And
when it was christened he said, “What does a person deserve who drags
another out of bed and throws him in the water?” “The wretch deserves
nothing better,” answered the old woman, “than to be taken and put in a
barrel stuck full of nails, and rolled down hill into the water.”
“Then,” said the King, “Thou hast pronounced thine own sentence;” and
he ordered such a barrel to be brought, and the old woman to be put
into it with her daughter, and then the top was hammered on, and the
barrel rolled down hill until it went into the river. 14 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. 15 Hansel and Grethel

Hard by a great forest dwelt a poor wood-cutter with his wife and his
two children. The boy was called Hansel and the girl Grethel. He had
little to bite and to break, and once when great scarcity fell on the
land, he could no longer procure daily bread. Now when he thought over
this by night in his bed, and tossed about in his anxiety, he groaned
and said to his wife, “What is to become of us? How are we to feed our
poor children, when we no longer have anything even for ourselves?”
“I’ll tell you what, husband,” answered the woman, “Early to-morrow
morning we will take the children out into the forest to where it is
the thickest, there we will light a fire for them, and give each of
them one piece of bread more, and then we will go to our work and leave
them alone. They will not find the way home again, and we shall be rid
of them.” “No, wife,” said the man, “I will not do that; how can I bear
to leave my children alone in the forest?—the wild animals would soon
come and tear them to pieces.” “O, thou fool!” said she, “Then we must
all four die of hunger, thou mayest as well plane the planks for our
coffins,” and she left him no peace until he consented. “But I feel
very sorry for the poor children, all the same,” said the man. The two children had also not been able to sleep for hunger, and had
heard what their step-mother had said to their father.