Mother Holle

A widow had two daughters. One was beautiful and hardworking, the other ugly and lazy. But because the ugly, lazy one was her own daughter, the woman loved her far more. The other, her stepdaughter, had to do all the housework and was the Cinderella of the house. Every day the poor girl had to sit by a well beside the road and spin until her fingers bled.

One day the spindle became so stained with blood that the girl leaned over the well to wash it. But the spindle slipped from her hand and fell into the well. Crying, the girl ran to her stepmother and told her what had happened. Her stepmother scolded her and said without mercy: "Since you dropped the spindle, go and fetch it out yourself!" The girl went back to the well, not knowing what to do, and in her fear she jumped into the well to fetch the spindle.

She lost consciousness. When she opened her eyes, she was lying in a beautiful meadow where the sun was shining and thousands of flowers were blooming. She began to walk across the meadow and came to an oven full of bread. The loaves were crying out: "Oh, take me out, take me out, or I'll burn! I've been baked long enough!" The girl went up to them and took out the loaves one by one with the bread shovel.

Then she walked on and came to a tree full of apples. The tree called out: "Oh, shake me, shake me, my apples are all ripe!" The girl shook the tree, and the apples came down like rain. She shook until no apples were left, then gathered them into a heap and went on her way.

At last she came to a little house. An old woman was looking out of the window. She had such big teeth that the girl was frightened and wanted to run away. But the old woman called to her: "Why are you afraid, dear child? Stay with me. If you do all the work in my house properly, it will go well for you. Only you must take care to make my bed well and shake my quilt until the feathers fly, for then it snows on the earth. I am Mother Holle."

The old woman spoke so kindly that the girl took heart and agreed to work for her. She did everything to the old woman's satisfaction, and every day she shook the quilt so hard that the feathers flew about like snowflakes. So she had a very good life with her; she never heard an unkind word, and every day she had boiled and roasted meat to eat.

After she had stayed with Mother Holle for some time, she grew sad. At first she did not know what was wrong, and then she realised she was homesick. Although she was a thousand times better off here, she still longed to go home. At last she said to the old woman: "I miss my home. However good things are for me here, I can't stay any longer. I must go back to my own people." Mother Holle said, "I'm pleased that you want to go home. You have served me faithfully, so I will take you up myself."

She took the girl by the hand and led her to a great gate. The gate opened, and just as the girl was standing beneath it, a great shower of gold fell on her. All the gold stuck to her, so that she was covered in gold from head to foot. "That is your reward for being so hardworking," said Mother Holle, and she gave her back the spindle that had fallen into the well. Then the gate closed, and the girl found herself up in the world, not far from her mother's house. As she came into the yard, the rooster on the well cried: "Cock-a-doodle-doo, our golden girl is home again!"

She went in to her mother, and because she was covered in gold, both her mother and her stepsister welcomed her warmly. The girl told them everything that had happened to her. When the mother heard how she had come by such riches, she wanted her other, ugly and lazy daughter to have the same luck. She made her sit by the well and spin. The lazy girl pricked her finger on a thorn to get blood on the spindle, threw the spindle into the well, and jumped in after it.

She too came to the beautiful meadow and walked along the same path. When she reached the oven, the bread cried out again: "Oh, take me out, take me out, or I'll burn!" But the lazy girl said, "What, and get myself dirty?" and walked on. Then she came to the apple tree, which called: "Oh, shake me, shake me, my apples are ripe!" "What, so one can fall on my head?" said the girl, and went on her way.

When she reached Mother Holle's house, she was not afraid of her big teeth, because she had heard about them, and she started working for her at once. On the first day she made an effort and was hardworking and did what Mother Holle told her, because she was thinking of the gold she would be given. But on the second day she began to be lazy, and on the third day even more so; in the mornings she did not even want to get out of bed. She did not make Mother Holle's bed properly and did not shake the quilt until the feathers flew. And no snow fell on the earth.

Mother Holle soon grew tired of this and told her to leave. The lazy girl was very pleased, because now she thought the shower of gold would come. Mother Holle took her too to the great gate. But as she stood beneath it, instead of gold, a big kettle full of black pitch was poured over her. "That is the reward for your service," said Mother Holle, and she shut the gate.

The lazy girl went home covered in pitch from head to toe. When the rooster on the well saw her, it cried: "Cock-a-doodle-doo, our sticky girl is home again!" The pitch stuck to her so firmly that it would not come off for a long, long time. At last the girl understood that gold can only be earned by hard work. From then on she began to be hardworking too, and little by little the pitch wore off.

Even today, when it snows in Germany, children say, "Mother Holle is shaking her quilt!" If it snows outside tonight, look out of your window; perhaps that hardworking girl is shaking the quilt again.