The Three Spinning Women
Folktales of Aarne-Thompson-Uther Type 501translated and/or edited by
D. L. Ashliman
© 2022
The princesses were very concerned and started to cry, "If we are to spin all this, we'll have to sit here the whole day, and won't be able to get up at all."
The queen said, "Fear not, I will help you."
Now in this country there were three terribly ugly old maids. The first one had such a large lower lip that it hung down over her chin. The second one had a forefinger on her right hand that was so broad and thick that one could have made three normal fingers from it. The third one had a broad flat foot, as wide as half a kitchen table. The queen sent for the three, and on the day that the king was to return, she had them all sit in her parlor. She gave them her spinning wheels, and had them spin. She told each one how she was to answer the king's questions.
When the king arrived, he was pleased to hear the humming of the wheels from afar, and prepared to praise his daughters. He entered the parlor, and when he saw the disgusting old maids sitting there, he was at first repulsed, but then he approached the first one and asked her where she had gotten the terribly large lower lip.
"From licking! From licking!"
Then he asked the second one where she had gotten the thick finger.
"From twisting the thread! From twisting the thread, and wrapping it around!" she said, at the same time letting the thread run around her finger a few times.
Finally he asked the third one where she had gotten the thick foot.
"From peddling! From peddling!"
When the king heard this he ordered the queen and the princesses to never again touch a spinning wheel, and thus they were delivered from their misery.
Now the queen was just driving by, and when she heard the crying she ordered her carriage to stop, went into the house, and asked the mother why she was beating her daughter so that her cries could be heard out on the road.
The woman was ashamed to reveal her daughter's laziness and said, "I cannot make her stop spinning. She wants to spin on and on forever, and I am poor, and cannot get the flax."
Then the queen answered, "There is nothing that I like better to hear than spinning. I am never happier than when the wheels are humming. Let your daughter come with me to the palace. I have flax enough. There she can spin to her heart's content."
The mother was completely satisfied with this, and the queen took the girl with her. Arriving at the palace, she took her upstairs to three rooms which were filled from the bottom to the top with the finest flax.
"Now spin this flax for me," she said, "and when you are finished, you shall have my oldest son for a husband. I do not mind if you are poor. Your untiring industry will do for a dowry."
The girl was frightened inside, for she would not be able to spin the flax, not even if she had lived until she was three hundred years old, sitting at it every day from morning until evening. When she was alone she began to cry, and just sat there for three days without moving a hand. On the third day the queen came, and when she saw that nothing had been spun yet, she was surprised. The girl excused herself by saying that because of her sorrow at being away from her mother's house, she had not yet been able to begin.
This satisfied the queen, but as she left she said, "Tomorrow you must begin my work."
When the girl was alone again, she did not know what to do, or where to turn for help. In her distress she went to the window. There she saw three women coming toward her. The first one had a broad flat foot, the second one had such a large lower lip that it hung down over her chin, and the third one had a broad thumb.
They stopped outside the window, looked up, and asked the girl what was wrong with her.
She bemoaned her troubles to them, upon which they offered her their help, saying, "If you will invite us to your wedding, not be ashamed of us, call us your aunts, and let us be seated at your table, we will spin all the flax for you, and in a very short time at that."
"With all my heart," she answered. "Come right in and begin the work at once."
Then she let the three strange women in, and cleared out a space in the first room where they could sit down and begin their spinning. The one pulled the thread and peddled the wheel, the second one moistened the thread, the third twisted it, then struck the table with her finger. Each time she struck, a skein of the most finely spun thread fell to the floor.
The girl kept the three spinners hidden from the queen, but whenever she came, the girl showed her the great quantity of thread that had been spun. The queen could not praise her enough.
When the first room was empty, they went to work on the second one, and on the third one, and it too was quickly cleaned out.
The three women now took leave and said to the girl, "Do not forget what you have promised us. It will bring you good luck."
When the girl showed the queen the empty rooms and the large pile of thread, the latter made preparations for the wedding. The bridegroom was happy that he was getting such a clever and industrious wife, and he praised her vigorously.
"I have three aunts," said the girl. "Because they have been very kind to me, I do not want to forget them in my good fortune. Allow me to invite them to the wedding, and let them be seated next to us at the table."
The queen and the bridegroom said, "Why should we not allow that?"
When the feast began, the three women, dressed in strange clothing, entered.
The bride said, "Welcome, dear aunts."
"Oh," said the bridegroom, "what brought you to this hideous friendship?"
Then he went to the one with the broad flat foot, and asked, "Where did you get such a broad foot?"
"From peddling," she answered. "From peddling."
Then the bridegroom went to the second one, and said, "Where did you get this fallen lip?"
"From licking," she answered. "From licking."
Then he asked the third one, "Where did you get this broad thumb?"
"From twisting thread," she answered. "From twisting thread."
This alarmed the prince, and he said, "My beautiful bride shall never again touch a spinning wheel."
With that she was freed from hateful flax spinning.
"Well, lassie!" said the father, "true enough you have learnt nothing here but how to pluck birds and roast them, but still you may as well try to earn your bread."
So the girl went off to seek a place, and when she had gone a little while, she came to a palace. There she stayd and got a place, and the queen liked her so well, that all the other maids got envious of her. So they made up their minds to tell the queen how the lassie said she was good to spin a pound of flax in four and twenty hours, for you must know the queen was a great housewife, and thought much of good work.
"Have you said this? then you shall do it," said the queen; "but you may have a little longer time if you choose."
Now, the poor lassie dared not say she had never spun in all her life, but she only begged for a room to herself. That she got, and the wheel and the flax were brought up to her. There she sat sad and weeping, and knew not how to help herself. She pulled the wheel this way and that, and twisted and turned it about, but she made a poor hand of it, for she had never even seen a spinning-wheel in her life.
But all at once, as she sat there, in came an old woman to her. "What ails you, child?" she said.
"Ah!" said the lassie, with a deep sigh, "it's no good to tell you, for you'll never be able to help me."
"Who knows?" said the old wife. "Maybe I know how to help you after all."
"Well," thought the lassie to herself, "I may as well tell her."
And so she told her how her fellow-servants had given out that she was good to spin a pound of flax in four and twenty hours. "And here am I, wretch that I am, shut up to spin all that heap in a day and a night, when I have never even seen a spinning-wheel in all my born days."
"Well, never mind, child," said the old woman, "if you'll call me Aunt on the happiest day of your life, I'll spin this flax for you, and so you may just go away and lie down to sleep."
Yes, the lassie was willing enough, and off she went and lay down to sleep.
Next morning when she awoke, there lay all the flax spun on the table, and that so clean and fine, no one had ever seen such even and pretty yarn. The queen was very glad to get such nice yarn, and she set greater store by the lassie than ever. But the rest were still more envious, and agreed to tell the queen how the lassie had said she was good to weave the yarn she had spun in four and twenty hours.
So the queen said again, as she had said it she must do it; but if she couldn't quite finish it in four and twenty hours, she wouldn't be too hard upon her, she might have a little more time. This time, too, the lassie dared not say No, but begged for a room to herself, and there she would try.
There she sat again, sobbing and crying, and not knowing which way to turn, when another old woman came in and asked, "What ails you, child?"
At first the lassie wouldn't say, but at last she told her the whole story of her grief.
"Well, well!" said the old wife, "never mind. If you'll call me Aunt on the happiest day of your life, I'll weave this yarn for you, and you may just be off, and lie down to sleep."
Yes, the lassie was willing enough; so she went away and lay down to sleep. When she awoke, there lay the piece of linen on the table, woven so neat and close, no woof could be better. So the lassie took the piece and ran down to the queen, who was very glad to get such beautiful linen, and set greater store than ever by the lassie.
But as for the others, they grew still more bitter against her, and thought of nothing but how to find out something to tell about her. At last they told the queen the lassie had said she was good to make up the piece of linen into shirts in four and twenty hours.
Well, all happened as before; the lassie dared not say she couldn't sew; so she was shut up again in a room by herself, and there she sat in tears and grief. But then another old wife came, who said she would sew the shirts for her if she would call her Aunt on the happiest day of her life. The lassie was only too glad to do this, and then she did as the old wife told her, and went and lay down to sleep. Next morning when she woke she found the piece of linen made up into shirts, which lay on the table -- and such beautiful work no one had ever set eyes on; and more than that, the shirts were all marked and ready for wear.
So, when the queen saw the work, she was so glad at the way in which it was sewn, that she clapped her hands, and said, "Such sewing I never had, nor even saw in all my born days."
