The Three Little Men in the Wood

Once upon a time, there was a man whose wife had died, and a woman whose husband had died. The man had a daughter, and the woman also had a daughter. The two girls knew each other and often went for walks together. One day, they came to the woman's house.

The woman said to the man's daughter, "Listen, tell your father that I would like to marry him. Then you shall wash yourself in milk every morning and drink wine, but my own daughter shall wash in water and drink water." The girl went home and told her father what the woman had said.

The man thought, "What should I do? Marriage is both a joy and a torment." He couldn't decide, so he pulled off his boot and said, "Take this boot. It has a hole in the sole. Go up to the attic, hang it on the big nail, and pour water into it.

If it holds the water, I will marry again. If it leaks, I will not." The girl did as she was told, but the water swelled the leather, and the boot became full to the top. She told her father, and he went up to see for himself.

When he saw it was true, he went to the widow and married her. The wedding was celebrated.

The next morning, when the two girls got up, there stood before the man's daughter milk to wash in and wine to drink, but before the woman's daughter stood water to wash in and water to drink. On the second morning, both girls had water to wash in and water to drink.

But on the third morning, the man's daughter had water for washing and water for drinking, while the woman's daughter had milk for washing and wine for drinking. And so it continued. The stepmother became very cruel to her stepdaughter, and every day she treated her worse.

She was jealous because her stepdaughter was beautiful and kind, while her own daughter was ugly and unpleasant.

One winter day, when everything was frozen hard and snow covered the hills and valleys, the stepmother made a dress out of paper. She called her stepdaughter and said, "Put on this dress, go into the woods, and fetch me a basket of strawberries.

I have a craving for some." "Good heavens!" said the girl. "No strawberries grow in winter! The ground is frozen, and the snow covers everything. And why must I go in this paper dress? It's so cold outside that my breath freezes!

The wind will blow right through it, and the thorns will tear it off me." "Don't talk back to me!" shouted the stepmother. "Go now, and don't come back until you have a basketful of strawberries!" She gave her a small piece of hard bread and said, "This will last you the day." But she thought, "She will freeze to death out there and never come back."

The girl obeyed. She put on the paper dress and went out with the basket. Everywhere she looked, there was only snow, not a single green leaf. She walked into the forest and saw a small cottage. Three little dwarfs peeked out the window.

She wished them good day and knocked politely on the door. "Come in!" they called. She entered the room and sat down on the bench by the stove to warm herself and eat her breakfast.

The little men said, "Give us some of your bread too." "Gladly," she said, and she broke her piece of bread in two and gave them half. They asked, "What are you doing here in the forest in winter, wearing such a thin dress?" "Oh," she answered, "I have to find a basket of strawberries, and I cannot go home until I have them." When she finished eating, they gave her a broom and said, "Go sweep the snow away from the back door with this broom." But while she was outside, the three little men said to each other, "What shall we give her?

She is so good and shared her bread with us." The first said, "I give her that she will become more beautiful every day." The second said, "I give her that gold pieces will fall from her mouth every time she speaks." The third said, "I give her that a king will come and marry her."

The girl did as the little men told her. She swept the snow behind the house with the broom, and what did she find? Ripe, dark red strawberries growing right out of the snow! Joyfully, she gathered a basketful, thanked the little men, shook hands with each of them, and ran home to her stepmother.

When she walked in and said good evening, a gold piece fell from her mouth. She told what had happened in the forest, and with every word, more gold pieces fell, until the whole room was covered with them.

"Look at her showing off!" cried the stepsister, but she was secretly jealous and wanted to go to the forest herself. The mother said, "No, my dear, it is too cold. You might freeze." But the daughter would not stop pestering her, so the mother finally agreed.

She made her a beautiful fur coat, which she had to wear, and gave her bread with butter and cake to eat.

The stepsister went into the forest and straight to the little cottage. The three little dwarfs peeked out again, but she did not greet them. Without looking back or saying a word, she barged into the room, sat down by the stove, and started eating her bread and cake.

"Give us some too," said the little men. "There's not enough for myself, so how can I give any away?" she replied. When she finished eating, they said, "Here is a broom. Sweep clean behind the back door." "Sweep it yourself!" she answered.

"I am not your servant." When she saw they would give her nothing, she walked out. The little men said to each other, "What shall we give her? She is so mean and has an evil, jealous heart." The first said, "I grant that she grows uglier every day." The second said, "I grant that at every word she says, a toad jumps out of her mouth." The third said, "I grant that she will die a miserable death." The stepsister looked for strawberries outside but found none, so she went home angrily.

When she opened her mouth to tell her mother what had happened, with every word, a toad leaped out. Everyone was horrified.

The stepmother became even more furious. She constantly thought of ways to harm her stepdaughter, whose beauty grew greater every day. At last, she took a large pot, set it on the fire, and boiled yarn in it.

When it was done, she threw the hot yarn onto the poor girl's shoulder and gave her an axe. "Go to the frozen river, cut a hole in the ice, and rinse the yarn," she ordered. The girl obeyed.

She went to the river, cut a hole in the ice, and began rinsing the yarn. While she was working, a splendid carriage drove up. Inside sat the King. The carriage stopped, and the King asked, "My child, who are you, and what are you doing here?" "I am a poor girl, and I am rinsing yarn," she answered.

The King felt sorry for her, and because she was so beautiful, he said, "Will you come away with me?" "Oh yes, with all my heart!" she replied, glad to escape her stepmother and stepsister.

So she climbed into the carriage and drove away with the King. When they reached his palace, they were married with great celebration, just as the little men had promised. A year later, the young Queen gave birth to a son.

When the stepmother heard of her good fortune, she came to the palace with her daughter, pretending to pay a visit. One day, while the King was out and no one else was around, the wicked woman grabbed the Queen by the head, and her daughter grabbed her by the feet.

They lifted her out of bed and threw her out the window into the river that flowed by the palace. Then the ugly daughter lay down in the bed, and the old woman covered her up to her head.

When the King came home and wanted to speak to his wife, the old woman cried, "Hush, hush! She is sweating heavily. You must let her rest today." The King suspected nothing and came back the next morning.

When he spoke to his wife, and she answered, with every word a toad leaped out instead of a gold piece. "What is this?" he asked. The old woman said it was from the heavy sweating and would soon stop.

But during the night, the scullion saw a duck swimming up the gutter. The duck said,

"King, what are you doing now?

Sleeping, or awake?"

When the King did not answer, the duck said,

"And my guests, what may they do?"

The scullion answered, "They are sleeping soundly too."

Then the duck asked, "What does little baby mine?" He replied, "Sleeping in her cradle fine."

Then the duck changed into the Queen, went upstairs, nursed the baby, shook up its little bed, covered it, and then swam away again down the gutter. She came for two nights like this. On the third night, she said to the scullion, "Go and tell the King to take his sword and swing it three times over me on the threshold." The scullion ran and told the King.

The King came with his sword and swung it three times over the spirit. At the third swing, his wife stood before him, strong and healthy as she had been before. The King was overjoyed, but he kept the Queen hidden in a chamber until Sunday, when the baby was to be christened.

At the christening, he asked, "What does a person deserve who drags someone out of bed and throws them into the water?" The old woman answered, "Nothing better than to be put in a barrel stuck full of nails and rolled downhill into the water." "Then you have pronounced your own sentence," said the King.

He ordered such a barrel to be brought, and the old woman and her daughter were put inside. The top was hammered shut, and the barrel was rolled downhill until it fell into the river.