there was Mother Hulda herself looking out of the window. The ugly girl was not afraid of her and her long teeth, for the good sister had already told her about them. She marched up to the door and opened it as bold as bold.
“I have come to take service with you,” she said, “and to get the reward.”
“Very well,” answered Mother Hulda. “If you serve me well and faithfully, the reward shall not be lacking.”
She then took the ugly girl upstairs and showed her the bed, and told her how she was to shake and beat it. Then she left her there.
The ugly girl began to beat the bed, but she soon tired of it and came downstairs and asked if supper were ready. Mother Hulda frowned, but she said nothing, and she gave the girl a good supper of bread and meat.
The next day the ugly girl hardly beat the bed at all, and the next day it was still worse. At the end of the week hardly a flake of snow had floated out over the world.
“You will never do for me,” said Mother Hulda. “You will have to go.”
“Very well,” answered the girl. “I am willing, but give me my reward first.”
“Yes, you shall have your reward,” said Mother Hulda, “and you deserve it.”
She opened the closet and took out the spindle and gave it to her, and led her along the road to the open gate. The girl was very much pleased. “Now in a moment,” thought she, “I will be all covered with gold the way my sister was, unless I am covered with diamonds and rubies.”
“There lies your way,” cried Mother Hulda.
The girl ran through the gate, but instead of gold or precious stones, a shower of soot fell over her so that she was black from head to foot.
“That is the reward of your services,” cried Mother Hulda to the girl, and then she banged the gate and locked it so that the girl could not come back.
So the lazy daughter ran home, crying, and as she entered the gate the cock crowed loudly, “Cock-a-doodle-doo! Our sooty girl’s come home again.”
And try as she might the ugly girl could never get the soot entirely off her. But as to the good sister she was married to a great nobleman, and lived happy ever after.
The three spinners
There was once a girl who was so idle and lazy that she would do nothing but sit in the sunshine all day. She would not bake, she would not brew, she would not spin, she would not sew. One morning her mother lost patience with her entirely and gave her a good beating. The girl cried out until she could be heard even into the street.
Now it so chanced the queen of the country was driving by at that time, and she heard the cries. She wished to find out what the trouble was, so she stopped her coach and entered the house. She went through one room after another, and presently she came to where the girl and her mother were.
“What is all this noise?” she asked. “Why is your daughter crying out?”
The mother was ashamed to confess what a lazy girl she had for a daughter, so she told the queen what was not true.
“Oh, your majesty,” cried she, “this girl is the worry of my life. She will do nothing but spin all day, and I have spent all my money buying flax for her. This morning she asked me for more, but I have no money left to buy it. It was because of that she began to cry, as you heard.”
The Queen was very much surprised. “This girl of yours must be a very fine spinner,” she said. “You must bring her to the palace, for there is nothing I love better than spinning. Bring her to-morrow, and if she is as wonderful a spinner as I suspect, she shall be to me as my own daughter, and shall have my eldest son as a husband.”
When the girl heard she was to go to the palace and spin she was terrified. She had never spun a thread in her life, and she feared that when the Queen found this out she would be angry and would have her punished. However, she dared say nothing.
The next day she and her mother went to the palace, and the Queen received them kindly. The mother was sent home again, but the daughter was taken to a tower where there were three great rooms all filled with flax.
“See,” said the Queen. “Here is enough flax to satisfy you for awhile at least. When you have spun this you shall marry my son, and after that you shall have all the flax you want. Now you may begin, and to-morrow I will come to see how much you have done.”
So saying the Queen went away, closing the door behind her.
No sooner was the girl alone than she burst into tears. Not if she lived a hundred years could she spin all that flax. She sat and cried and cried and cried.
The next morning the Queen came back to see how much she had done. She was very much surprised to find the flax untouched, and the girl sitting there with idle hands.
“How is this?” she asked. “Why are you not at your spinning?”
The girl began to make excuses.
“I was so sad at being parted from my mother that I could do nothing but sit and weep.”
“I see you have a tender heart,” said the Queen. “But to-morrow you must begin to work. When I come again, I shall expect to see a whole roomful done.”
After she had gone, the girl began to weep again. She did not know what was to become of her.
Suddenly the door opened, and three ugly old women slipped into the room. The first had a splayfoot. The second had a lip that hung down on her chin. The third had a hideous broad thumb.
The girl looked at them with fear and wonder. “Who are you?” she asked.
The one with the splayfoot answered. “We are three spinners. We know why you are weeping, and we have come to help you, but before we help you, you must promise us one thing: that is that when you are married to the Prince, we may come to your wedding feast, that you will let us sit at your table, and that you will call us your aunts.”
“Yes, yes; I will, I will,” cried the girl. She was ready to promise anything if they would only help her.
At once the splayfoot sat down at the wheel and began to spin and tread. She with the hanging lip moistened the thread, and the woman with the broad thumb pressed and twisted it. They worked so fast that the thread flowed on like a swift stream. Before the next evening, they had finished the whole roomful of flax.
When the Queen came again she was delighted to find so much done. “To-morrow,” said she, “you shall begin in the second room.”
The next day the girl was taken into the second room, and it was larger than the first and was also full of flax.
Scarcely had the Queen left her when the door was pushed open, and the three old women came into the room.
“Remember your promise,” said they.
“I remember,” answered the girl.
The old women then took their places and began to spin. Before the next evening, they had finished all the flax that was in the room.
When the Queen came to look at what had been done, she