And after that she was as fond of the lassie as of her own children; and she said to her, "Now, if you like to have the prince for your husband, you shall have him; for you will never need to hire work women. You can sew, and spin, and weave all yourself."
So as the lassie was pretty, and the prince was glad to have her, the wedding soon came on. But just as the prince was going to sit down with the bride to the bridal feast, in came an ugly old hag, with a long nose --I'm sure it was three ells long.
So up got the bride and made a curtsey, and said, "Good-day, Auntie."
"That auntie to my bride," said the prince.
"Yes, she was!"
"Well, then, she'd better sit down with us to the feast," said the prince; but, to tell you the truth, both he and the rest thought she was a loathsome woman to have next you.
But just then in came another ugly old hag. She had a back so humped and broad, she had hard work to get through the door.
Up jumped the bride in a trice, and greeted her with "Good-day, Auntie!"
And the prince asked again if that were his bride's aunt. They both said Yes; so the prince said, if that were so, she too had better sit down with them to the feast.
But they had scarce taken their seats before another ugly old hag came in, with eyes as large as saucers, and so red and bleared, 'twas gruesome to look at her.
But up jumped the bride again, with her "Good-day, Auntie," and her, too, the prince asked to sit down; but I can't say he was very glad, for he thought to himself, "Heaven shield me from such aunties as my bride has!"
So when he had sat a while, he could not keep his thoughts to himself any longer, but asked, "But how, in all the world, can my bride, who is such a lovely lassie, have such loathsome, misshapen aunts?"
"I'll soon tell you how it is," said the first. "I was just as good-looking when I was her age; but the reason why I have got this long nose is, because I was always kept sitting, and poking, and nodding over my spinning, and so my nose got stretched and stretched, until it got as long as you now see it."
"And I," said the second," ever since I was young, I have sat and scuttled backwards and forwards over my loom, and that's how my back has got so broad and humped, as you now see it."
"And I," said the third," ever since I was little, I have sat, and stared, and sewn, and sewn and stared, night and day; and that's why my eyes have got so ugly and red, and now there's no help for them."
"So! so!" said the prince, "'twas lucky I came to know this; for if folk can get so ugly and loathsome by all this, then my bride shall neither spin, nor weave, nor sew all her life long."
The farmer said: "You, what has the little girl done wrong, for you to abuse her like that?"
"Oh, the wicked girl!" said the old woman. "She has spun everything we had at home, and now she wants to spin that haystack too."
"It is a shame to beat her just because she is diligent and wants to do some work. Let me take her home with me."
Yes, that was good enough for the fat old woman. She immediately agreed to it, then she was done with the girl.
Arriving at his home, the famer said: "Yes, I must to the market and buy you a stone-weight of flax. Then I will stay away for fourteen days. Can you spin it all before I come back home?"
Yes, she said that she would do it.
But after he had left, instead of spinning, she sat down and cried.
"What can I do now?" she said. "Neither can I spin, nor will I spin, nor have I ever spun anything."
As she sat and mourning over it, an old woman came in.
"What are you crying for, my little young woman?" she said.
"I must tell you, good woman, that my mother told the man that I know how to spin, and now he has given me of a full stone-weight of flax to spin before he comes back home in fourteen days; but neither will I spin, nor can I spin, nor have I ever spun."
"I can help you," said the old woman. "You will probably get married to him, and if you will invite me to your wedding and call me Aunt, then I will spin it for you."
Yes, the girl was very happy about that, and so the old woman took the flax away with her, and she got it spun and brought it back in good time before the farmer came back home.
Well, he thought the work was so very good when he saw it, so he went back to the market right away and brought her two stone-weights of flax to be spun in another fourteen days. That's just the way it was.
She sat down to cry again, and then another old woman came, and she said like the first woman: "What are you crying for, my little young woman?"
"I must tell you, good woman," and then she told the same thing again: what her mother had said about her to the man. He had given her a stone-weight of flax to be spun in fourteen days, but then an old woman had come and taken it away and spun it for her, and "neither can I spin, nor will I spin, nor have I ever spun; and here are now two stone-weights that I must spin."
"If you will to ask me to your wedding and then call me Great-Aunt, then I will spin it."
Yes, she would be glad to do this.
Then the old woman took it away, and she came back with it in good time, before the farmer came home.
When the fourteen days had passed, the farmer came back home.
He looked at the spun yarn and said: "Yes, it is very good. Now I want to go away one more time, perhaps for a little longer. Don't you think that you could spin three stone-weights in that time?"
Yes, she she would see to that.
"Yes, if you now get it all spun, then I will want to marry you, because I know that you would be an industrious, capable wife. Then we shall have a wedding when I come back again."
She really wanted to marry him, but when he had left, she just sat down and cried, because she didn't know how to get it spun. When she had been sitting for a while, another old woman came. She was even older than the other two.
Then the girl told her how she came to have the three stone-weights of flax. The other two times she had been helped by two old women who had spun it for her, when she had promised to invite them to her wedding. Now the man had said that he wanted to marry her her if she could get the three stone-weights spun.
But she saw no way out of this, because "neither have I ever spun, nor will I spin, nor can I spin."
Yes, the old woman would also like to help her spin, "if you will to invite me to your wedding and call me Great-Grandmother."
Yes, she she would do that.
Then the old woman took the flax away with her and had it spun and delivered in good time before the farmer came back.
Well, then everything was in good order; he was well satisfied. Preparations were made for the wedding, and it was supposed to be big, because he was, after all, rich.
Then the girl said one day: "Yes, it's true, I have an old aunt and an old great-aunt and an old great-grandmother; they are old and are not very good looking, but I would like to have them with me at the wedding."
Yes, they could be invited. Old women, didn't think they looked as good as young women, but it would be all right.
Well, on the day of the wedding, and the guests were there, an old woman came into the yard. She held her chin up with a cloth on her arm, and she didn't look very good.
The others looked out and said: "What kind of old woman is that?"
Then the bride looked out of the window: "Oh, that's my aunt."
After the old woman had entered, the bride went to her and said: "Welcome, Aunt."
Then the groom welcomed her as well, and said: "Oh my God, how did you even get like this?"
"Yes, I must tell you, my good man, that I used to be so diligent at spinning in my days, and it was mostly flax that I spun, and there I sat, and my fingers bled and bled, and I put my fingers in my mouth, and it continued until my chin came off completely. At first I could tie it up with a cloth, but then it finally came off completely."
While they were standing there talking about it, an other old woman came along, and things were so wrong with her; for her behind had come loose, and she had tied a rope to it and was dragging along begind her with both of her arms.
Well, she came in, she said "Good day."
The bride went to her and said: "Welcome, Great-Aunt!"
The groom also had to go and say welcome. "My God, what happened to you?"
"Yes, I must tell you, my good man, that I used to be very skilled in my days at spinning flax. I sat there spinning until my behind came off."
Before they had even had a chance to talk about it, the third woman arrived, and the couple now looked as mad as she looked. She came rushing in with her behind in front of her on a wheelbarrow.
When she got inside, the bride wemt to her and said: "Welcome, great-grandmother!"
The bridegroom also went to her: "You, my God in heaven, how did you ever become like this?"
"Yes, I must tell you, my good man, that I used to be so good at spinning in my days, and there I sat there spinning until my behind came loose. The first could even drag it along, when it hung a little tight, could tie it to with a rope; but then it went off completely, and now I have to have carry it in a wheelbarrow."
Then the man said: "Yes, it must be that you are all from the same family, because my bride can also spin. This all tells me something, I would hate to have her look like you, so she must promise to never hurt herself whild spinning. "
And thus the young wife was freed from spinning. And that happened because she kept what she had promised the old women.
He asked her why she was counting to herself, and in her embarrassment she answered without thinking: "I was just calculating how many spindles of yarn I can spin every night."
He went home and told his mother about the girl he had talked to in the woods, that she could spin twenty spindles in an evening. That was unlike her servant girls.
The woman immediately sent for the girl and promised her the moon if she wanted to come to the manor as a spinning girl. Right away the girl said yes, because she didn't think that the woman knew what she had said in the woods.
She went to work, and in the evening the woman came with enough empty spools for twenty spindles of thread, saying: "I heard that you can spin this many."
The girl spun and spun as much as she could, and it was getting late, approaching midnight. She was not even half finished. The poor girl! She spun and cried, but to no avail.
At midnight a little dwarf with a red cap came and said: "Why are you sitting there crying? Can I help you?"
"Here's why," she said. "I was supposed to spin all of this tonight, and I'm not even half done. If you could help me I'd be very glad."
