Here is the Grimm story found in Household Tales as translated by Margaret Hunt in 1884.
THERE was
once a girl who was idle and would not spin, and let her
mother say what she would, she could not bring her to it. At
last the mother was once so overcome with anger and
impatience, that she beat her, on which the girl began to weep loudly.
Now at this very moment the Queen drove by, and when she heard
the weeping she stopped her carriage, went into the house and
asked the mother why she was beating her daughter so that the
cries could be heard out on the road? Then the woman was
ashamed to reveal the laziness of her daughter and said, "I
cannot get her to leave off spinning. She insists on spinning
for ever and ever, and I am poor, and cannot procure the flax."
Then answered the Queen, "There is nothing that I like better to
hear than spinning, and I am never happier than when the wheels are
humming. Let me have your daughter with me in the palace. I
have flax enough, and there she shall spin as much as she
likes." The mother was heartily satisfied with this, and the
Queen took the girl with her. When they had arrived at the
palace, she led her up into three rooms which were filled from
the bottom to the top with the finest flax. "Now spin me this
flax," said she, "and when thou hast done it, thou shalt have
my eldest son for a husband, even if thou art poor. I care not for
that, thy indefatigable industry is dowry enough." The girl
was secretly terrified, for she could not have spun the flax,
no, not if she had lived till she was three hundred years old,
and had sat at it every day from morning till night. When
therefore she was alone, she began to weep, and sat thus for
three days without moving a finger. On the third day came the
Queen, and when she saw that nothing had been spun yet, she was
surprised; but the girl excused herself by saying that she had
not been able to begin because of her great distress at
leaving her mother's house. The queen was satisfied with this,
but said when she was going away,"To-morrow thou must begin
to work."
When the girl was
alone again, she did not know what to do, and in her distress
went to the window. Then she saw three women coming towards
her, the first of whom had a broad flat foot, the second had
such a great underlip that it hung down over her chin, and the
third had a broad thumb. They remained standing before the window,
looked up, and asked the girl what was amiss with her? She
complained of her trouble, and then they offered her their
help and said, "If thou wilt invite us to the wedding, not be
ashamed of us, and wilt call us thine aunts, and likewise wilt
place us at thy table, we will spin up the flax for thee, and
that in a very short time." "With all my heart," she replied,
"do but come in and begin the work at once." Then she let in
the three strange women, and cleared a place in the first
room, where they seated themselves and began their spinning.
The one drew the thread and trod the wheel, the other wetted
the thread, the third twisted it, and struck the table with her finger,
and as often as she struck it, a skein of thread fell to the
ground that was spun in the finest manner possible. The girl
concealed the three spinners from the Queen, and showed her
whenever she came the great quantity of spun thread, until the
latter could not praise her enough. When the first room was
empty she went to the second, and at last to the third, and that
too was quickly cleared. Then the three women took leave and said to
the girl, "Do not forget what thou hast promised us, -- it
will make thy fortune.
When the maiden showed the Queen
the empty rooms, and the great heap of yarn, she gave orders
for the wedding, and the bridegroom rejoiced that he was to
have such a clever and industrious wife, and praised her
mightily. "I have three aunts," said the girl, "and as they
have been very kind to me, I should not like to forget them in
my good fortune; allow me to invite them to the wedding, and let them
sit with us at table." The Queen and the bridegroom said, "Why
should we not allow that?" Therefore when the feast began, the
three women entered in strange apparel, and the bride said,
"Welcome, dear aunts." "Ah," said the bridegroom, "how comest
thou by these odious friends?" Thereupon he went to the one
with the broad flat foot, and said, "How do you come by such a
broad foot?" "By treading," she answered, "by treading.""Then
the bridegroom went to the second, and said, "How do you come
by your falling lip?" "By licking," she answered, "by
licking." Then he asked the third, "How do you come by your
broad thumb?" "By twisting the thread," she answered, "by
twisting the thread." On this the King's son was alarmed and said,
"Neither now nor ever shall my beautiful bride touch a
spinning-wheel." And thus she got rid of the hateful
flax-spinning.
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In the "Three Spinning Women," another Grimm telling of a German folktale, a lazy girl is given an impossible task of spinning a large amount of flax. She enlists the assistance of three hideous, old women. The nature of their disfigurement becomes an essential part of the story. One woman has a large, broad flat foot that she drags behind her, another a lower lip that is stretched to her chin and the third an overly large thumb. They agree to help the girl saying, "If you will invite us to your wedding, not be ashamed of us, call us your aunts, and let us be seated at your table, we will spin all the flax for you, and in a very short time at that."
Clarissa Pinkola Estes tells an expanded version of this story in her "Dangerous Old Woman" audio series. In this story, the girl is saved and then falls in love with a prideful soldier. As they plan marriage, she sends a message to the old women, who meet up with the arrogant young man on the road. He returns to his finance with disparaging comments about the three old women he met on his journey. She tells him these were most likely her "aunties" and shares with him how they saved her life. But the young man is not worthy, he can only see the "surface" of who these women are. In anger he refuses to allow them to attend the wedding. The girl, who remembers her promise, breaks off the engagement. The finance storms off and then finds himself in three harrowing events, to which the old women come to his rescue. Each time the women ask him to let them attend the wedding. Each time, the young man promises and then recants. Finally he agrees and sees their true nature. He is now proven worthy and the wedding occurs. Estes version portrays the old women as both helpers and also those who mete out justice (similar to the Frau Holle story).
These wise old women are mysterious and magical, but appear with many years of spinning skill and experience. They offer their selfless service to the girl. Her test is only to recognize them, and show their worth to the world. The invisible is made visible in this story and the girl discovers worth within an unknown and unlikely source.
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