother Holle, and at the same time she gave her back the shuttle that she had let fall into the well. Then the door closed, and the girl found herself up above on the earth, not far from her mother’s house.

And as she went into the yard, the rooster was standing by the well and cried:

“Cock-a-doodle-doo! Your golden girl’s come back to you!”

So she went in to her mother, and as she arrived covered with gold, she was well received by both her mother and her sister.

The girl told all that had happened to her, and as soon as the mother heard how she had come by so much wealth, she was very anxious to obtain the same good luck for her ugly and lazy daughter. The daughter had to seat herself by the well and spin, and in order that her shuttle might be stained with blood, she stuck her hand into a thorn bush and pricked her finger. Then she threw her shuttle into the well and jumped in after it.

Like the other girl, she came to the beautiful meadow and walked along the very same path. When she got to the oven, the bread again cried, “Oh, take me out! Take me out, or I will burn! I have been baked for a long time!” But the lazy girl 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 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 out 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 that Mother Holle would give her. But on the second day she began to be lazy, and on the third day she was lazier still, and then she would not get up in the morning at all. She did not make Mother Holle’s bed as she ought to, either, and did not shake it so as to make the feathers fly up. Mother Holle soon grew 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 to the great door too, but while she was standing beneath it, a big kettleful of pitch was emptied over her instead of the gold. “That is the reward for your service,” said Mother Holle, and she shut the door.

So the lazy girl went home, but she was quite covered with pitch, and the rooster by the well, as soon as he saw her, cried out:

“Cock-a-doodle-doo! Your pitchy girl’s come back to you!”

But the pitch stuck fast to her and could not be gotten off as long as she lived.