| There was once a girl who was idle and would not spin, and | |
| let her mother say what she would, she could not bring her | |
| to it. At last the mother was once so overcome with anger | |
| and impatience, that she beat her, at which the girl began | |
| to weep loudly. Now at this very moment the queen drove by, | |
| and when she heard the weeping she stopped her carriage, went | |
| into the house and asked the mother why she was beating her | |
| daughter so that the cries could be heard out on the road. Then | |
| the woman was ashamed to reveal the laziness of her daughter | |
| and said, I cannot get her to leave off spinning. She insists | |
| on spinning for ever and ever, and I am poor, and cannot | |
| procure the flax. Then | |
| answered the queen, there is nothing that I like better to hear | |
| than spinning, and I am never happier than when the wheels are | |
| humming. Let me have your daughter with me in the palace. I | |
| have flax enough, and there she shall spin as much as she likes. | |
| The mother was heartily satisfied with this, and the queen | |
| took the girl with her. When they had arrived at the palace, | |
| she led her up into three rooms which were filled from the | |
| bottom to the top with the finest flax. Now spin me this flax, | |
| said she, and when you have done it, you shall have my eldest | |
| son for a husband, even if you are poor. I care not for that, | |
| your untiring industry is dowry enough. The girl was secretly | |
| terrified, for she could not have spun the flax, no, not if | |
| she had lived till she was three hundred years old, and had | |
| sat at it every day from morning till night. When therefore she | |
| was alone, she began to weep, and sat thus for three days | |
| without moving a finger. On the third day came the queen, and | |
| when she saw that nothing had yet been spun, she was surprised, | |
| but the girl excused herself by saying that she had not been able | |
| to begin because of her great distress at leaving her mother's | |
| house. The queen was satisfied with this, but said when she was | |
| going away, tomorrow you must begin to work. | |
| When the girl was alone again, she did not know what to do, and | |
| in her distress went to the window. Then she saw three women | |
| coming towards her, the first of whom had a broad flat foot, the | |
| second had such a great underlip that it hung down over her chin, | |
| and the third had a broad thumb. They remained standing before | |
| the window, looked up, and asked the girl what was amiss with | |
| her. She complained of her trouble, and then they offered | |
| her their help and said, if you will invite us to the wedding, | |
| not be ashamed of us, and will call us your aunts, and likewise | |
| will place us at your table, we will spin up the flax for you, | |
| and that in a very short time. With all my heart, she replied, | |
| do but come in and begin the work at once. Then she let in the | |
| three strange women, and cleared a place in the first room, | |
| where they seated themselves and began their spinning. The one | |
| drew the thread and trod the wheel, the other wetted the thread, | |
| the third twisted it, and struck the table | |
| with her finger, and as often as she struck it, a skein of | |
| thread fell to the ground that was spun in the finest manner | |
| possible. The girl concealed the three spinners from the queen, | |
| and showed her whenever she came the great quantity of spun | |
| thread, until the latter could not praise her enough. When | |
| the first room was empty she went to the second, and at last to | |
| the third, and that too was quickly cleared. Then the three women | |
| took leave and said to the girl, do not forget what you have | |
| promised us - it will make your fortune. | |
| When the maiden showed the queen the empty rooms, and the great | |
| heap of yarn, she gave orders for the wedding, and the bridegroom | |
| rejoiced that he was to have such a clever and industrious wife, | |
| and praised her mightily. I have three aunts, said the girl, | |
| and as they have been very kind to me, I should not like to | |
| forget them in my good fortune, allow me to invite them to the | |
| wedding, and let them sit with us at table. The queen and the | |
| bridegroom said, why should we not allow that. Therefore when | |
| the feast began, the three women entered in strange apparel, and | |
| the bride said, welcome, dear aunts. Ah, said the bridegroom, | |
| how do you come by these odious friends. Thereupon he went to | |
| the one with the broad flat foot, and said, how do you come by | |
| such a broad foot. By treading, she answered, by treading. Then | |
| the bridegroom went to the second, and said, how do you come by | |
| your falling lip. By licking, she answered, by licking. Then | |
| he asked the third, how do you come by your broad thumb. By | |
| twisting the thread, she answered, by twisting the thread. On | |
| this the king's son was alarmed and said, neither now nor ever | |
| shall my beautiful bride touch a spinning-wheel. And thus she | |
| got rid of the hateful flax-spinning. | |