"No problem," said the little one. "I'll help you if you will first be my sweetheart and then later my wife."
And in her need, the girl made this promise, although she was worried about the future.
Then one, two, three, all the work was done. Furthermore, from then on the little one helped her with her work every evening. The lady of the manor liked her so much that she was no longer kept as a servant. Because of her ability at spinning she was to marry the young gentleman.
This was a problem: She had promised to marry the little dwarf, but she didn't dare say so. The wedding with the young gentleman was being prepared, but as the appointed day approached, the girl became sadder and sadder.
The dwarf notice that something was wrong. She told him what was happening. He grumbled a little, but then he told her that if she could guess his name he would let her go. She could guess three times within three days. She wanted to attempt this, although she had absolutely no idea how to manage.
Fortunately, one of the court huntsmen was going out every day to hunt game for the wedding. Late one evening he came to a hill all lit up with lights from inside. The hill folk were dancing around it, and one little dwarf was especially spirited. He hopped about singing:
She'll soon be mine,Meanwhile the spinning girl told another servant girl about her secret engagement and her problem with the dwarf. This girl had just heard the huntsman relate his experience in the woods, and she told the whole story to the spinning girl.
I do proclaim,
For she knows not
Trillevip's my name!
When the dwarf came to marry her she pretended to not know his name. At first she guessed "Paul," and then "Peter."
With that the little one danced about and glowed with delight like a new coin.
But his pleasure didn't last long, because with her third guess she said: "Trillevip is your name."
And that was the end of the dwarf's wedding plans. Now he could not marry her, but he still wanted to help her. He knew that the young gentleman had wanted her because she was so good at spinning, and that he would become furious and cast her out if he discovered the true facts.
So as the dwarf was leaving he said to her: "On your wedding day three old women will come into the room when you are eating. In spite of their ugly appearance, you must call the first one "mother," the second one "grandmother," and the third one "great-grandmother." And even if your husband is angry, you must entertain them as well as you can."
And what he said came to pass. She did what he had told her to do, although she could not see what the good of it was.
The first one to come was a ghastly crone with two large red eyes that hung down over her cheeks.
When the bridegroom asked her why her eyes were so red, she said: "Because I have sat up all night spinning."
She left, and a second one arrived. She too was an ugly old woman, and her mouth stretched almost to her ears.
"Why do you have such a big mouth?" asked the bridegroom.
"Because I had to lick my finger so often when I spun, or else the thread wouldn't have come out smooth. I've spun day and night for so many years that it's a wonder my mouth didn't get any bigger."
Finally the most dreadful of the three came in. She hobbled along on two sticks and could neither stand nor walk, her legs were so weak.
"What is wrong with you, mother?" asked the man. "Why is it so hard for you to creep along?"
"You see, I've become weak from treadling a spinning wheel. I've been spinning for as long as anyone can remember, and I wouldn't want anyone to become as wretched as I am."
When she too had hobbled away, the young gentleman said to the spinning girl, who was now his wife: "From now on you shall never spin again; I would not want at any cost for you to look like your mother or your grandmother or your great-grandmother."
Now she understood what the dwarf had intended, and she was glad that she had followed his instructions so exactly.
She accordingly opposed in every way her son's marriage, saying she would have no daughter-in-law that was not expert in housekeeping as she herself been in her youth.
When the queen now insisted on this condition, the young prince went to his bride's mother and asked that she might put his intended wife to the test, and see if peradventure she was not as dexterous as the queen herself.
This was thought by all to be a daring proposal, for the prince's mother was a very industrious woman, who spun and sewed and wove night and day, that her equal was not to be found. The end, however, was the prince got his own way, and the young princess was sent into the women's hall, and the queen sent her two stone of flax, which she was to spin before the daylight came, or else never think of becoming wife to the king's son.
When the princess was left to herself, she became very dejected, for well she knew that she could not spin the queen's flax, and yet she would not lose the young prince, whom she dearly loved. She walked to and fro in the room, and wept and wept without ceasing.
All at once the door was opened very, very softly, and in stepped a wee little thing of an old woman, of strange appearance and still more strange demeanour. The little old woman had uncommonly large feet, so that whoever saw her marvelled at them. She greeted the princess with, "God be with thee!"
"God be with thee also!" returned the princess.
"Why, fair maiden, art thou so downcast tonight?" asked the old woman.
"Well may I be downcast!" answered the princess, "for the queen has ordered me to spin two stone of flax, and if I have not finished it before daylight I shall lose the young prince, whom I dearly love."
The old woman then spake: "Be comforted, fair maiden; if it be naught else, I can help thee; but thou must grant me one request I will make."
The princess felt exceeding grateful for her proffered help, and asked what the request of the old woman might be.
"Well," said the old woman, "they call me Big-Foot Mother, and I want no other return for my help than that I may be invited to thy wedding, for I have been at no wedding since the queen, thy intended mother-in-law, was a bride."
Well, to this the royal maiden had fain to agree, after which they parted one from the other. The old woman went as she came, while the princess laid herself down to rest, though not a wink of sleep did she get the whole livelong night.
Early in the morn, before the peep of day, the door was opened and Big-Foot Mother again entered. She went up to the maiden and handed her a bunch of skeins of yarn, which were snowy white and fine as gossamer.
The little old woman then said: "Look thee! such fine yarn I have not spun since the day when I spun for the queen when she was going to be married; but that is a long time ago now."
This said, she vanished, and the princess enjoyed a short, sweet slumber. But ere long she was aroused by the old queen, who stood by her bedside and asked if the flax was ready.
The maiden said it was, and handed the yarn to her, and the queen had therefore to be content for this time, though the princess saw that it was not with a good heart she was so.
As the day grew, the queen said that she would put another task to the princess, and she sent the yarn down into the maiden's room, together with weaving and other materials, and ordered the princess to weave it into linen cloth, and which was to be ready before sunrise, or else the maiden must not think of obtaining the prince.
When the princess was again left to herself, she became still more dejected, for she knew full well she could not weave the yarn, and yet she would not lose the prince, whom she loved so dearly. She walked to and fro in the room, weeping bitterly; but all at once the door opened, and softly, so softly, in stepped a very little old woman, of strange appearance and still more strange demeanour; she had a very large hump on her back, so that anyone who saw her must needs have been astonished.
She greeted her with, "Heaven bless thee!"
"Heaven bless thee also!" rejoined the maiden in return.
The old woman then asked: "Why art thou so lonely and so sorrowful, young maiden?"
"Yea," answered she, " or certain I may fain grieve; the queen has ordered me weave a web of all this yarn; and if it be not done by dawn tomorrow, I shall lose the young prince, whom I dearly love. "
The old woman then spake: "Be comforted, fair maiden; if it be nothing more, I can help thee; but thou must agree to a condition which I shall make."
The princess felt exceeding glad at this, and asked what the condition was.
"Well," answered the old woman, "they call me the Hunchback Mother, and I don't want any other reward than that I may be asked to thy wedding, for I have not been to one since the queen, your intended mother-in- law, was a bride."
Of course the princess readily consented to this request, and then they parted one from another, the old woman going the way she had come, while the maiden laid herself down to rest, though not a wink of sleep did she get the whole livelong night.
Early in the morn, before the break of day, the door opened and Hunchback Mother again entered; she went up to the maiden, and handed a linen cloth to her, which was snowy-white and as fine and soft as wash-leather, so that no one had ever before seen the like.
The little old woman then said: "Look thee! such web I have not woven since the time I wove for the queen, when she was a bride; but that is now a very long time ago."
With that she vanished, and the princess enjoyed a sweet, short slumber. But ere long she was roused by the old queen, who stood by her bedside and asked if the allotted task was done.
The maiden answered that it was finished, and handed the fine web to her; with this the queen had to be contented for the second time, but the princess saw it was not with a good heart that she was so.
The princess now thought that she would be free from any further task; but the queen thought otherwise, for after a while she had the web sent down to the maiden's chamber, with a message that she was to make shirts for her betrothed, and to have them done before sunrise, or never hope to obtain the young prince for a husband.
When the princess was once more left alone, she felt ill at ease, for she knew full well that she could not do the task; yet she did not like to lose the prince, whom she loved so dearly. She walked to and fro in the chamber, and shed many a bitter tear.
All at once the door opened softly, so softly, and in stepped a wee, little old woman, of strange appearance, and still stranger demeanour. She had an exceeding large thumb, so large that every one who saw her could not but be surprised.
"Heaven be with thee!" she greeted.
"Heaven befriend thee too!" answered the princess.
