74 lines
4.8 KiB
Text
74 lines
4.8 KiB
Text
The Three Spinners
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There was once a girl who was idle and would not spin, and let her
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mother say what she would, she could not bring her to it. At last the
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mother was once so overcome with anger and impatience, that she beat
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her, on which the girl began to weep loudly. Now at this very moment
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the Queen drove by, and when she heard the weeping she stopped her
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carriage, went into the house and asked the mother why she was beating
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her daughter so that the cries could be heard out on the road? Then the
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woman was ashamed to reveal the laziness of her daughter and said, “I
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cannot get her to leave off spinning. She insists on spinning for ever
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and ever, and I am poor, and cannot procure the flax.” Then answered
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the Queen, “There is nothing that I like better to hear than spinning,
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and I am never happier than when the wheels are humming. Let me have
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your daughter with me in the palace. I have flax enough, and there she
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shall spin as much as she likes.” The mother was heartily satisfied
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with this, and the Queen took the girl with her. When they had arrived
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at the palace, she led her up into three rooms which were filled from
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the bottom to the top with the finest flax. “Now spin me this flax,”
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said she, “and when thou hast done it, thou shalt have my eldest son
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for a husband, even if thou art poor. I care not for that, thy
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indefatigable industry is dowry enough.” The girl was secretly
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terrified, for she could not have spun the flax, no, not if she had
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lived till she was three hundred years old, and had sat at it every day
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from morning till night. When therefore she was alone, she began to
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weep, and sat thus for three days without moving a finger. On the third
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day came the Queen, and when she saw that nothing had been spun yet,
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she was surprised; but the girl excused herself by saying that she had
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not been able to begin because of her great distress at leaving her
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mother’s house. The queen was satisfied with this, but said when she
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was going away, “To-morrow thou must begin to work.”
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When the girl was alone again, she did not know what to do, and in her
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distress went to the window. Then she saw three women coming towards
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her, the first of whom had a broad flat foot, the second had such a
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great underlip that it hung down over her chin, and the third had a
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broad thumb. They remained standing before the window, looked up, and
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asked the girl what was amiss with her? She complained of her trouble,
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and then they offered her their help and said, “If thou wilt invite us
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to the wedding, not be ashamed of us, and wilt call us thine aunts, and
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likewise wilt place us at thy table, we will spin up the flax for thee,
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and that in a very short time.” “With all my heart,” she replied, “do
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but come in and begin the work at once.” Then she let in the three
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strange women, and cleared a place in the first room, where they seated
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themselves and began their spinning. The one drew the thread and trod
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the wheel, the other wetted the thread, the third twisted it, and
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struck the table with her finger, and as often as she struck it, a
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skein of thread fell to the ground that was spun in the finest manner
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possible. The girl concealed the three spinners from the Queen, and
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showed her whenever she came the great quantity of spun thread, until
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the latter could not praise her enough. When the first room was empty
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she went to the second, and at last to the third, and that too was
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quickly cleared. Then the three women took leave and said to the girl,
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“Do not forget what thou hast promised us,—it will make thy fortune.”
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When the maiden showed the Queen the empty rooms, and the great heap of
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yarn, she gave orders for the wedding, and the bridegroom rejoiced that
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he was to have such a clever and industrious wife, and praised her
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mightily. “I have three aunts,” said the girl, “and as they have been
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very kind to me, I should not like to forget them in my good fortune;
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allow me to invite them to the wedding, and let them sit with us at
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table.” The Queen and the bridegroom said, “Why should we not allow
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that?” Therefore when the feast began, the three women entered in
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strange apparel, and the bride said, “Welcome, dear aunts.” “Ah,” said
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the bridegroom, “how comest thou by these odious friends?” Thereupon he
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went to the one with the broad flat foot, and said, “How do you come by
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such a broad foot?” “By treading,” she answered, “by treading.” Then
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the bridegroom went to the second, and said, “How do you come by your
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falling lip?” “By licking,” she answered, “by licking.” Then he asked
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the third, “How do you come by your broad thumb?” “By twisting the
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thread,” she answered, “by twisting the thread.” On this the King’s son
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was alarmed and said, “Neither now nor ever shall my beautiful bride
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touch a spinning-wheel.” And thus she got rid of the hateful
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flax-spinning.
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