The Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm (Rackham)/Mother Hulda
Mother Hulda
HERE was once a widow who had two daughters; one of them was beautiful and industrious, the other was ugly and lazy. She liked the ugly, lazy one best, because she was her own daughter. The other one had all the rough work, and was made the Cinderella at home. The poor girl had to sit in the street by a well, spinning till her fingers bled.
Now one day her bobbin got some blood upon it, and she stooped down to the well to rinse it, but it fell out of her hand into the water. She cried, and ran to tell her stepmother of her misfortune.
Her stepmother scolded her violently and without mercy, and at last said, ‘If you have let the bobbin fall into the water, you must go in after it and fetch it out.’
The maiden went back to the well and did not know what to do, and in her terror she sprang into the water to try and find the bobbin.
She lost consciousness, and when she came to herself she was in a beautiful meadow dotted with flowers, and the sun was shining brightly. She walked on till she came to a baker’s oven full of bread; the Loaves called out to her, ‘Oh, draw us out, draw us out, or we shall burn! We are over-baked already!’
So she went up and drew them out one by one with a baker’s shovel.
Then she went a little further, and came to an Apple-tree covered with apples, which called out to her. ‘Oh, shake us down, shake us down, we are over-ripe!’
So she shook the tree, and the apples fell like rain. She shook till there were no more left, and when she had gathered them all into a heap, went on her way.
At last she came to a little house, out of which an old woman was looking. She had very large teeth, and the maiden was so frightened that she wanted to run away.
But the old woman called her, and said, ‘What are you afraid of, dear child? Stay with me, and if you can do all kinds of housework well, I shall be very pleased. But you must be very particular how you make my bed; it must be thoroughly shaken, so that the feathers fly, then it snows in the world. I am Mother Hulda.’[1]
At last she came to a little house, out of which an old woman was looking.
As the old woman spoke so kindly to her, she took heart and agreed to stay, and she began her duties at once.
She did everything to the old woman’s satisfaction, and shook up the bed with such a will, that the feathers flew about like snow. So she led a very happy life; she had no hard words, but good food, both roast and boiled, every day.
Now after she had been some time with Mother Hulda, she grew sad. At first she did not know what was the matter, but at last she discovered that she was homesick. Although everything here was a thousand times nicer than at home, still she had a yearning to go back.
At last she said to the old woman, ‘Although I had nothing but misery at home, and happy as I have been here, still I must go back to my own people.’
Mother Hulda said, ‘I am pleased that you ask to go home, and as you have been so faithful to me, I will take you back myself.’
She took her by the hand and led her to a great gate. The gate was opened, and as the maiden was passing through, a heavy shower of gold fell upon her, and remained sticking, so that she was covered from head to foot with it.
‘This is your reward, because you have been so industrious,’ said Mother Hulda. She also gave her back her bobbin which had fallen into the well.
Then the gate was shut, and the maiden found herself in the upper world not far from her mother’s house.
When she reached the courtyard the Cock was sitting on the well, and he cried—
Our golden maid, I see,
Has now come home to me.’
Then she went into her mother, and, as she was bedecked with gold, she was well received both by her mother and sister. The maiden told them all that had happened to her, and when her mother heard how she had got all her wealth, she wanted her ugly, lazy daughter to have the same. So she made her sit by the well and spin; and so that there should be blood upon her bobbin, she scratched her finger, and thrust her hand into a blackthorn bush. Then she threw the bobbin into the water and jumped in after it. She found herself in the same beautiful meadow, and walked along the same path.
When she reached the baker’s oven, the Loaves called out again, ‘Draw us out, draw us out, or we shall be burnt!’
Then the lazy girl answered, ‘I should soil my fingers,’ and went on.
Soon she came to the Apple-tree, and the apples cried, ‘Shake us down, shake us down! We are all ripe!’
‘A fine business indeed,’ she answered. ‘One of you might fall upon my head.’ And she passed on.
When she came to Mother Hulda’s house, she was not afraid of her big teeth, as she had heard all about them, and she immediately hired herself to the old woman. The first day she made a great effort; she was industrious, and obeyed the orders Mother Hulda gave her, for she thought of all the gold. But on the second day even, she began to be lazy, and on the third she was still more so. She would not get up in
So the lazy girl went home, but she was quite covered with pitch.
Mother Hulda soon grew tired of this, and discharged her.
The lazy girl was well enough pleased to go, and thought now the shower of gold would come.
Mother Hulda conducted her to the same gate; but when she passed
through, a shower of pitch fell upon her, instead of a shower of gold.‘That is the reward for your service,’ said Mother Hulda, as she shut the gate behind her.
So the lazy girl went home, but she was quite covered with pitch; and when the Cock on the well saw her, he cried—
Our dirty maid, I see,
Has now come home to me.’
- ↑ According to a Hessian legend, when it snows, Mother Hulda is making her bed.