THERE
was once a widow who had two daughters -- one of whom was
pretty and industrious, whilst the other was ugly and idle.
But she was much fonder of the ugly and idle one, because she
was her own daughter; and the other, who was a step-daughter, was
obliged to do all the work, and be the Cinderella of the house.
Every day the poor girl had to sit by a well, in the highway,
and spin and spin till her fingers bled.
Now it happened that
one day the shuttle was marked with her blood, so she dipped
it in the well, to wash the mark off; but it dropped out of
her hand and fell to the bottom. She began to weep, and ran to
her step-mother and told her of the mishap. But she scolded
her sharply, and was so merciless as to say, "Since you have
let the shuttle fall in, you must fetch it out again."
So the girl went back to the well,
and did not know what to do; and in the sorrow of her heart
she jumped into the well to get the shuttle. She lost her
senses; and when she awoke and came to herself again, she was
in a lovely meadow where the sun was shining and many thousands
of flowers were growing. Along this meadow she went, and at last came
to a baker's oven full of bread, and the bread cried out, "Oh,
take me out! take me out! or I shall burn; I have been baked a
long time!" So she went up to it, and took out all the loaves
one after another with the bread-shovel. After that she went
on till she came to a tree covered with apples, which called
out to her, "Oh, shake me! shake me! we apples are all ripe!"
So she shook the tree till the apples fell like rain, and went
on shaking till they were all down, and when she had gathered
them into a heap, she went on her way.
At last she came to a little
house, out of which an old woman peeped; but she had such
large teeth that the girl was frightened, and was about to run
away.
But the old woman called out to
her, "What are you afraid of, dear child? Stay with me; if you
will do all the work in the house properly, you shall be the
better for it. Only you must take care to make my bed well,
and shake it thoroughly till the feathers fly -- for then
there is snow on the earth. I am Mother Holle.
As the old woman spoke so kindly
to her, the girl took courage and agreed to enter her service.
She attended to everything to the satisfaction of her
mistress, and always shook her bed so vigorously that the
feathers flew about like snow-flakes. So she had a pleasant life
with her; never an angry word; and boiled or roast meat every day.
She stayed some time with Mother
Holle, and then she became sad. At first she did not know what
was the matter with her, but found at length that it was
home-sickness: although she was many thousand times better off
here than at home, still she had a longing to be there. At
last she said to the old woman, "I have a longing for home; and however
well off I am down here, I cannot stay any longer; I must go
up again to my own people." Mother Holle said, "I am pleased
that you long for your home again, and as you have served me
so truly, I myself will take you up again." Thereupon she took
her by the hand, and led her to a large door. The door was
opened, and just as the maiden was standing beneath the
doorway, a heavy shower of golden rain fell, and all the gold
remained sticking to her, so that she was completely covered
over with it.
"You shall have that because you
have been so industrious," said Mother Holle, and at the same
time she gave her back the shuttle which she had let fall into
the well. Thereupon the door closed, and the maiden found
herself up above upon the earth, not far from her mother's
house.
And as she went into the yard the cock was standing by the well-side, and cried --
"Cock-a-doodle-doo! Your golden girl's come back to you!"
So she went in to her mother, and
as she arrived thus covered with gold, she was well received,
both by her and her sister.
The girl told all that had happened to her; and as soon as the mother heard how she had come by so much wealth, she was very anxious to obtain the same good luck for the ugly and lazy daughter. She had to seat herself by the well and spin; and in order that her shuttle might be stained with blood, she stuck her hand into a thorn bush and pricked her finger. Then she threw her shuttle into the well, and jumped in after it.
She came, like the other, to the
beautiful meadow and walked along the very same path. When she
got to the oven the bread again cried, "Oh, take me out! take
me out! or I shall burn; I have been baked a long time!" But
the lazy thing answered, "As if I had any wish to make myself
dirty?" and on she went. Soon she came to the apple-tree,
which cried, "Oh, shake me! shake me! we apples are all ripe!"
But she answered, "I like that! one of you might fall on my
head," and so went on.
When she came to Mother Holle's
house she was not afraid, for she had already heard of her big
teeth, and she hired herself to her immediately.
The first day she forced herself
to work diligently, and obeyed Mother Holle when she told her
to do anything, for she was thinking of all the gold that she
would give her. But on the second day she began to be lazy,
and on the third day still more so, and then she would not get
up in the morning at all. Neither did she make Mother Holle's bed
as she ought, and did not shake it so as to make the feathers fly
up. Mother Holle was soon tired of this, and gave her notice
to leave. The lazy girl was willing enough to go, and thought
that now the golden rain would come. Mother Holle led her also
to the great door; but while she was standing beneath it,
instead of the gold a big kettleful of pitch was emptied over
her. "That is the reward for your service," said Mother Holle,
and shut the door.
So the lazy girl went home; but
she was quite covered with pitch, and the cock by the
well-side, as soon as he saw her, cried out --
"Cock-a-doodle-doo! Your pitchy girl's come back to you!"
(Story comes from SurLaLune Fairy Tales)
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What can we discover about the wise woman archetype from this fairy tale? “Frau Holle” or “Old Mother Holle”
is a Grimm folktale from Germany. Holle
is a mysterious character living within an underworld. She is repulsive and hideous in appearance
with long, knotted white hair and large, yellow, buck teeth. A young girl
disturbs her existence. As the girl
searches for her lost item, she is required to perform certain tasks. Each of these tasks has a magical component,
and it is unclear the source of the magic; for Holle herself remains kind, and
fair, but mysterious. This is a “good girl, bad girl” tale in which Holle metes
out justice based on the worth of each girl.
At the end of the story, their worth is determined accordingly. Holle is the helper, judge and jury for those
who come seeking something lost within themselves. The one who is worthy will see beyond Mother
Holle’s hideous appearance, which threatens to make her invisible (for no one
wishes to look in her direction). The
worthy girl will make visible both Mother Holle’s true nature and her own. She will discover the value of hard work and
selfless service for others and be rewarded in kind.
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