The Three Spinners

There was once a girl who was lazy and would not spin. No matter what her mother said, she could not make her do it. At last the mother became so angry and impatient that she beat her, and the girl began to cry loudly.

At that very moment the Queen drove by. When she heard the crying, 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 on the road.

The woman was ashamed to tell the truth about her daughter's laziness, so she said, "I cannot get her to stop spinning. She insists on spinning forever and ever, and I am poor and cannot buy flax." Then the Queen answered, "There is nothing I like better than spinning, and I am never happier than when the wheels are humming.

Let me take your daughter to the palace. I have flax enough, and there she shall spin as much as she likes." The mother was very happy with this, and the Queen took the girl with her.

When they arrived at the palace, the Queen led her into three rooms that were filled from floor to ceiling with the finest flax. "Now spin this flax for me," she said, "and when you are done, you shall have my eldest son for a husband, even if you are poor.

I do not care about that; your tireless industry is dowry enough." The girl was secretly terrified, for she could not have spun the flax, not even if she had lived to be three hundred years old and had sat at it every day from morning to night.

So when she was alone, she began to cry, and sat like that for three days without moving a finger. On the third day the Queen came, 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 start because of her great sorrow at leaving her mother's house. The Queen was satisfied with this, but said as she was leaving, "Tomorrow you must begin to work."

When the girl was alone again, she did not know what to do, and in her distress she went to the window. Then she saw three women coming toward her. The first had a broad, flat foot. The second had such a great lower lip that it hung down over her chin.

The third had a broad thumb. They stopped in front of the window, looked up, and asked the girl what was wrong. She told them about her trouble, and they offered to help her. They said, "If you will invite us to the wedding, not be ashamed of us, call us your aunts, and let us sit at your table, we will spin the flax for you, and in a very short time." "With all my heart," she replied.

"Come in and start the work right away." So she let the three strange women in and cleared a place in the first room. They sat down and began to spin. One drew the thread and trod the wheel, another wetted the thread, and the third twisted it and struck the table with her finger.

Each time she struck, a skein of thread fell to the ground, spun in the finest way possible. The girl hid the three spinners from the Queen. Whenever the Queen came, she showed her the great pile of spun thread, until the Queen could not praise her enough.

When the first room was empty, she went to the second, and then to the third, and that too was quickly cleared. Then the three women said goodbye and told the girl, "Do not forget what you promised us. It will bring you good fortune."

When the girl showed the Queen the empty rooms and the great heap of yarn, the Queen ordered the wedding. The bridegroom rejoiced that he was to have such a clever and industrious wife, and praised her greatly.

"I have three aunts," said the girl, "and since they have been very kind to me, I would like to invite them to the wedding and let them sit with us at the table." The Queen and the bridegroom said, "Why should we not allow that?" When the feast began, the three women entered in strange clothes, and the bride said, "Welcome, dear aunts." "Ah," said the bridegroom, "how did you get such ugly friends?" He went to the one with the broad flat foot and said, "How did you get such a broad foot?" "By treading," she answered, "by treading." Then he went to the second and said, "How did you get your hanging lip?" "By licking," she answered, "by licking." Then he asked the third, "How did you get your broad thumb?" "By twisting the thread," she answered, "by twisting the thread." At this the king's son was alarmed and said, "Never again shall my beautiful bride touch a spinning wheel." And that is how she got rid of the hated flax-spinning.