72 lines
3.7 KiB
Text
72 lines
3.7 KiB
Text
The Lazy Spinner
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In a certain village there once lived a man and his wife, and the wife
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was so idle that she would never work at anything; whatever her husband
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gave her to spin, she did not get done, and what she did spin she did
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not wind, but let it all remain entangled in a heap. If the man scolded
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her, she was always ready with her tongue, and said, "Well, how should
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I wind it, when I have no reel? Just you go into the forest and get me
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one." "If that is all," said the man, "then I will go into the forest,
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and get some wood for making reels." Then the woman was afraid that if
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he had the wood he would make her a reel of it, and she would have to
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wind her yarn off, and then begin to spin again. She bethought herself
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a little, and then a lucky idea occurred to her, and she secretly
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followed the man into the forest, and when he had climbed into a tree
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to choose and cut the wood, she crept into the thicket below where he
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could not see her, and cried,
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"He who cuts wood for reels shall die,
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And he who winds, shall perish."
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The man listened, laid down his axe for a moment, and began to consider
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what that could mean. "Hollo," he said at last, "what can that have
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been; my ears must have been singing, I won't alarm myself for
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nothing." So he again seized the axe, and began to hew, then again
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there came a cry from below:
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"He who cuts wood for reels shall die,
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And he who winds, shall perish."
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He stopped, and felt afraid and alarmed, and pondered over the
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circumstance. But when a few moments had passed, he took heart again,
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and a third time he stretched out his hand for the axe, and began to
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cut. But some one called out a third time, and said loudly,
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"He who cuts wood for reels shall die,
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And he who winds, shall perish."
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That was enough for him, and all inclination had departed from him, so
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he hastily descended the tree, and set out on his way home. The woman
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ran as fast as she could by by-ways so as to get home first. So when he
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entered the parlour, she put on an innocent look as if nothing had
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happened, and said, "Well, have you brought a nice piece of wood for
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reels?" "No," said he, "I see very well that winding won't do," and
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told her what had happened to him in the forest, and from that time
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forth left her in peace about it. Neverthless after some time, the man
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again began to complain of the disorder in the house. "Wife," said he,
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"it is really a shame that the spun yarn should lie there all
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entangled!" "I'll tell you what," said she, "as we still don't come by
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any reel, go you up into the loft, and I will stand down below, and
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will throw the yarn up to you, and you will throw it down to me, and so
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we shall get a skein after all." "Yes, that will do," said the man. So
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they did that, and when it was done, he said, "The yarn is in skeins,
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now it must be boiled." The woman was again distressed; She certainly
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said, "Yes, we will boil it next morning early." but she was secretly
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contriving another trick.
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Early in the morning she got up, lighted a fire, and put the kettle on,
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only instead of the yarn, she put in a lump of tow, and let it boil.
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After that she went to the man who was still lying in bed, and said to
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him, "I must just go out, you must get up and look after the yarn which
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is in the kettle on the fire, but you must be at hand at once; mind
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that, for if the cock should happen to crow, and you are not attending
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to the yarn, it will become tow." The man was willing and took good
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care not to loiter. He got up as quickly as he could, and went into the
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kitchen. But when he reached the kettle and peeped in, he saw, to his
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horror, nothing but a lump of tow. Then the poor man was as still as a
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mouse, thinking he had neglected it, and was to blame, and in future
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said no more about yarn and spinning. But you yourself must own she was
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an odious woman!
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