The old woman then asked: "Why art thou so lonely and sorrowful, fair maiden?"
"Yea," answered the princess," fain may I be grieving; the queen has ordered me to sew shirts for the young prince from this web; and if it is not done before sunrise tomorrow, I shall lose my betrothed, whom I love so dearly."
The wee woman then said: "Fair maiden, if it be nothing else, maybe I can help thee; but thou must agree to a condition."
The princess felt exceeding glad at this, and eagerly inquired the old woman's demand.
"Well," said the old woman, "they call me Large-Thumb Mother, and I don't want any other reward for my trouble than that I may be invited to thy wedding. I have not been at any such since the queen, thy mother-in-law, was a bride."
To this condition the maiden gladly consented, and then the old woman went the way she had come, and the princess lay down to rest, and slept so soundly that she did not even dream of her lover.
Early in the morning, before the peep of day, the door opened, and Large-Thumb Mother entered again. She went up to the princess, and handed her some shirts; but they were so curiously wrought that no one had ever seen the like before.
The old woman said: "Look thee! So well as this I have not wrought since the day I sewed for the queen, when she was to be a bride; but that is a very long time ago."
And with these words she vanished, for the queen was standing in the doorway, and asking if the shirts were ready.
The maiden answered that they were, and handed her the beautiful work.
This so exasperated the queen that her eyes sparkled with anger, and she said: "Well, take him, then; I never thought thou wert so clever."
With this she left the room, and banged the door so that the lock rattled.
The young prince and the royal princess were now to be united as the queen had promised, and the wedding was prepared. But the princess was not very joyful on her wedding day, for she thought of the strange guests she had invited. Time went on, and the wedding festivities were being celebrated with great joy and mirth, as was the custom of yore; but no old women were to be seen, however anxiously the bride looked around. At last, when the guests sat down to table, the maiden observed the three small women, seated in the corner of the banqueting hall at a table all by themselves.
The king then rose and asked who those guests were, that he had not seen before, and had not invited.
The eldest woman of the three replied: "I am called Big-Foot Mother, and my feet are so large because I have had to spin all my life."
"Indeed!" said the king. "Then my daughter-in-law shall never spin any more."
He then turned to the second old woman, and asked what was the cause of her strange appearance.
The old woman answered: "I am called Hunchback Mother, and my back is so big because I have had to weave so much in my time."
"Indeed!" said the king. "Then my daughter-in-law shall never weave any more."
And then he turned to the third old woman, and asked her name. Large-Thumb Mother then rose, and said that she had such a large thumb because she had sewn so much in her time.
"Indeed!" said the king. "Then my daughter-in-law shall never more do any sewing."
And that was the final decision. The fair maiden got the prince, and was exempted from spinning, weaving, and sewing for the rest of her days.
When now the wedding festivities had ended the three old women left, and no one saw how or when they departed, as also no one knew whence they came. But the prince lived happy and contented with his spouse, and all went peacefully and joyfully, because the princess was not such a hard woman as was the old queen.
A Selkirkshire matron had one fair daughter, who loved play better than work, wandering in the meadows and lanes better than the spinning-wheel and distaff.
The mother was heartily vexed at this taste, for in those days no lassie had any chance of a good husband unless she was an industrious spinster. So she cajoled, threatened, even beat her daughter, but all to no purpose; the girl remained what her mother called her, "an idle cuttie."
At last, one spring morning, the gudewife gave her seven heads of lint, saying she would take no excuse; they must be returned in three days spun into yarn. The girl saw her mother was in earnest, so she plied her distaff as well as she could; but her little hands were all untaught, and by the evening of the second day a very small part of her task was accomplished.
She cried herself to sleep that night, and in the morning, throwing aside her work in despair, she strolled out into the fields, all sparkling with dew. At last she reached a flowery knoll, at whose feet ran a little burn, shaded with woodbine and wild roses; and there she sat down, burying her face in her hands. When she looked up, she was surprised to see by the margin of the stream an old woman, quite unknown to her, "drawing out the thread" as she basked in the sun.
There was nothing very remarkable in her appearance, except the length and thickness of her lips, only she was seated on a self bored stone. The girl rose, went to the good dame, and gave her a friendly greeting, but could not help inquiring what made her so "lang lipit."
"Spinning thread, ma hinnie," said the old woman, pleased with her friendliness, and by no means resenting the personal remark.
It must be noticed that spinners used constantly to wet their fingers with their lips as they drew the thread from the rock or distaff.
"Ah!" said the girl, "I should be spinning too, but it's a' to no purpose, I sall ne'er do my task;" on which the old woman proposed to do it for her.
Overjoyed, the maiden ran to fetch her lint, and placed it in her new friend's hand, asking her name, and where she could call for the yarn in the evening; but she received no reply; the old woman's form passed away from her among the trees and bushes, and disappeared. The girl, much bewildered, wandered about a little, set down to rest, and finally fell asleep by the little knoll.
When she awoke she was surprised to find that it was evening. The glories of the western sky were passing into twilight grey. Causleen, or the evening star, was beaming with silvery light, soon to be lost in the moon's increasing splendour. While watching these changes, the maiden was startled by the sound of an uncouth voice, which seemed to issue from below a self-bored stone, close beside her.
She laid her ear to the stone, and distinctly heard these words: "Little kens the wee lassie on the brae-head that ma name's Habetrot."
Then looking down the hole she saw her friend, the old dame, walking backwards and forwards in a deep cavern among a group of spinsters all seated on colludie stones (a kind of white pebble found in rivers), and busy with distaff and spindle. An unsightly company they were, with lips more or less disfigured by their employment, as were old Habetrot's. The same peculiarity extended to another of the sisterhood, who sat in a distant corner reeling the yarn; and she was marked, in addition, by grey eyes, which seemed starting from her head, and a long hooked nose.
While the girl was still watching, she heard Habetrot address this singular being by the name of Scantlie Mab, and tell her to bundle up the yarn, for it was time the young lassie should give it to her mother. Delighted to hear this, our listener got up and turned homewards, nor was she long kept in suspense. Habetrot soon overtook her, and placed the yarn in her hands.
"Oh, what can I do for ye in return?" exclaimed she, in delight.
"Naething-naething," replied the dame; "but dinna tell yer mither whae spun the yarn."
Scarcely crediting her good fortune, our heroine went home, where she found her mother had been busy making sausters, or black puddings, and hanging them up in the lum to dry, and then, tired out, had retired to rest. Finding herself very hungry after her long day on the knoll, the girl took down pudding after pudding, fried and ate them, and at last went to bed too. The mother was up first the next morning, and when she came into the kitchen and found her sausters all gone, and the seven hanks of yarn lying beautifully smooth and bright upon the table, her mingled feelings of vexation and delight were too much for her. She ran out of the house wildly crying out:
Ma daughter's spun se'en, se'en, se'en,A laird, who chanced to be riding by, heard the exclamation but could not understand it; so he rode up and asked the gude wife what was the matter, on which she broke out again:
Ma daughter's eaten se'en, se'en, se'en
And all before daylight!
Ma daughter's spun se'en, se'en, se'en,before daylight; and, if ye dinna believe me, why come in and see it."
Ma daughter's eaten se'en, se'en, se'en
The laird's curiosity was roused; he alighted and went into the cottage, where he saw the yarn, and admired it so much, he begged to see the spinner.
The mother dragged in the blushing girl. Her rustic grace soon won his heart, and he avowed he was lonely without a wife, and had long been in search of one who was a good spinner. So their troth was plighted, and the wedding took place soon afterwards, the bride stifling her apprehensions that she should not prove so deft at her spinning-wheel as her lover expected. And once more old Habetrot came to her aid. Whether the good dame, herself so notable, was as indulgent to all idle damsels does not appear-certainly she did not fail this little pet of hers.
"Bring your bonnie bridegroom to my cell," said she to the young bride soon after her marriage; "he shall see what comes o' spinning, and never will he tie you to the spinning wheel."
Accordingly the bride led her husband the next day to the flowery knoll, and bade him look through the self-bored stone. Great was his his surprise to behold Habetrot dancing and jumping over her rock, singing all the time this ditty to her sisterhood, while they kept time with their spindles:
We who live in dreary den,The song ended, Scantlie Mab asked Habetrot what she meant by her last line, "Unseen by all but me alone."
Are both rank and foul to see,
Hidden frae the glorious sun,
That teems the fair earth's canopie:
Ever must our evenings lone
Be spent on the colludie stone.Cheerless is the evening grey,
When Causleen hath died away,
But ever bright and ever fair,
Are they who breathe this evening air;
And lean upon the self-bored stone
Unseen by all but me alone.
