Mother Holle
Once there was a widow who had two girls. One was her own daughter, lazy and surly. The other was her stepdaughter, industrious and kind. The stepdaughter had to do all the work in the house. Every day she sat by the well and spun until her fingers were sore.
One day her finger bled on the spindle, and when she leaned over to rinse away the blood, the spindle accidentally slipped from her hand and plopped down into the deep well. The stepmother became angry and said: "Fetch it up!" The poor girl didn't know what to do. Out of fear she jumped into the well after the spindle.
She fell and fell – and woke in a flowering meadow where the sun shone. She began to walk and came to an oven full of bread. "Pull us out, pull us out!" called the loaves. "We're already baked and will burn!" The girl took the paddle and carefully pulled out all the loaves, one after another.
Then she came to an apple tree loaded with red fruits. "Shake us, shake us!" begged the apples. "We're ripe!" The girl shook the tree until all the apples lay softly in the grass, and she laid them in neat piles.
At last she reached a little house with windows that gleamed. Inside lived Mother Holle, an old woman who had big teeth but kind eyes. "If you stay with me," said Mother Holle, "you shall work properly. Shake my pillows and covers every day so the feathers fly – then it snows in the world." The industrious girl said yes gratefully. She swept, cooked food, and above all shook the pillows so the feathers danced like white snowflakes.
Mother Holle was pleased, and the girl was well off. But after a time she became homesick. She went to Mother Holle and said carefully: "I would like to go home again." Mother Holle smiled. "You have served faithfully. You shall have your wages." She took the girl's hand and led her to a great gate.
When the girl walked under the gate it began to rain gold. It glittered and shone, and the gold stuck to her hair and dress until she was completely golden. Mother Holle also handed her the spindle that had fallen into the well. The gate opened, and the girl suddenly stood at home in the yard.
Up on the well's edge sat the rooster crowing: "Cock-a-doodle-doo! Our golden girl is here again!" The stepmother gaped when she saw all the gleam and immediately wanted her own daughter to get the same thing.
The lazy girl had to sit by the well and spin. She pricked her finger and smeared blood on the spindle to make it look like work, threw it in the well, and jumped after.
She came to the same oven. "Pull us out!" called the loaves. "We're burning!" But the lazy girl answered: "I don't want to get dirty," and walked on. At the apple tree the fruits called: "Shake us!" She said: "I might get hit on the head," and passed by.
She came to Mother Holle's house and was hired. But she got up late, swept carelessly, and barely shook the pillows. The snow wouldn't fall. After a time Mother Holle said: "The work doesn't suit you. You probably want to go home." The lazy girl was pleased – she only thought about her reward.
Mother Holle led her to the gate. But when she walked under it, it began to rain black, sticky tar. It splashed over her from top to toe. "This is your wages," said Mother Holle, "and the tar shall stay on." The gate slammed shut, and there she stood at home, black and sticky.
The rooster on the well's edge crowed: "Cock-a-doodle-doo! Our tarry girl is here again!" And the tar stayed on for a long, long time. So everyone in the house learned that kindness and industry give gold, while laziness only gives dirt.
