red fairy book

Chapter 37 The Three Dwarfs

Once upon a time there was a man whose wife died.There is also a woman whose husband is dead.A man has a daughter, and a woman has a daughter.The two girls are good friends and often play together.One day, the woman called the man's daughter and said, "Go and tell your father that I want to marry him. Then you can bathe with milk and drink red wine, but my daughter can only bathe with water and drink water. "

The girl went home and told her father what the woman said.

"What should I do?" replied the man. "The marriage will either be a success or a failure."

At last, unable to decide, the indecisive man took off a shoe, hung it on his daughter, and said:

"There's a hole in the sole of this shoe, and there's a nail in the wall of the hayloft, and it hangs there, and pours water into it. If the water doesn't leak, I'll get married, or else I won't."

The girl did as he asked, and the water stuck to the sole of the shoe, and it remained full.She told her dad.He went to see it for himself, and finding it so, he went and proposed to the widow, and they were married at once.

The morning after the wedding, the two girls got up.Before the man's daughter stands milk and wine for her bath, but before the woman's daughter there is only water.The next morning, the face of the man's daughter also turned into water.On the third day, there was milk and wine in front of the woman's daughter.Later, it has been like this.

The woman hated her stepdaughter from the bottom of her heart and tried every means to torture her.She was jealous of the girl, because she was beautiful and charming, while her own daughter was repulsively ugly.

One winter day, when there was a thick frost, the village and the mountains were covered with snow. The woman made a paper dress and called her stepdaughter: "Put on this dress and go to the woods to pick a basket of strawberries."

"God help me!" the girl replied, "There are no strawberries in winter. The ground is frozen and everything is covered with snow. How can you make me wear paper clothes? It's so cold outside that the breath I breathe will be frozen, and the wind will get into clothes, and thorns will tear it."

"You dare to talk back to me!" said her stepmother. "Go at once, and don't come to see me until you have picked strawberries!"

Then she gave her stepdaughter a piece of crusty bread and said, "This is enough for you to eat today." She thought to herself that the girl must die outside, and she would not have to look at her anymore.

The girl obediently put on the paper dress and set off with the little basket.No matter in the distance or near, there is only a vast expanse of white snow, not even a single green leaf can be seen.

She went into the wood, and saw a little house, and three dwarfs were looking out of the house.She greeted them, knocked politely, and they let her in.She went in and sat by the fire to keep warm, and ate her bread, and the Dwarf said, "Give us some!"

"Okay." She broke the bread in half and gave them half.

Then they asked her what she was doing in the woods in the depths of winter dressed like this.

"Oh," she replied, "I'll pick a basket of strawberries, or I won't be able to go home."

When she had finished her bread, the Dwarf gave her a broom and told her to sweep the snow off the back door.As soon as she left the room, the three dwarfs discussed it. They thought she was kind and lovely, and they should give her something in return for sharing the only bread with them.

"She will get prettier every day," said the first Dwarf.

The second dwarf said, "When she opens her mouth, gold coins will fall out."

"A king will come and propose to her," said the third dwarf.

The girl was sweeping snow outside and cleared the snow from the back door.What do you think she found?Clumps of red ripe strawberries look so gorgeous beside the white snow.She happily picked a basket, thanked the kind dwarfs, shook hands with them, and ran home.

As soon as she came in, she said, "Good evening." A piece of gold fell out of her mouth, and then she told them about the woods. gold coins.

"She obviously has too much gold and not enough brains, throwing gold coins all over the floor." Her sister said.She was so jealous that she decided to go to the woods to find strawberries too.But her mother wouldn't let her go, saying, "Dear child, it's too cold, you'll freeze to death."

The daughter kept making troubles, and finally she had to compromise, but she insisted on dressing her daughter in the most beautiful fur coat, and brought her bread, butter, and cakes to eat on the way.

The girl went straight to the little house in the woods, and, as before, the dwarfs looked out of the house, and she paid no attention to them, and without a word jumped into the house, and sat down by the fire, and began to eat.

"Give us something to eat," said the little man.

She replied, "No, I'm not enough for myself, don't expect me to give it to you."

When she finished eating, they said, "Here's a broom for us to sweep the snow up by the back door."

"I'm not your servant." She said rudely, "Sweep it yourself!"

When she found that the dwarf was not going to give her anything, she left resentfully.The three dwarfs discussed what to do, because she was so wicked, greedy and stingy.

"She grows uglier every day," said the first dwarf.

"When she spoke," said the second Dwarf, "a toad jumped out."

"She will die a terrible death," said the third Dwarf.

The girl searched for a long time, but found no strawberries, and went home angrily.As soon as she opened the door and told her mother what had happened to her in the woods, a toad jumped out, and everyone was disgusted.

The stepmother became even angrier, thinking how to torture her stepdaughter who was becoming more and more beautiful day by day. One day, the evil stepmother took a big jar filled with yarn and set it on fire. After it boiled, she hung the jar on the stepdaughter. put an ax on the girl's shoulder, and told her to cut a hole in the frozen river and wash the yarn clean.

Her stepdaughter obeyed her order, went to cut a hole in the river, and started washing yarn.At this time, a magnificent carriage passed by her, and the king was sitting in it.The chariot stopped, and the king asked her, "My child, what are you doing out here all by yourself?"

"I'm just a poor girl," she said, "washing yarn in river water."

The king felt sorry for her, and seeing how beautiful she was, he asked her, "Will you come with me?"

"Very glad," she replied, that she was really glad to be away from her stepmother and sister, and they must be glad to be free of her.

So she got into the carriage and went away with the king.They arrived at the palace and held a grand wedding.Things are just as the dwarfs say.A year later, the queen gave birth to a young son.After her stepmother heard about it, she took her daughter to bribe the people in the palace and went to her place.

One day, when the king was going out, the stepmother grabbed the queen by the hair, and the daughter grabbed her by the feet, dragged her out of the bed, and threw her out of the window into the river.

Then the stepmother placed her ugly daughter in the queen's bed, and covered her with a quilt, so that no one could see her.The king came home and wanted to talk to his wife for a while, but the woman called out, "Be quiet, be quiet! Your wife is sick, let her rest today." The king didn't think there was a ghost in it, and he didn't come until the next morning. .

He talks to his wife and she talks to him.But instead of the coin falling, a toad jumped out, and he asked what was the matter, and the wicked stepmother said it was only a weakness, and it would soon be better.

That night the kitchen servants found a duck swimming in the river below.

The duck asked, "What is the king doing now? Tell me, is he asleep or awake?"

no answer.

She continued: "Are my guests asleep?"

The servant replied, "Yes, they are all asleep."

The duck continued to ask, "Where is my dear child?"

The male servant replied: "Sleep soundly, very quiet."

The duck turned into a queen, went to the boy's room, tucked him in, then turned back into a duck and went back to the river.This continued for two nights, and on the third day the Duck said to the servant, "Go and tell the King to give me three blows with his dagger."

The man went to talk, and the king swung the dagger three times at the duck.have a look!His wife stood before him again, alive and beautiful as ever.

The king was so happy that he hid the queen for three days.On Sunday, the child was to be baptized, and after the baptism, he said, "If someone drags someone out of the bed, throws him out of the window, and into the river, what is the punishment?"

The evil stepmother replied, "Put it in a barrel, roll it down the mountain, and roll it into the river. Nothing beats that punishment!"

"You have appointed your destiny," said the King, and he ordered the stepmother and her daughter to be put in a barrel, nailed to death, and rolled down from the top of the hill into the river.

(End of this chapter)