"There is ane," replied Habetrot, "whom I bid to come here at this hour, and he has heard my song through the self-bored stone."
So saying she rose, opened another door, which was concealed by the roots of an old tree, and invited the bridal pair to come in and see her family.
The laird was astonished at the weird-looking company, as he well might be, and inquired of one after another the cause of the strange distortion of their lips. In a different tone of voice, and with a different twist of the mouth, each answered that it was occasioned by spinning.
At least they tried to say so, but one grunted out "Nakasind," and other "Owkasaand," while a third murmured "O-a-o-send."
All, however, conveyed the fact to the bridegroom's understanding; while Habetrot slily hinted, that, if his wife were allowed to spin, her pretty lips would grow out of shape too, and her pretty face get an ugsome look. So before he left the cave he protested his little wife should never touch a spinning-wheel, and he kept his word.
She used to wander in the meadows by his side, or ride behind him over the hills, and all the flax grown on his land was sent to old Habetrot to be converted into yarn.
Well, one morning that things were as bad as they could be, and the poor woman was giving tongue at the rate of a mill-clapper, who should be riding by but the king's son.
"Oh dear, oh dear, good woman!" said he, "you must have a very bad child to make you scold so terribly. Sure it can't be this handsome girl that vexed you!"
"Oh, please, your Majesty, not at all," says the old dissembler. "I was only checking her for working herself too much. Would your Majesty believe it? She spins three pounds of flax in a day, weaves it into linen the next, and makes it all into shirts the day after."
"My gracious," says the prince, " he's the very lady that will just fill my mother's eye, and herself's the greatest spinner in the kingdom. Will you put on your daughter's bonnet and cloak if you please, ma'am, and set her behind me? Why, my mother will be so delighted with her, that perhaps she'll make her her daughter-in-law in a week, that is, if the young woman her self is agreeable."
Well, between the confusion, and the joy, and the fear of being found out, the women didn't know what to do ; and before they could make up their minds, young Anty (Anastasia) was set behind the prince, and away he and his at tendants went, and a good heavy purse was left behind with the mother. She pullillued a long time after all was gone, in dread of something bad happening to the poor girl.
The prince couldn't judge of the girl's breeding or wit from the few answers he pulled out of her. The queen was struck in a heap when she saw a young country girl sitting behind her son, but when she saw her handsome face, and heard all she could do, she didn't think she could make too much of her. The prince took an opportunity of whispering her that if she didn't object to be his wife she must strive to please his mother.
Well, the evening went by, and the prince and Anty were getting fonder and fonder of one another, but the thought of the spinning used to send the cold to her heart every moment.
When bed-time came, the old queen went along with her to a beautiful bed-room, and when she was bidding her good night, she pointed to a heap of fine flax, and said, "You may begin as soon as you like tomorrow morning, and I'll expect to see these three pounds in nice thread the morning after."
Little did the poor girl sleep that night. She kept crying and lamenting that she didn't mind her mother's advice better. When she was left alone next morning, she began with a heavy heart; and though she had a nice mahogany wheel and the finest flax you ever saw, the thread was breaking every moment. One while it was as fine as a cobweb, and the next as coarse as a little boy's whipcord. At last she pushed her chair back, let her hands fall in her lap, and burst out a crying.
A small old woman with surprising big feet appeared before her at the same moment, and said, "What ails you, you handsome colleen?"
"An' haven't I all that flax to spin before tomorrow morning, and I'll never be able to have even five yards of fine thread of it put together."
"An' would you think bad to ask poor Colliagh Cushmōr (Old woman Big-Foot) to your wedding with the young prince? If you promise me that, all your three pounds will be made into the finest of thread while you're taking your sleep to night."
"Indeed you must be there and welcome, and I'll honour you all the days of your life."
"Very well; stay in your room till tea-time, and tell the queen she may come in for her thread as early as she likes tomorrow morning."
It was all as she said; and the thread was finer and evener than the gut you see with fly-fishers.
"My brave girl you were!" says the queen. I'll get my own mahogany loom brought into you, but you needn't do anything more today. Work and rest, work and rest, is my motto. Tomorrow you'll weave all this thread, and who knows what may happen?"
The poor girl was more frightened this time than the last, and she was so afraid to lose the prince. She didn't even know how to put the warp in the gears, nor how to use the shuttle, and she was sitting in the greatest grief, when a little woman who was mighty well-shouldered about the hips all at once appeared to her, told her her name was Colliach Cromanmōr, and made the same bargain with her as Colliach Cushmōr.
Great was the queen's pleasure when she found early in the morning a web as fine and white as the finest paper you ever saw.
"The darling you were!" says she. "Take your ease with the ladies and gentlemen today, and if you have all this made into nice shirts to morrow you may present one of them to my son, and be married to him out of hand."
Oh, wouldn't you pity poor Anty the next day, she was now so near the prince, and, maybe, would be soon so far from him. But she waited as patiently as she could with scissors, needle, and thread in hand, till a minute after noon. Then she was rejoiced to see the third old woman appear. She had a big red nose, and informed Anty that people called her Shron Mor Rua on that account. She was up to her as good as the others, for a dozen fine shirts were lying on the table when the queen paid her an early visit.
Now there was nothing talked of but the wedding, and I needn't tell you it was grand. The poor mother was there along with the rest, and at the dinner the old queen could talk of nothing but the lovely shirts, and how happy herself and the bride would be after the honeymoon, spinning, and weaving, and sewing shirts and shifts without end.
The bridegroom didn't like the discourse, and the bride liked it less, and he was going to say something, when the footman came up to the head of the table, and said to the bride, "Your ladyship's aunt, Colliach Cushmōr, bade me ask might she come in."
The bride blushed and wished she was seven miles under the floor, but well became the prince, "Tell Mrs. Cushmōr," said he, "that any relation of my bride's will be always heartily welcome wherever she and I are."
In came the woman with the big foot, and got a seat near the prince.
The old queen didn't like it much, and after a few words she asked rather spitefully, "Dear ma'am, what's the reason your foot is so big?"
"Musha, faith, your majesty, I was standing almost all my life at the spinning-wheel, and that's the reason."
" I declare to you, my darling," said the prince, "I'll never allow you to spend one hour at the same spinning-wheel."
The same footman said again, "Your ladyship's aunt, Colliach Cromanmōr, wishes to come in, if the genteels and yourself have no objection."
Very sharoose (displeased) was Princess Anty, but the prince sent her welcome, and she took her seat, and drank healths apiece to the company.
"May I ask, ma'am?" says the old queen, why you're so wide half way between the head and the feet?"
"That, your majesty, is owing to sitting all my life at the loom."
"By my sceptre," says the prince, "my wife shall never sit there an hour."
The footman again came up. "Your ladyship's aunt, Colliach Shron Mor Rua, is asking leave to come into the banquet."
More blushing on the bride's face, but the bridegroom spoke out cordially, "Tell Mrs. Shron Mor Rua she's doing us an honour."
In came the old woman, and great respect she got near the top of the table, but the people down low put up their tumblers and glasses to their noses to hide the grins.
"Ma'am," says the old queen, "will you tell us, if you please, why your nose is so big and red?"
"Throth, your majesty, my head was bent down over the stitching all my life, and all the blood in my body ran into my nose."
"My darling," said the prince to Anty, "if ever I see a needle in your hand, I'll run a hundred miles from you."
Thus was the tale ended by poor old Shebale (Sybilla), Father Murphy's housekeeper, in Coolbawn, Barony of Bantry, about half a century since.And in troth, girls and boys, though it's a diverting story, I don't think the moral is good; and if any of you thuckeens go about imitating Anty in her laziness, you'll find it won't thrive with you as it did with her. She was beautiful beyond compare, which none of you are, and she had three powerful fairies to help her besides. There's no fairies now, and no prince or lord to ride by, and catch you idling or working; and maybe, after all, the prince and herself were not so very happy when the cares of the world or old age came on them.
One day a young man was passing by the house he found a noise inside. He went in and found the girl's mother beating her with a stick. He asked her mother what was she beating her then for, she answered for working too hard. The young man asked what kind of work does she do and her mother said that she was doing too much at the spinning wheel.
The young man said that he had plenty of work to do, and if Nell did it for him he would marry her. So her mother said that Nell would do the work for him. The next morning the young man got Nell into a room by herself and gave her wool and told her to have it spun in twenty-four hours. Of course Nell Beag could not spin any wool at all, so she began crying and asking what would she do.
