orange fairy book

Chapter 6 Two Boxes (1)

Far, far away, there lived a woman in a pine forest. She had two daughters, one was her own, and the other was born to her husband's ex-wife.Her own daughter has given whatever she wanted since she was born, so this daughter grew up to be very irritable, unlovable, and ugly.As for the other daughter, her father died shortly after marrying her stepmother, who has been letting her do housework since she was a child. She is beautiful, kind and hardworking, and her neighbors like her very much.

As the years passed, the difference between the two girls grew wider.The woman is also getting worse and worse towards her daughter who is not her own. She often finds some excuses to beat her, or refuse to let her eat, anyway, she will find all kinds of absurd reasons to torture her.One day, she couldn't find any good excuses to torture her, so she came up with an idea to ask the two girls to sit on the low rail of the well and spin.

"Spin me well," she said, "and whoever's thread breaks first, I'll throw him into the well."

Of course, she took extra care with her own daughter's twine, giving her good and strong twine, while giving the other girl only coarse stuff that could not be spun at all.Sure enough, as expected by the stepmother, the poor girl's line suddenly broke after a while.The stepmother, who had been peeking at her from behind the door, seized her chance and ran out, grabbed the girl by the shoulders, and pushed her into the well.

"Your end has come," she said.But she was wrong, everything was completely different from what she expected.

The girl kept falling and falling, and the well seemed to reach the center of the earth.At last she came down to the earth, and found herself in a place more beautiful than her own summer pasture in the mountains, where the trees were swaying gently in the breeze, and the meadows were swayed with bright flowers.Although the girl was alone, her heart was also beating at this moment. For the first time since her father died, she felt so happy.She stepped onto the lawn and came to an old fence. The fence was so worn out that it was a miracle that it stood upright. It was covered with vines like the old man's beard, and it seemed to rely on these beards to barely support it. with.

The girl hesitated for a moment, stepped forward, and looked around for a while, trying to find an exit on the fence that she could safely cross.But before she could get her legs out, she heard a voice from over the fence: "Don't hurt me, little girl. I'm old, I'm too old, and I don't have long to live."

The girl replied, "I will not hurt you, don't be afraid." Then she saw that the vines in one part of the fence were not as thick as in other parts, and she jumped over there lightly.

"I wish you all the best," said Fence.

The girl went on, and soon she was across the lawn and came to a road with flowering hedges on either side.She came to an oven, and through the oven door she could see loaves of white bread.

"Eat as much as you like, little girl, but don't hurt me," cried the oven.The little girl told her not to be afraid, and told the oven that she never hurt anything, and thanked the oven for giving her such beautiful white bread.After eating the last crumb, she closed the oven door and said "goodbye" to the oven.

"I wish you all the best," said the oven.

So the girl moved on.Presently she felt very thirsty, when she saw a cow approaching her with a milk pail hanging from its horns.

"Milk me, little girl, and drink as much as you like," cried the cow, "but don't splash a drop on the ground, and don't hurt me, for I never hurt anyone."

"I never hurt anyone either," replied the girl, "don't be afraid." So she sat down and milked until the bucket was almost full.She drank all the milk until there was only a small drop at the bottom of the bucket.

"Now sprinkle the last drop of milk in the bucket on my hoof, and then hang the bucket on my horn," said the cow.The girl did as he said, kissed the cow on the forehead, and walked on.

It had been hours now since the girl had fallen into the well, and the sun was almost setting.

"Where should I spend the night?" thought the girl.Suddenly she saw a door in front of her, and an old woman leaning on the door.

"Good evening!" said the girl politely.The old woman replied, "Good evening, my child, if only everyone were as polite as you are. Are you looking for something?"

"I want to find a place to work," replied the girl.The woman smiled slightly and said, "Wait a minute, comb my hair first, and tell me what you will do while combing."

"Happy to be of your service, ma'am," replied the girl.Then she began to comb the woman's long white hair.

After combing for half an hour, the old woman said, "My dear boy, you have not promised to comb my hair, so I will tell you where you can find work. Be careful and patient, and everything will be fine." successful."

The girl thanked her, and under the instructions of the old woman, set off to a farm not far away, where she joined the people in the milking and sifting of corn.

At dawn the next day, the girl got up and went into the cowshed. "You must be hungry." She said, patted the heads of the cows one by one, and brought them hay from the barn. Clean straw.The cows were so pleased with her good care that they stood quietly and made no trouble while she was milking them, and did not try to tease the rough maids as they used to.She stood up after milking, and suddenly found a group of black and white cats sitting in a circle around her, some of these cats were striped, some were spotted, and they cried in unison: "We are thirsty, give us Drink some milk!"

"Poor kittens," she said, "I'll give you something to drink." And all the cats followed her into the dairy.She gave each kitten a small saucer of milk, and the kittens rubbed against her knees and meowed in thanks.

The next thing the girl had to do was to go to the storeroom and sift the corn.While she was busy sieving grain, she heard the sound of flapping wings, and a flock of sparrows flew down on the window.

"We are very hungry, give us some corn! Give us some corn!" they cried.

The girl replied, "Poor little birds, of course I will give you something to eat!" So she scattered a handful of good corn on the ground, and when they were finished, they flew to her shoulders and flapped their wings in thanks.

Days passed, and now in the whole country the girl had the best cows, the fattest cows, and the most milk.The farmer's wife was very satisfied, paid her extra wages, and treated her like her own daughter.One day, the hostess invited her into the kitchen and said to her, "I know you take care of the cows and do all the work on the dairy farm. Now I want to see if you will do anything else. You take this sieve Go to the well, fill it with water, and bring it back without spilling a drop."

When the girl heard this request, her heart sank. How could the hostess' request be fulfilled?But she said nothing, and went to the well with the sieve, and she put the sieve into the water, but as soon as she lifted it up, the water came out of the hole.She tried again and again, but no drop of water remained in the sieve. Just when she was about to despair, suddenly a group of sparrows flew down from the sky.

"Put ashes in it! Put ashes in it!" they chirped.

The girl looked at them and said, "I'll just listen to you and try, anyway, the result can't be worse than now." So she ran back to the kitchen, filled the sieve with ashes, then put the sieve into the water, and voila , Not a drop of water leaked out when it was brought out this time!

The girl went back with the sieve, went into the mistress' room, and said, "Here is the sieve, master."

"You are smarter than I thought," she said, "or someone who knows magic helped you." But the girl did not say that the sparrow helped, but only answered some other questions from the mistress.

For the next many days, the girl worked as usual.One day, the hostess called her over again and said to her, "I still have something to do for you. Here are two strands of yarn, one is white and the other is black. What you have to do, It is to take them to the river to wash, to wash the white thread into black, and to wash the black thread into white."

The girl came to the river with the yarn and washed it for several hours, but the color did not change at all.

"This task is harder than holding water in a sieve," she thought.

When she was about to give up in despair, there was a rush of flapping wings in the air, and a group of sparrows flew over, one by one squatting on the branch of the birch tree by the river.

"Wash the black ones facing the east, and wash the whites facing the west!" They almost shouted in unison.The girl wiped away her tears and mustered up her courage again. She picked up the black thread, stood facing east, dipped the thread into the river, and the thread immediately became white, and then stood facing west, dipped the white thread into the water, Immediately the thread became as black as a crow.

She looked back at the sparrows, smiled, nodded to them, and they flapped their wings in reply, and flew away again in an instant.

(End of this chapter)