{"collection":"Northern European Mythology","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/neu/grimm/ht08.htm","path":"neu/grimm/ht08.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/neu/grimm/ht08.htm","text":"The Three Spinners\nThere was once a girl who was idle and would not spin, and let her mother\nsay what she would, she could not bring her to it. At last the mother was once\nso overcome with anger and impatience, that she beat her, on which the girl\nbegan to weep loudly. Now at this very moment the Queen drove by, and when she\nheard the weeping she stopped her carriage, went into the house and asked the\nmother why she was beating her daughter so that the cries could be heard out\non the road? Then the woman was ashamed to reveal the laziness of her daughter\nand said, \"I cannot get her to leave off spinning. She insists on spinning for\never and ever, and I am poor, and cannot procure the flax.\" Then answered the\nQueen, \"There is nothing that I like better to hear than spinning, and I am\nnever happier than when the wheels are humming. Let me have your daughter with\nme in the palace, I have flax enough, and there she shall spin as much as she\nlikes.\" The mother was heartily satisfied with this, and the Queen took the\ngirl with her. When they had arrived at the palace, she led her up into three\nrooms which were filled from the bottom to the top with the finest flax. \"Now\nspin me this flax,\" said she, \"and when thou has done it, thou shalt have my\neldest son for a husband, even if thou art poor. I care not for that, thy\nindefatigable industry is dowry enough.\" The girl was secretly terrified, for\nshe could not have spun the flax, no, not if she had lived till she was three\nhundred years old, and had sat at it every day from morning till night. When\ntherefore she was alone, she began to weep, and sat thus for three days\nwithout moving a finger. On the third day came the Queen, and when she saw\nthat nothing had been spun yet, she was surprised; but the girl excused\nherself by saying that she had not been able to begin because of her great\ndistress at leaving her mother's house. The Queen was satisfied with this, but\nsaid when she was going away, \"To-morrow thou must begin to work.\"\nWhen the girl was alone again, she did not know what to do, and in her\ndistress went to the window. Then she saw three women coming towards her, the\nfirst of whom had a broad flat foot, the second had such a great underlip that\nit hung down over her chin, and the third had a broad thumb. They remained\nstanding before the window, looked up, and asked the girl what was amiss with\nher? She complained of her trouble, and then they offered her their help and\nsaid, \"If thou wilt invite us to the wedding, not be ashamed of us, and wilt\ncall us thine aunts, and likewise wilt place us at thy table, we will spin up\nthe flax for thee, and that in a very short time.\" \"With all my heart,\" she\nreplied, \"do but come in and begin the work at once.\" Then she let in the\nthree strange women, and cleared a place in the first room, where they seated\nthemselves and began their spinning. The one drew the thread and trod the\nwheel, the other wetted the thread, the third twisted it, and struck the table\nwith her finger, and as often as she struck it, a skein of thread fell to the\nground that was spun in the finest manner possible. The girl concealed the\nthree spinners from the Queen, and showed her whenever she came the great\nquantity of spun thread, until the latter could not praise her enough. When\nthe first room was empty she went to the second, and at last to the third, and\nthat too was quickly cleared. Then the three women took leave and said to the\ngirl, \"Do not forget what thou has promised us, - it will make thy fortune.\"\nWhen the maiden showed the Queen the empty rooms, and the great heap of\nyarn, she gave orders for the wedding, and the bridegroom[1] rejoiced that he\nwas to have such a clever and industrious wife, and praised her mightily. \"I\nhave three aunts,\" said the girl, \"and as they have been very kind to me, I\nshould not like to forget them in my good fortune; allow me to invite them to\nthe wedding, and let them sit with us at table.\" The Queen and the bridegroom\nsaid, \"Why should we not allow that?\" Therefore when the feast began, the\nthree women entered in strange apparel, and the bride said, \"Welcome, dear\naunts.\" \"Ah,\" said the bridegroom, \"how comest thou by these odious friends?\"\nThereupon he went to the one with the broad flat foot and said, \"How do you\ncome by such a broad foot?\" \"By treading,\" she answered, \"by treading.\" Then\nthe bridegroom went to the second, and said, \"How do you come by your falling\nlip?\" \"By licking,\" she answered, \"by licking.\" Then he asked the third, \"How\ndo you come by your broad thumb?\" \"By twisting the thread,\" she answered, \"by\ntwisting the thread. On this the King's son was alarmed and said, \"Neither now\nnor ever shall my beautiful bride touch a spinning-wheel.\" And thus she got\nrid of the hateful flax-spinning.\n[1: Brautigam, betrothed. The old English brydguma had the same\nsignification, and was only applied to a betrothed man, just as bryd, bride,\nwas only applied to a betrothed woman. - Tr.]","title":"The Three Spinners","type":"page"}