The door flew open and in came a woman with a big foot and asked Nell Beag what was she crying about. She said that she had to have the wool spun in twenty-four hours. So the woman with the big foot told her that if she would ask her to her wedding, she would do the work for her. So she did the work for her. When the twenty-four hours were up, Nell Beag went into the kitchen and told the man that she had the whole wool spun. Then he give her cloth to make shirts and she didn't know how to make them.
The door flew open again and in came a woman with a big nose. She told her if she would ask her to her wedding, she would make the shirts for her, and Nell Beag said she would. So she made the shirts for her. Then Nell went into the kitchen and told the man that she had the shirts made for him.
Then he gave her cloth to sew. Of course she would not sew any. So in came a woman with a big hand and told her if she would ask her to her wedding, she would sew the cloth for her. Nell said she would. Then the woman with the big hand sewed the cloth for her. Then Nell went into the kitchen and told the man that she had the whole cloth sewed.
Next morning they both went away to get married, and when they came home that night they weren't long in till in came the woman with the big foot and stood up at the fire. A moment after, in came the woman with the big nose and stood up beside the other woman. After that another woman came in with a big hand and stood up beside the other. When the women were in a while, the young man asked Nell Beag had she them asked to the wedding, and Nell said that she had.
Then the man asked Nell what has happened to the woman's foot that had it so big. Nell Beag said that she was spinning all the time, and that was why her foot was so big. Then he asked what happened to the other woman's nose that had it so big, Nell said she was making shirts and all the time she had her head down, and that was why her nose was so big. Then he asked Nell what happened to that woman's hand. She answered she was sewing all the time, and that was why her hand got so big.
The young man then began to think that Nell's foot, nose, and hand would grow that way too, and he got a servant to do the work. And Nell Beag had nothing to do any more and lived happy from that day to this.
Calistus Gallagher of Rathneeny Barr told me this story one night last winter.
As the girl was very pretty the prince was very much struck with her, and asked her mother, "What is the matter?"
"How can I help it?" said the mother, "for, after she has spun everything that I had, she asked for more flax to spin."
"Let her alone, my good woman," said the prince; "don't beat her. Give her to me, let me take her with me, I will give her plenty to spin. My mother has plenty of work that needs to be done, so she can enjoy herself spinning as much as she likes."
The woman gave her daughter away with the greatest pleasure, thinking that what she was unwilling to do at home she might be ashamed to shirk in a strange place, and get used to it, and perhaps even become a good spinster after all.
The prince took the girl with him and put her into a large shed full of flax, and said, " If you spin all you find here during the month you shall be my wife."
The girl, seeing the great place full of flax, nearly had a fit, as there was enough to have employed all the girls in the village for the whole of the winter; nor did she begin to work, but sat down and fretted over it, and thus three weeks of the month passed by.
In the meantime she always asked the person who took her her food, "What news there was?"
Each one told her something or other. At the end of the third week one night, as she was terribly downcast, suddenly a little man half an ell long, with a beard one and a-half ells long, slipped in and said, "Why are you worrying yourself, you good, pretty spinning-girl?"
"That's just what's the matter with me," replied the girl; "I am not a good spinster, and still they will believe that I am a good spinster, and that's the reason why I am locked up here."
"Don't trouble about that," said the little man; "I can help you and will spin all the flax during the next week if you agree to my proposal and promise to come with me if you don't find out my name by the time that I finish my spinning."
"That's all right," said the girl, "I will go with you," thinking that then the matter would be all right.
The little dwarf set to work. It happened during the fourth week that one of the men-servants, who brought the girl's food, went out hunting with the prince. One day he was out rather late, and so was very late when he brought the food.
The girl said, "What's the news?"
The servant told her that that evening as he was coming home very late he saw, in the forest, in a dark ditch, a little man half an ell high, with a beard one and a-half ells long, who was jumping from bough to bough, and spinning a thread, and humming to himself: "My name is Dancing Vargaluska. My wife will be good spinster Sue."
Sue, the pretty spinning-girl, knew very well what the little man was doing, but she merely said to the servant, "It was all imagination that made you think you saw it in the dark."
She brightened up; for she knew that all the stuff would be spun, and that he would not be able to carry her off, as she knew his name.
In the evening the little man returned with one-third of the work done and said to her, "Well, do you know my name yet?"
"Perhaps, perhaps," said she; but she would not have told his real name for all the treasures in the world, fearing that he might cease working if she did. Nor did she tell him when he came the next night. On the third night the little man brought the last load; but this time he brought a wheelbarrow with him, with three wheels, to take the girl away with him.
When he asked the girl his name she said, "If I'm not mistaken, your name is Dancing Vargaluska."
On hearing this the little man rushed off as if somebody had pulled his nose.
The month being up, the prince sent to see if the girl had completed her work; and when the messenger brought back word that all was finished the king was greatly astonished how it could possibly have happened that so much work had been done in so short a time, and went himself, accompanied by a great suite of gentlemen and court-dames, and gazed with great admiration upon the vast amount of fine yarn they saw. Nor could they praise the girl enough, and all found her worthy to be queen of the land.
Next day the wedding was celebrated, and the girl became queen. After the grand wedding-dinner, the poor came, and the king distributed alms to them; amongst them were three deformed beggars, who struck the king very much: one was an old woman whose eyelids were so long that they covered her whole face; the second was an old woman whose lower lip was so long that the end of it reached to her knee; the third old woman's posterior was so flat that it was like a pancake.
These three were called into the reception-room and asked to explain why they were so deformed.
The first said, "In my younger days I was such a good spinster that I had no rival in the whole neighbourhood. I spun till I got so addicted to it that I even used to spin at night; the effect of all this was that my eyelids became so long that the doctors could not get them back to their places."
The second said, "I have spun so much during my life and for such a length of time that with continually biting off the end of the yarn my lips got so soft that one reached my knees."
The third said, "I have sat so much at my spinning that my posterior became flat as it is now."
Hereupon the king, knowing how passionately fond his wife was of spinning, got so frightened that he strictly prohibited her ever spinning again.
The news of the story went out over the whole world, into every royal court and every town; and the women were so frightened at what had happened to the beggars that they broke every distaff, spinning-wheel, and spindle, and threw them into the fire!
She said: "My lord, she is such a worker that she can spin the moss off our wall."
With that the gentleman said: "Just give her to me. At home I have enough to spin."
Then the woman said: "Just take her with you. Just take her with you. I don't want her anymore."
When the gentleman arrived home with her, the first evening he stuffed a whole barrel full of tow for her and left her alone in a room.
Now she was afraid: "I don't like to spin, and I can't spin."
That evening three Laumes came by and knocked at the window. The girl quickly let them in.
The Laumes said: "If you will invite us to your wedding, we will help you spin tonight."
She quickly replied: "Do the spinning! Do the spinning! I will invite you."
That evening the Laumes span the whole barrel empty. The lazy girl slept while the Laumes span.
In the morning the gentleman came to see how things stood. The girl was sleeping, and the whole wall of the room was covered with spun yarn. The gentleman didn't let anyone go into the girl's room, so that she could get a good night's sleep after such such hard work.
The next day he gave her a barrel of the same size full of flax. The Laumes appeared again and it happened as on the first evening.
The gentleman had nothing more to spin and he said: "Now I want to marry you, since you are such an excellent worker."
The day before the wedding, the girl said to the gentleman: "I must go to my three aunts and invite them."
And the gentleman let her go. When the aunts arrived they seated themselves behind the stove.
The gentleman came to, and when he saw them in their ugliness, he said to the girl, "But your aunts are very ugly."
And he asked one of the Laumes why she had such a long nose.
She replied to the gentleman: "Master, that's from too much spinning. If you are always spinning, your nose stretches that much in length."
Then he asked the other Laume why she had such thick lips.
She replied to the gentleman: "Master, that's from too much spinning. If you keep licking the yarn while you are spinning, your lips get fat."
Then he asked the third Laume why she had such a misshapen behind.
She replied to the gentleman: "Master, that's from too much spinning. If you keep spinning and always sitting, your rump becomes misshapen."
With that he was afraid that spinning would make his wife just as ugly, and he quickly threw the distaff into the stove.
One day she visited the house of a friend of hers, and among the guests there was a wealthy Indian, who took an opportunity of saying that he would marry if he could find a skilful, domestic, modest girl for a wife.
The old woman listened to this, and when she had a chance told him that he would find what he sought in her niece, who was a prize, a grain of gold, and so skilful that she could do anything.
