Once upon a time there was a widow who had two daughters; one of themwas beautiful and industrious, the other ugly and lazy. The mother,however, loved the ugly and lazy one best, because she was her owndaughter, and so the other, who was only her stepdaughter, was madeto do all the work of the house, and was quite the Cinderella of thefamily. Her stepmother sent her out every day to sit by the well inthe high road, there to spin until she made her fingers bleed. Now itchanced one day that some blood fell on to the spindle, and as the girlstopped over the well to wash it off, the spindle suddenly sprang outof her hand and fell into the well. She ran home crying to tell of hermisfortune, but her stepmother spoke harshly to her, and after givingher a violent scolding, said unkindly, 'As you have let the spindle fallinto the well you may go yourself and fetch it out.'

The girl went back to the well not knowing what to do, and at last inher distress she jumped into the water after the spindle.

She remembered nothing more until she awoke and found herself in abeautiful meadow, full of sunshine, and with countless flowers bloomingin every direction.

She walked over the meadow, and presently she came upon a baker's ovenfull of bread, and the loaves cried out to her, 'Take us out, take usout, or alas! we shall be burnt to a cinder; we were baked through longago.' So she took the bread-shovel and drew them all out.

She went on a little farther, till she came to a tree full of apples.'Shake me, shake me, I pray,' cried the tree; 'my apples, one and all,are ripe.' So she shook the tree, and the apples came falling down uponher like rain; but she continued shaking until there was not a singleapple left upon it. Then she carefully gathered the apples together in aheap and walked on again.

The next thing she came to was a little house, and there she saw an oldwoman looking out, with such large teeth, that she was terrified, andturned to run away. But the old woman called after her, 'What are youafraid of, dear child? Stay with me; if you will do the work of my houseproperly for me, I will make you very happy. You must be very careful,however, to make my bed in the right way, for I wish you always to shakeit thoroughly, so that the feathers fly about; then they say, down therein the world, that it is snowing; for I am Mother Holle.' The old womanspoke so kindly, that the girl summoned up courage and agreed to enterinto her service.

She took care to do everything according to the old woman's bidding andevery time she made the bed she shook it with all her might, so that thefeathers flew about like so many snowflakes. The old woman was as goodas her word: she never spoke angrily to her, and gave her roast andboiled meats every day.

So she stayed on with Mother Holle for some time, and then she beganto grow unhappy. She could not at first tell why she felt sad, but shebecame conscious at last of great longing to go home; then she knew shewas homesick, although she was a thousand times better off with MotherHolle than with her mother and sister. After waiting awhile, she wentto Mother Holle and said, 'I am so homesick, that I cannot stay withyou any longer, for although I am so happy here, I must return to my ownpeople.'

Then Mother Holle said, 'I am pleased that you should want to go backto your own people, and as you have served me so well and faithfully, Iwill take you home myself.'

Thereupon she led the girl by the hand up to a broad gateway. The gatewas opened, and as the girl passed through, a shower of gold fell uponher, and the gold clung to her, so that she was covered with it fromhead to foot.

'That is a reward for your industry,' said Mother Holle, and as shespoke she handed her the spindle which she had dropped into the well.

The gate was then closed, and the girl found herself back in the oldworld close to her mother's house. As she entered the courtyard, thecock who was perched on the well, called out:

'Cock-a-doodle-doo! Your golden daughter's come back to you.'

Then she went in to her mother and sister, and as she was so richlycovered with gold, they gave her a warm welcome. She related to themall that had happened, and when the mother heard how she had come by hergreat riches, she thought she should like her ugly, lazy daughter to goand try her fortune. So she made the sister go and sit by the welland spin, and the girl pricked her finger and thrust her hand into athorn-bush, so that she might drop some blood on to the spindle; thenshe threw it into the well, and jumped in herself.

Like her sister she awoke in the beautiful meadow, and walked over ittill she came to the oven. 'Take us out, take us out, or alas! we shallbe burnt to a cinder; we were baked through long ago,' cried the loavesas before. But the lazy girl answered, 'Do you think I am going to dirtymy hands for you?' and walked on.

Presently she came to the apple-tree. 'Shake me, shake me, I pray; myapples, one and all, are ripe,' it cried. But she only answered, 'A nicething to ask me to do, one of the apples might fall on my head,' andpassed on.

At last she came to Mother Holle's house, and as she had heard all aboutthe large teeth from her sister, she was not afraid of them, and engagedherself without delay to the old woman.

The first day she was very obedient and industrious, and exerted herselfto please Mother Holle, for she thought of the gold she should get inreturn. The next day, however, she began to dawdle over her work, andthe third day she was more idle still; then she began to lie in bed inthe mornings and refused to get up. Worse still, she neglected tomake the old woman's bed properly, and forgot to shake it so that thefeathers might fly about. So Mother Holle very soon got tired of her,and told her she might go. The lazy girl was delighted at this, andthought to herself, 'The gold will soon be mine.' Mother Holle led her,as she had led her sister, to the broad gateway; but as she was passingthrough, instead of the shower of gold, a great bucketful of pitch camepouring over her.

'That is in return for your services,' said the old woman, and she shutthe gate.

So the lazy girl had to go home covered with pitch, and the cock on thewell called out as she saw her:

'Cock-a-doodle-doo! Your dirty daughter's come back to you.'

But, try what she would, she could not get the pitch off and it stuck toher as long as she lived.