The Disobedient Kids and other Czecho-Slovak fairy tales/The Little Stars of Gold
The Little Stars of Gold.
Once upon a time, there was a little girl, six years old. Bozena by name. She was an orphan. She had nothing in the world but the clothes on her back and a piece of bread which her poor godfather had given her, when he sent her off to her aunt.
Alone and forsaken, she set out for the village where her aunt lived in a little hut. It seemed a great distance to this little girl. She was timid and afraid as she trudged along and oh, so lonely. At a turn in the road, she came upon a poor beggar man, who said, "Little girl, will you give me something to eat? I am very hungry." Instantly, she gave him the whole piece of bread, without thinking of herself at all, saying, "God bless it to you."
By this time it was quite dark. Going a little further on in the wood, Bozena met another little girl, shivering with the cold. She had no shirt. She 
seemed to be in great distress. This excited Bozena's pity. "I'll give her my shawl. I am sure that I can spare it," she said to herself, as she parted with it. A short ways farther on, she met another little girl, so poor that she had
no skirt. It was already towards the end of autumn and winter was coming on, Bozena took off her own skirt and gave it to the poor little girl. The cold did not trouble Bozena so very much, as she knew that she had done a good deed, and her little heart grew warm at the thought of it.
All at once, she saw little stars falling in her path way. She wanted to see what they looked like. They were yellow, bright and shining. She began to gather them up in her hands, tossing them up and down. "Oh, if I only had an apron." Why there was an apron! Then she collected the little yellow stars in her apron, and growing very tired, fell asleep.
Awaking very early in the morning, to her surprise, there was one of the little stars making itself into a pan cake for her breakfast! She ate all she could and still had some left.After wandering a great distance, she reached her aunt's hut in the evening. After kissing her aunt, she said, "Oh, auntie, see what I have in my apron". Instead of the little stars which she expected to see, a stream of gold pieces poured out of her apron and rolled all over the room.
Imagine the surprise and joy of the poor old woman. Now she could not only support Bozena, but could do much good for others all the rest of her life.