The gentleman said that he should like to know her, and that he would call the following day. The old woman ran home and told her niece to tidy the house, and that the following day she should dress herself in her best, because they were going to have a visitor.
When the gentleman came, on the following day, he asked the girl if she could spin.
"What cannot she do?" said the aunt. "The skeins fly through her fingers like water."
"What have you done, madam?" said the niece, when the gentleman had departed, leaving with her three spools of flax to be spun. "What have you done? For I don't know how to spin."
"Nonsense, girl," said the aunt, "you will do very well. Don't trouble yourself, but see what heaven will do for you."
"But in what a predicament you have put me," said the niece, crying.
"You must see what you can devise," replied the aunt; "but you have to spin those three skeins, for on that depends your fate."
At night the girl retired to her room in great grief, and placed herself in the protecting hands of the blessed spirits, for she was very devout. Whilst she was praying there appeared to her three very beautiful spirits, clothed in white. They told her not to grieve, and they would help her in return for her many fervent prayers. Each one then took a skein of the flax and wound it off into a thread as fine as a hair. On the following day, when the Indian came, he was astounded at seeing such dexterity united with so much diligence.
"Did I not tell you so, sir?" said the old woman, almost beside herself with delight.
The gentleman inquired if the girl knew how to sew.
"What cannot she do?" said the aunt with ardour, "Pieces of needlework go through her hands as quickly as cherries through a greedy mouth."
Then the gentleman left linen for three shirts to be made, and the same thing happened as on the previous night; and again on the following, when the Indian left a satin waistcoat to be embroidered.
Only on the third night, when the girl was praying with much fervour and many tears, the guardian spirits appeared, and one of them said to her: "Do not fret yourself, we are come to embroider this waistcoat for you, but it must be on one condition."
"What is that?" inquired the girl anxiously.
"That you invite us to your wedding."
"But am I going to be married?" asked the girl.
"Yes," answered the spirits, "to that wealthy Indian,"
And so it came to pass; for on the following day, when the gentleman saw the waistcoat so delicately embroidered that it looked as if hands had never touched it, and so beautiful that it ravished the eyesight, he told the aunt that he would like to marry her niece.
The aunt could have danced for joy, but not so the niece, who said: "But, madam, what will become of me when my husband discovers that I can do nothing?"
"Nonsense," replied the aunt. "The guardian spirits, who have rescued you from such difficulties, will not cease from assisting you."
The marriage then was arranged, and on the evening previous to the wedding the bride went to the altar of her guardian spirits and invited them to the ceremony.
On the wedding day, when the feasting was at its height, three old women entered the room; they were so fearfully ugly that the bridegroom was dumbfounded, and could only stare at them. One of them had one arm very short and the other so long that it trailed on the ground; the second was humpbacked and had her body all crooked; whilst the third had goggle eyes more inflamed than a tomato.
"Good heavens!" said the gentleman at last to his perturbed bride, "Who are these three hobgoblins?"
"They are my father's aunts," responded the bride, "whom I have invited to the wedding."
The gentleman, who was well mannered, went to speak to them and offer them seats.
"Tell me," he said to the one that entered first, "how it is that you have one arm so short and one so long."
"My son," said the old woman, "it is because I have done so much spinning."
The Indian got up and went to his bride, and said to her: "Break your spindle and distaff, and mind that you never spin any more."
Afterwards he asked the second old woman how it was that she was so humpbacked and crooked.
"My son," she responded, "I am so because I have done so much embroidery."
In three steps the Indian reached his bride and said to her: "My own one! break your embroidery frame, and beware of ever again attempting to embroider!"
Then he went to the third old woman, and asked her how it was that her eyes were so projecting and inflamed.
"My son," replied she as she goggled them about, "it is through so much sewing and bending my head over the needlework."
No sooner had she uttered the words than the Indian was at his wife's side, saying to her: "Seize your needles and thread and fling them into the well; and, understand me thoroughly, the day on which I see you sew I will apply for a divorce! A wise head profits by other folk's experience!"
On the last night before the wedding, three women suddenly appeared before her. One of them had a nose so big that it hung down to her feet. The second woman had a lower lip of similar length. Finally, the third woman had a behind that was larger than the rest of her body.
They said to the girl: "We are three sisters, one of us is called Mytú, the other Tsachilú, and the third Kolú. Do not be afraid of us, dear child, for behold, we are your Fates. We shaped your destiny to be a loafer, but we do not want you to appear as such before your bridegroom. We have come to help you. Just give us your yarn. One of us is a weaver, and because her work causes her to constantly turn her head back and forth to the left and to the right her nose has grown so large. The other is a seamstress, and that is why her lip has pulled down so far, because she keeps touching it with her finger, in order to wet and and twist the thread. The third of us is a knitter, and from sitting in one place all the time, she has grown such a large behind."
The girl gave the yarn to the three women. They commenced with the work, and in one hour everything was finished that the lazy girl was supposed to have done in a year.
Next the Fates said to her: "Look, we have done all this for you, and we do not ask for any payment. We only ask you to allow us to come to your wedding tomorrow."
"With pleasure," answered the girl.
The following evening everything was ready for the wedding. Suddenly, amid great shouts of joy, three carriages arrived. The door opened, and the three Fates entered. They went up to the bride, kissed her, and sat down next to her.
The bridegroom asked his bride in amazement whether she knew these women, and why they were so disfigured.
"Yes," answered the bride, "these are friends of mine," and she told him how they had become so ugly.
Filled both with amazement and with fear, he said to his bride: "I want a beautiful wife and not an ugly one. I do not want you to be like these women, so you shall never have to work."
Thus the girl fulfilled her destiny.
One day the mother said to the daughter, "I am going to mass; remain, and mind that these eight thrushes do not get burnt," for she had put eight thrushes to roast.
When she was gone, the girl went to the fire to see that the thrushes were not burning, and she looked at them, and looked at them, till suddenly she found she had eaten one of them; it was so good that she tasted another, then another, and went on eating, eating, until she had caten all the eight thrushes.
When she discovered what she had done she was terribly frightened; she took the cat, and rubbed his nose with some of the remains of the birds, and then threw the bones into the cat's corner. When the mother returned from mass, she found the thrushes gone.
"Who has taken the thrushes?" she cried, in a great rage.
"Don't you see that it's the cat, mamma?" answered the gluttonous one. "Don't you see that his nose is all greasy?" and she fell to beating the cat, who of course, poveretto, could say nothing.
"I don't believe a word of it!" cried the mother. "How could the cat have got the thrushes off the fire without burning himself? It is thou who hast eaten them, thou good-for-nothing gluttonous one!" and taking a stick she began to beat her tremendously, and the girl cried, "Mamma, don't beat me!"
Now it so happened that the King's son was passing by, and hearing the howling, he opened the door, and seeing the woman beating this girl, he was very angry.
"Why do you beat your daughter, you bad woman?" he cried.
The mother was terribly frightened, and answered, "I beat her for disobeying me. I told her to spin four distaff-fuls of hemp while I was at mass, and she has spun eight," for she was ashamed to say that her daughter was a glutton.
The Prince was very much surprised, knowing that it usually takes about four hours to spin a single distaff-ful of hemp, and hearing that the girl had spun eight in the time of a single mass.
"You stupid woman!" he said; "you should be glad to have such a wonderful daughter."
And he went home, and he said to the Queen, "Look here, mother, I have just seen a girl who can spin eight distaff-fuls in the time of a mass. I must marry her at once, and we shall make our fortune."
The Queen said yes; but she did not fancy her son marrying a peasant, and besides, she didn't believe anyone could spin so quickly.
So she said, "First we must see whether it be true."
So she called the girl, and locked her up in a room, and had eight distaff-fuls of hemp brought, and said, "Now let me see whether you can spin all this in one night, since your mother says you can spin it in the time of a mass."
So the poor girl remained locked up with this mountain of hemp, and she cried and did not touch it, well knowing it was all false, and that instead of having spun eight distaff-fuls in the time of a mass, she had merely eaten eight thrushes. And she did not know what to do. When suddenly, in the middle of the night, she heard a little noise in the chimney, and looking up, she saw the tip of a nose. And the nose descended -- more nose, always more and yet more nose, an infinity of nose -- came down, down, down. And at length there appeared the head which was fastened to this endless nose; it was a little old woman, all wrinkled and hairy, with an old-fashioned lace cap on.
And she followed her nose, and said, " Now, if you promise to invite me to your wedding, I will spin all this for you in a minute."
And the girl promised. So the old lady, who was a fairy, dragged all her endless nose over the hemp; and immediately it turned into thread. Then she disappeared.
