Odds And Ends

There was once on a time a maiden who was pretty, but idle and
negligent. When she had to spin she was so out of temper that if there
was a little knot in the flax, she at once pulled out a whole heap of
it, and strewed it about on the ground beside her. Now she had a
servant who was industrious, and gathered together the bits of flax
which were thrown away, cleaned them, span them fine, and had a
beautiful gown made out of them for herself. A young man had wooed the
lazy girl, and the wedding was to take place. On the eve of the
wedding, the industrious one was dancing merrily about in her pretty
dress, and the bride said,--

"Ah, how that girl does jump about, dressed in my odds and ends."

The bridegroom heard that, and asked the bride what she meant by it?
Then she told him that the girl was wearing a dress make of the flax
which she had thrown away. When the bridegroom heard that, and saw how
idle she was, and how industrious the poor girl was, he gave her up and
went to the other, and chose her as his wife.
