The White Bride and the Black One

A woman was walking across an open field with her daughter and her stepdaughter, cutting grass for fodder. Then the Lord came toward them in the form of a poor man and asked, "Which way to the village?" "If you want to know," said the mother, "find it yourself." The daughter added, "If you're afraid you won't find it, take a guide with you." But the stepdaughter said, "Poor man, I'll take you there.

Come with me." Then God was angry with the mother and daughter. He turned his back on them and wished that they would become as black as night and as ugly as sin. But to the poor stepdaughter, God was kind.

He walked with her, and when they neared the village, he blessed her and said, "Choose three things for yourself, and I will give them to you." The maiden said, "I want to be as beautiful and fair as the sun." At once she became white and fair as day.

"Then I want a purse of money that never runs empty." The Lord gave her that too, but said, "Do not forget what is best of all." She said, "For my third wish, I want to go to the eternal kingdom of Heaven after I die." That was also granted, and then the Lord left her.

When the stepmother came home with her daughter and saw that they were both black as coal and ugly, while the stepdaughter was white and beautiful, their wickedness grew even stronger. They could think of nothing but how to harm her.

But the stepdaughter had a brother named Reginer, whom she loved very much. She told him everything that had happened. One day Reginer said to her, "Dear sister, I want to paint your portrait so I can always see you before my eyes.

I love you so much that I want to look at you all the time." She answered, "Please don't let anyone see the picture." So he painted his sister and hung the picture in his room. He lived in the king's palace, for he was the king's coachman.

Every day he stood before the picture and thanked God for the happiness of having such a dear sister.

Now it happened that the king he served had just lost his wife, who had been so beautiful that no one could compare. The king was deeply sad. But the court attendants noticed that the coachman stood daily before a beautiful picture. They grew jealous and told the king.

The king ordered the picture brought to him. When he saw that it looked exactly like his lost wife, only even more beautiful, he fell deeply in love with it. He called the coachman and asked who the portrait was. The coachman said it was his sister.

So the king decided to marry no one but her. He gave the coachman a carriage, horses, and splendid gold clothes, and sent him to fetch his chosen bride.

When Reginer came with this news, his sister was glad. But the black daughter was jealous of her good luck and became very angry. She said to her mother, "What good are all your tricks now that you can't get me such luck?" "Be quiet," said the old woman.

"I'll soon turn it your way." With her witchcraft, she troubled the coachman's eyes so he became half-blind, and she stopped the white maiden's ears so she became half-deaf. Then they got into the carriage.

First the bride in her fine royal dress, then the stepmother and her daughter, and Reginer sat on the box to drive.

After a while, the coachman cried out, "Cover yourself well, my dear sister, so the rain doesn't wet you, so the wind doesn't cover you with dust, so you stay fair and beautiful when you appear before the king." The bride asked, "What is my dear brother saying?" "Oh," said the old woman, "he says you should take off your golden dress and give it to your sister." So she took it off and put it on the black daughter, who gave her a shabby gray gown in return.

They drove on. Soon the brother cried again, "Cover yourself well, my dear sister..." The bride asked again, and the old woman said, "He says you should take off your golden hood and give it to your sister." So she took off the hood and put it on her sister, and sat with her head uncovered.

They drove on farther. After a while, the brother cried once more, "Cover yourself well, my dear sister..." The bride asked, and the old woman said, "He says you must look out of the carriage." They were on a bridge over deep water.

When the bride stood up and leaned out, they both pushed her. She fell into the middle of the water. At that moment, a snow-white duck rose out of the smooth water and swam down the river. The brother noticed nothing and drove on to the court.

He took the black daughter to the king as his sister, thinking she really was, because his eyes were dim and he saw the golden clothes shining.

When the king saw how ugly his intended bride was, he became very angry. He ordered the coachman to be thrown into a pit full of adders and snakes. But the old witch knew how to flatter the king and deceive his eyes with her arts. He kept her and her daughter until she seemed bearable, and he married her.

One evening, when the black bride was sitting on the king's lap, a white duck came swimming up the gutter to the kitchen. It said to the kitchen boy, "Boy, light a fire so I can warm my feathers." The boy did so.

The duck sat by the fire, shook itself, and smoothed its feathers with its beak. As it sat enjoying itself, it asked, "What is my brother Reginer doing?" The boy replied, "He is imprisoned in the pit with adders and snakes." Then it asked, "What is the black witch doing in the house?" The boy answered, "She is loved by the king and happy." "May God have mercy on him," said the duck, and swam out through the sink.

The next night it came again and asked the same questions, and the third night too. The kitchen boy could not bear it any longer. He went to the king and told him everything. The king wanted to see for himself. The next evening he went to the kitchen.

When the duck thrust its head through the sink, the king took his sword and cut off its neck. Suddenly the duck changed into a most beautiful maiden, exactly like the picture her brother had painted. The king was overjoyed.

She stood there wet, so he had splendid clothes brought and dressed her. Then she told how she had been betrayed by cunning and lies, and finally thrown into the water. Her first request was that her brother be freed from the snake pit. The king did that.

Then he went to the old witch's chamber and asked, "What does someone deserve who does this and that?" and told what had happened. She was so blinded that she did not realize and said, "She deserves to be stripped naked, put into a barrel studded with nails, and dragged by a horse all over the world." That was done to her and to her black daughter.

But the king married the white and beautiful bride, and he rewarded her faithful brother, making him rich and honored.