Mother Holle

Once upon a time, there was a woman who had two daughters. One was hard-working and kind, and the other was lazy.
The mother liked the lazy daughter more. So the hard-working daughter had to do almost all the work.

Every day, the hard-working girl sat by a well and spun yarn. She worked so much that her fingers became sore.

One day, her spindle fell into the well. The girl told her mother what had happened.

Her mother became angry and said:
“You dropped the spindle into the well. So you must get it back!”

The girl went back to the well. She did not know how to get the spindle back, so she finally jumped into the well.

She lost consciousness. When she woke up, she was lying in a beautiful meadow. The sun was shining, and flowers were blooming everywhere.

The girl walked on and came to an oven. The bread inside called out:
“Take us out! We are ready, or we will burn!”

The girl helped at once and took all the bread out of the oven.

Then she came to an apple tree. The tree called:
“Shake me! All my apples are ripe!”

The girl shook the tree until all the apples fell down. Then she carefully put them together in a pile.

At last, the girl came to a small house. An old woman with big teeth lived there. At first, the girl was afraid.

The old woman said kindly:
“Don’t be afraid. I am Mother Holle. Stay with me and help me in the house. Most importantly, make my bed and shake the feather bed well. When the feathers fly, it snows on Earth.”

The girl stayed with Mother Holle and worked hard every day. She did all her work carefully and shook the feather bed so well that the feathers flew around like snowflakes.
Mother Holle was very happy with her.

After some time, the girl began to miss her home.
“I like it here, but I want to go home.”

Mother Holle answered:
“You have worked very hard and helped me a lot. So I will take you home myself.”

Mother Holle took the girl to a large gate. As the girl walked through it, a shower of gold fell over her. The gold covered her clothes and stayed on them.

Mother Holle said:
“This is your reward because you worked hard and were so helpful.”

She also gave the girl her lost spindle back.

When the girl arrived home, the rooster called:
“Cock-a-doodle-doo!
Our golden girl is home again!”

The girl told her mother everything. She told her how she had helped the bread and the apple tree, worked hard for Mother Holle, and received the gold as a reward.

When the mother saw all the gold, she wanted her lazy daughter to get the same reward.

So the lazy daughter also had to go to the well. But she did not want to work hard until her fingers became sore. She pricked her finger on a thorn, put some blood on the spindle, threw it into the well, and jumped in after it.

She also came to the beautiful meadow.

The bread called:
“Take us out, or we will burn!”

But the lazy daughter answered:
“No! I don’t want to get dirty.”

At the apple tree, she heard:
“Shake me! All my apples are ripe!”

But she answered:
“No! An apple might fall on my head.”

She walked on and finally came to Mother Holle’s house. Her sister had already told her about Mother Holle and the gold, so she was not afraid.

Mother Holle let her stay and asked her to help in the house and shake the feather bed well.

On the first day, the girl worked hard because she was thinking about the gold. But soon she became lazy. She did not want to get up in the morning, and she stopped shaking Mother Holle’s feather bed properly.

Mother Holle soon became tired of the girl’s laziness and told her that she could not stay any longer.

The lazy daughter was happy because she thought:
“Now I will get a shower of gold too!”

Mother Holle took her to the same large gate.

But this time, no gold fell on her. Instead, the girl was covered with black pitch.

Mother Holle said:
“This is your reward for your work.”

When the lazy daughter arrived home, the rooster called:

“Cock-a-doodle-doo!
Our dirty girl is home again!”

But the black pitch stayed on her.