There was once upon a time a woman who was a real witch and had twodaughters, one ugly and wicked, and this one she loved because she washer own daughter, and one beautiful and good, and this one she hated,because she was her stepdaughter. The stepdaughter once had a prettyapron, which the other fancied so much that she became envious, andtold her mother that she must and would have that apron. 'Be quiet, mychild,' said the old woman, 'and you shall have it. Your stepsister haslong deserved death; tonight when she is asleep I will come and cut herhead off. Only be careful that you are at the far side of the bed, andpush her well to the front.' It would have been all over with the poorgirl if she had not just then been standing in a corner, and heardeverything. All day long she dared not go out of doors, and when bedtimehad come, the witch's daughter got into bed first, so as to lie at thefar side, but when she was asleep, the other pushed her gently to thefront, and took for herself the place at the back, close by the wall. Inthe night, the old woman came creeping in, she held an axe in her righthand, and felt with her left to see if anyone were lying at the outside,and then she grasped the axe with both hands, and cut her own child'shead off.

When she had gone away, the girl got up and went to her sweetheart, whowas called Roland, and knocked at his door. When he came out, she saidto him: 'Listen, dearest Roland, we must fly in all haste; my stepmotherwanted to kill me, but has struck her own child. When daylight comes,and she sees what she has done, we shall be lost.' 'But,' said Roland,'I counsel you first to take away her magic wand, or we cannot escapeif she pursues us.' The maiden fetched the magic wand, and she took thedead girl's head and dropped three drops of blood on the ground, one infront of the bed, one in the kitchen, and one on the stairs. Then shehurried away with her lover.

When the old witch got up next morning, she called her daughter, andwanted to give her the apron, but she did not come. Then the witchcried: 'Where are you?' 'Here, on the stairs, I am sweeping,' answeredthe first drop of blood. The old woman went out, but saw no one on thestairs, and cried again: 'Where are you?' 'Here in the kitchen, I amwarming myself,' cried the second drop of blood. She went into thekitchen, but found no one. Then she cried again: 'Where are you?' 'Ah,here in the bed, I am sleeping,' cried the third drop of blood. She wentinto the room to the bed. What did she see there? Her own child,whose head she had cut off, bathed in her blood. The witch fell intoa passion, sprang to the window, and as she could look forth quite farinto the world, she perceived her stepdaughter hurrying away with hersweetheart Roland. 'That shall not help you,' cried she, 'even if youhave got a long way off, you shall still not escape me.' She put on hermany-league boots, in which she covered an hour's walk at every step,and it was not long before she overtook them. The girl, however, whenshe saw the old woman striding towards her, changed, with her magicwand, her sweetheart Roland into a lake, and herself into a duckswimming in the middle of it. The witch placed herself on the shore,threw breadcrumbs in, and went to endless trouble to entice the duck;but the duck did not let herself be enticed, and the old woman had togo home at night as she had come. At this the girl and her sweetheartRoland resumed their natural shapes again, and they walked on the wholenight until daybreak. Then the maiden changed herself into a beautifulflower which stood in the midst of a briar hedge, and her sweetheartRoland into a fiddler. It was not long before the witch came striding uptowards them, and said to the musician: 'Dear musician, may I pluck thatbeautiful flower for myself?' 'Oh, yes,' he replied, 'I will play toyou while you do it.' As she was hastily creeping into the hedge and wasjust going to pluck the flower, knowing perfectly well who the flowerwas, he began to play, and whether she would or not, she was forcedto dance, for it was a magical dance. The faster he played, the moreviolent springs was she forced to make, and the thorns tore her clothesfrom her body, and pricked her and wounded her till she bled, and as hedid not stop, she had to dance till she lay dead on the ground.

As they were now set free, Roland said: 'Now I will go to my father andarrange for the wedding.' 'Then in the meantime I will stay here andwait for you,' said the girl, 'and that no one may recognize me, I willchange myself into a red stone landmark.' Then Roland went away, and thegirl stood like a red landmark in the field and waited for her beloved.But when Roland got home, he fell into the snares of another, who sofascinated him that he forgot the maiden. The poor girl remained there along time, but at length, as he did not return at all, she was sad, andchanged herself into a flower, and thought: 'Someone will surely comethis way, and trample me down.'

It befell, however, that a shepherd kept his sheep in the field and sawthe flower, and as it was so pretty, plucked it, took it with him, andlaid it away in his chest. From that time forth, strange things happenedin the shepherd's house. When he arose in the morning, all the work wasalready done, the room was swept, the table and benches cleaned, thefire in the hearth was lighted, and the water was fetched, and at noon,when he came home, the table was laid, and a good dinner served. Hecould not conceive how this came to pass, for he never saw a human beingin his house, and no one could have concealed himself in it. He wascertainly pleased with this good attendance, but still at last he was soafraid that he went to a wise woman and asked for her advice. The wisewoman said: 'There is some enchantment behind it, listen very early somemorning if anything is moving in the room, and if you see anything, nomatter what it is, throw a white cloth over it, and then the magic willbe stopped.'

The shepherd did as she bade him, and next morning just as day dawned,he saw the chest open, and the flower come out. Swiftly hesprang towards it, and threw a white cloth over it. Instantly thetransformation came to an end, and a beautiful girl stood before him,who admitted to him that she had been the flower, and that up to thistime she had attended to his house-keeping. She told him her story,and as she pleased him he asked her if she would marry him, but sheanswered: 'No,' for she wanted to remain faithful to her sweetheartRoland, although he had deserted her. Nevertheless, she promised not togo away, but to continue keeping house for the shepherd.

And now the time drew near when Roland's wedding was to be celebrated,and then, according to an old custom in the country, it was announcedthat all the girls were to be present at it, and sing in honour of thebridal pair. When the faithful maiden heard of this, she grew so sadthat she thought her heart would break, and she would not go thither,but the other girls came and took her. When it came to her turn to sing,she stepped back, until at last she was the only one left, and then shecould not refuse. But when she began her song, and it reached Roland'sears, he sprang up and cried: 'I know the voice, that is the truebride, I will have no other!' Everything he had forgotten, and which hadvanished from his mind, had suddenly come home again to his heart. Thenthe faithful maiden held her wedding with her sweetheart Roland, andgrief came to an end and joy began.