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