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Grimms' Fairy Tales
Mother
Holle
There was once a widow who had two daughters
-- one of whom was pretty and industrious, whilst the other
was ugly and idle. But she was much fonder of the ugly and
idle one, because she was her own daughter; and the other,
who was a step-daughter, was obliged to do all the work,
and be the Cinderella of the house. Every day the poor girl
had to sit by a well, in the highway, and spin and spin
till her fingers bled.
Now it happened that one day the shuttle was marked with
her blood, so she dipped it in the well, to wash the mark
off; but it dropped out of her hand and fell to the bottom.
She began to weep, and ran to her step-mother and told her
of the mishap. But she scolded her sharply, and was so merciless
as to say, "Since you have let the shuttle fall in,
you must fetch it out again."
So the girl went back to the well, and did not know what
to do; and in the sorrow of her heart she jumped into the
well to get the shuttle. She lost her senses; and when she
awoke and came to herself again, she was in a lovely meadow
where the sun was shining and many thousands of flowers
were growing. Along this meadow she went, and at last came
to a baker's oven full of bread, and the bread cried out,
"Oh, take me out! take me out! or I shall burn; I have
been baked a long time!" So she went up to it, and
took out all the loaves one after another with the bread-shovel.
After that she went on till she came to a tree covered with
apples, which called out to her, "Oh, shake me! shake
me! we apples are all ripe!" So she shook the tree
till the apples fell like rain, and went on shaking till
they were all down, and when she had gathered them into
a heap, she went on her way.
At last she came to a little house, out of which an old
woman peeped; but she had such large teeth that the girl
was frightened, and was about to run away.
But the old woman called out to her, "What are you
afraid of, dear child? Stay with me; if you will do all
the work in the house properly, you shall be the better
for it. Only you must take care to make my bed well, and
shake it thoroughly till the feathers fly -- for then there
is snow on the earth. I am Mother Holle.
As the old woman spoke so kindly to her, the girl took
courage and agreed to enter her service. She attended to
everything to the satisfaction of her mistress, and always
shook her bed so vigorously that the feathers flew about
like snow-flakes. So she had a pleasant life with her; never
an angry word; and boiled or roast meat every day.
She stayed some time with Mother Holle, and then she became
sad. At first she did not know what was the matter with
her, but found at length that it was home-sickness: although
she was many thousand times better off here than at home,
still she had a longing to be there. At last she said to
the old woman, "I have a longing for home; and however
well off I am down here, I cannot stay any longer; I must
go up again to my own people." Mother Holle said, "I
am pleased that you long for your home again, and as you
have served me so truly, I myself will take you up again."
Thereupon she took her by the hand, and led her to a large
door. The door was opened, and just as the maiden was standing
beneath the doorway, a heavy shower of golden rain fell,
and all the gold remained sticking to her, so that she was
completely covered over with it.
"You shall have that because you have been so industrious,"
said Mother Holle, and at the same time she gave her back
the shuttle which she had let fall into the well. Thereupon
the door closed, and the maiden found herself up above upon
the earth, not far from her mother's house.
And as she went into the yard the cock was standing by
the well-side, and cried --
"Cock-a-doodle-doo!
Your golden girl's come back to you!"
So she went in to her mother, and as she arrived thus covered
with gold, she was well received, both by her and her sister.
The girl told all that had happened to her; and as soon
as the mother heard how she had come by so much wealth,
she was very anxious to obtain the same good luck for the
ugly and lazy daughter. She had to seat herself by the well
and spin; and in order that her shuttle might be stained
with blood, she stuck her hand into a thorn bush and pricked
her finger. Then she threw her shuttle into the well, and
jumped in after it.
She came, like the other, to the beautiful meadow and walked
along the very same path. When she got to the oven the bread
again cried, "Oh, take me out! take me out! or I shall
burn; I have been baked a long time!" But the lazy
thing answered, "As if I had any wish to make myself
dirty?" and on she went. Soon she came to the apple-tree,
which cried, "Oh, shake me! shake me! we apples are
all ripe!" But she answered, "I like that! one
of you might fall on my head," and so went on.
When she came to Mother Holle's house she was not afraid,
for she had already heard of her big teeth, and she hired
herself to her immediately.
The first day she forced herself to work diligently, and
obeyed Mother Holle when she told her to do anything, for
she was thinking of all the gold that she would give her.
But on the second day she began to be lazy, and on the third
day still more so, and then she would not get up in the
morning at all. Neither did she make Mother Holle's bed
as she ought, and did not shake it so as to make the feathers
fly up. Mother Holle was soon tired of this, and gave her
notice to leave. The lazy girl was willing enough to go,
and thought that now the golden rain would come. Mother
Holle led her also to the great door; but while she was
standing beneath it, instead of the gold a big kettleful
of pitch was emptied over her. "That is the reward
for your service," said Mother Holle, and shut the
door.
So the lazy girl went home; but she was quite covered with
pitch, and the cock by the well-side, as soon as he saw
her, cried out --
"Cock-a-doodle-doo!
Your pitchy girl's come back to you!"
But the pitch stuck fast to her, and could not be got off
as long as she lived.
From Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, Household Tales, trans. Margaret
Hunt (London: George Bell, 1884), 1:104-107. |