The next morning the Queen came, and was quite astounded at finding that the eight distaff-fuls had really been turned into thread; but she said, "Now you must weave all this thread into stuff [cloth];" and she again locked up the girl for the night, with a loom and this mountain of thread.
So the poor girl did not know what to do, and began to cry; when suddenly, in the middle of the night, she hears a noise in the chimney. She looks up, and sees the tip of a tail, then more tail, and more and more, and always more tail, an infinity of tail; and to this tail was fastened a little old woman, all hairy and wrinkled, in an old-fashioned lace cap, just like the other one with the nose.
She was a fairy, and her sister; and she said to the girl, "I will weave all this for thee, if thou promise to invite me to thy wedding."
So the poor girl said yes, and the fairy dragged her tail about over the thread, and, see! it was instantly turned into woven stuff. Then the fairy disappeared.
The next morning the Queen was quite astonished to find all the thread woven. However, as she did not fancy marrying her son to a poor girl, she made another condition:
"Now," she says, "you must make up all this into a wedding dress, and in front you must sew the moon, and the sun behind."
So she locked up the girl yet another night.
Of course the poor girl was in despair. The sun and moon! How could she ever get those? And as she was crying, a little noise was heard in the chimney, and she saw the end of a finger-nail, and more nail come down -- more, more, more -- yards of nails, until the room was full of it. And then appeared the person to whom these terrible nails belonged; she was a fairy, just like the two others -- indeed, she was their sister.
She said to the girl, "If you will promise to invite me to your wedding, I will make up the dress for you, and get you the sun and moon."
And the girl thought, "You are a nice person to invite to a wedding, with all your yards of nails!"
However, she promised. So the fairy dragged her endless nails over the stuff, and see! it was immediately made into the most beautiful dress!
Then she stretched out her claws into the sky, and brought down the moon, and said to the girl, "Just stitch it on to the dress;" so the girl stitched it on like a favour. Then the fairy stretched out her claws into the sky, and brought down the sun, and bid the girl stitch that on. Then she disappeared.
The next morning, the Queen was quite dazzled and thunderstruck by the dress. I don't wonder at it. Just think! With the moon in front and the sun behind, what a light it must have made! She could now make no further difficulties, so the poor girl married the King's son, and became Queen.
During the wedding, when everyone is assembled in church, three large coaches with livery drove up; out of the first gets the fairy with the nose, out of the second the fairy with the tail, out of the third the fairy with the claws, and they walk into church.
When the people see all this nose and tail and nails sweeping through the church, they cry out that these are witches, and ought to be burnt.
The beadles try to turn them out; but the bride goes up to them, and says, "Let them come; I invited them to my wedding."
So they remained, all three, -- the one all nose, the one all tail, and the one all claws.
Saporita took the bits of bacon rind, and when she had scraped away the bristles, put them in a saucepan to cook. The savoury odour they sent forth was a mortal challenge to her appetite. She resisted for some time, but finally she allowed herself to taste a morsel.
It tasted so good that she said to herself: "Let us eat, come what may! It is nothing by bacon rind! What harm could come to me?"
So she ate up the first piece; but this made her stomach clamour all the more, so she took a second one. Then she pecked at the third piece, and gradually, one after the other, ate the whole seven.
When she had finished, she began to reflect on the wicked deed she had done. She bethought herself how she could deceive her mother, and, taking an old shoe, she cut the sole into seven slices and threw them into the saucepan.
At this moment the mother came back with a bundle of broccoli and broke it up into bits and threw it into the saucepan. She added a little fat, which a coachman had given her from what he had left after greasing his carriage. Then, taking two bits of stale bread and a wooden platter down from the shelf, she crumbled the bread and put it over the broccoli and pieces of shoe leather.
She began to eat, but at once discovered that her teeth were not made for shoe leather.
She turned in a fury to her daughter: "What filth have you put in this soup? Do you think my stomach is an old shoe that you should supply me with bits of leather? Out with it, confess at once what has happened, or I won't leave a bone in your body unbroken!"
Saporita began by denying eveything, but as this only increased the old woman's wrath, she put the blame on the steam from the saucepan, which had blinded her and caused her to make this fearful mistake. The old woman, seeing her food poisoned, siezed a broomstick and set to work with it, hitting her wherever she could.
At the cries of the daughter, a merchant, who happened to be passing, came in and, seeing the fury of the old woman, took the broomstick out of her hand, saying: "What has this poor girl done to you that you should try to murder her? Is this the way to punish her and perhaps take her life? Are you not ashamed to treat the poor child in this way?"
"You do not know what she has done!" replied the old woman. "The shameless girl sees me a beggar and does not care a jot. She will ruin me with her doctors and druggists. I bad her, now that the weather is hot, not to work too hard lest she should fall ill; for I have not the means to look after her. In spite of my words, the impertinent creature this morning has insisted in filling seven spindles, thereby rising some inflammation of the heart and having her on my hands, laid up in bed for a couple of months."
When the merchant heard this, he thought the industry of this girl would be a fairy's wand in his house, and he said to the old woman: "Put aside your anger; you shall no longer run this risk, for I will make your daughter my wife, and will take her to my home, where she shall live as a princess."
The old woman, who saw fortune raining down upon her when she least expected it, took Saporita by the hand and gave her to the merchant, saying: "Here she is, may she be yours henceforth for many happy years, may she enjoy health and be blessed with handsome heirs."
The merchant put his arm round the maiden and took her with him to his house, and awaited the hour and day to go to market to make the necessary outlay. On the following Monday, the merchant got up very early and went to the place where the country-women stood with their goods.
He bought twenty dozens of flax and brought it back to Saporita, saying: "Now you can spin to your heart's content, and need not fear you will find another mad old thing like your mother, who broke your bones because you filled the spindles. For every dozen spindles I will give you a dozen kisses, and for every roll of linen that you make I will give you my heart. So work with good courage, and when I return from the fair, twenty days hence, let me find all the flax spun, and I will give you a fine pair of red sleeves faced with green velvet."
"Now I'm in a pretty pickle!" muttered Saporita to herself. "Now you'll have your spindle full! If you expect a shirt from my hands from today onwards you can provide yourself with the wrapping-paper. I am a black goat, that you expect me to spin twenty dozens of flax in twenty days? Cursed be the wind that blew me to this shore!"
As the time for her husband's return drew near, she began to be anxious, and to tremble with fear at the thought of all the noise and upset there would be when the merchant found the flax untouched and the chests empty.
So what did she do? She took a very long pole, round which she wound a dozen of flax with all its tow, stuck a big fork into an Indian gourd, and tied the pole to a parapet of the wall. Then she began to lower this round-bellied spindle, whilst she spun strands as slender as a ship's ropes.
There happened to be passing in front of the house certain fairies, who were so fascinated by this strange spectacle that they nearly cracked their sides with laughing. And they put a spell on Saporita, so that all the flax she had in the house was found to be not only spun, but also woven into cloth and bleached. All this happened immediately, so that Saporita swam in the grease of joy on seeing this good fortune rain down upon her.
All the same, since she did not wish that a similar trouble should again befall her from her husband, she let herself be found in bed, having first put under the sheet a measure of nuts. When her husband arrived, she began to groan, and turned from side to side, cracking the nuts, so that it sounded as if her bones were all becoming dislocated.
Her husband asked her how she felt, and she answered him in a pitiful voice: "I could not be worse than I am; I have not a whole bone in my body. Do you think it is a mere trifle to spin twenty dozens of flax in twenty days and then to weave it into cloth? Well, my husband, you will not have the expense of a midwife. When I am dead it will be no good calling out: 'Oh, mother mine!' You will not catch me again at this dog's task: I do not choose, in order to fill your spindles, to empty the spindle of my own life."
The husband, caressing her tenderly, said: "Only get well again, my wife, for your lovely texture is more dear to me than all the cloth in the world. Now I see that your mother was right when she punished you for working so much, for it causes you to lose your health. But be of good cheer, for I will willingly spend money to have you well again, and I am going at once to fetch the doctor."
Whilst he was gone, Saporita ate up the nuts and threw the shells out of the window, and when the doctor came, after he had given a look at her, felt her pulse and smelt the chamber, he concluded that she was suffering from too much blood and too little work. The merchant thought this insolent nonsense sent the man away fuming with rage.
He wanted to go in search of another surgeon, but Saporita assured him there was no need, and that seeing her husband again had already cured her. Her husband embraced her, and bade her from that time onward never to do anything to overtire herself.
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Revised June 27, 2023.