Year: 1879

from the November Nineteenth Century.l


AS number of girls were spinning one day
a-field, sitting in ring around cleft III the
ground, there came an old man who said:
"Maidens, beware! for if one of you were to
let her spindle fall into this cleft, her mother
would be Immediately turned into cow
Thereupon the girls at once drew nearer to the
cleft and inquisitively peeped into it, And
the spindle of Mara, the fairest of their num-
ber slipped out of her hand and fell into the
cleft When she reached home in the even
ing there was her mother turned into COW,
standing in front of the house mooing.
Thenceforth Mara tended and fed that COW
with filial affection. But her father married
again. taking as his second wife widow with
one plain daughter. And the new mistress of
the house grievousy ill-treated her step
daughter, forbidding her to wash her face, or
brush her hair or change her dress And as
she became grimy with ashes, Mara re-
ceived the nickname of Pepelluga, that is,
Cinderella, or Ashypet. Her stepmother also
set her tasks which she could never have done
had not ''the COW, which had once been her
mother" helped her to perform them When
the stepmother found this out she gave her
husband no rest till he promised to put the
COW to DEATH The girl wept bitterly when she
heard the sad news, but the COW consoled her,
telling her what to do. She must not eat OF
its flesh, and she must carefully collect and
bury its bones under certain stone, and to
this burial place she must afterwards come,
should she find herself in need of help. The
COW was killed and eaten, but Mara said she
had no appetite and ate none of its flesh.
And she buried its bones as she had been di-
rected.


Some days afterwards her stepmother went
to church with her own daughter, leaving
Mara at home to cook the dinner and pick up
quantity of corn which she had purposely
strewed about the house, threatening 10 XIII
her if she had not performed both tasks oy
the time they came back from churcn, mara
was greatly troubled at the sight OF the grain,
and fed for help to the cows grave. Ihere
she found an open Golfer full of fine raiment,
and on the lid sat two white doves, which said,
"Mara, choose a dress and go in 1t to church,
and we birds will gather up the grain. 80
she took the robes which came first, all OF the
finest silk, and went in them to church, where
the beauty of her face and her dress won all
hearts, especially that of the emperors son.


Just before the service was over she gllded out
of the church, ran home and placed her robes
in the Golfer, which Immediately shut and dis
appeared. hen her relatives returned they
found the grain collected, the dinner cooked
and Ashypet as grimy as usual. Next Sunday
Just the same happened, only Mara's robes
were this time of silver. On the third Sunday
she went to church in raiment of pure gold,
with slippers to match. And when she left,
the emperors son left too and fastened after
her. But all he got for his pains was her right
slipper, which she dropped in her haste. By
means of it he at length found her out. In
vain did her stepmother when he walked in
with the golden test in his hand, hide her
under a trough, endeavor to force her own
daughters foot into the too small supper, anu
when this attempt failed, deny that there was
any other girl in the house. For the COCK
crowed out "Kikerike the maiden IS under
the trough!" There the prince in truth found
her, clothed from head to foot in golden attire
went we'll.