Aschenputtel

A rich man's wife fell ill, and when she felt her end coming she called her only daughter to her bed and said, "Dear child, stay good and devout, and the dear God will always help you, and I will look down on you from heaven and be near you." Then she closed her eyes and died.

The girl went out every day to her mother's grave and wept, and she stayed good and devout. When winter came the snow laid a white cloth on the grave, and when spring came it was lifted off again. Some time later the man took another wife.

The wife brought two daughters of her own into the house. They were beautiful and fair to look at, but their hearts were ugly and black. Then a hard time began for the poor stepchild. "Should this stupid goose sit in the parlor with us?" they said. "If she wants bread she has to earn it. Out with the kitchen maid." They took away her good clothes, dressed her in an old gray smock, and gave her wooden shoes. They mocked her and led her into the kitchen. There she had to do hard work from morning till night, get up before daybreak, carry water, light fires, cook, and wash. On top of it the sisters did her every meanness they could think of, mocking her and pouring peas and lentils into the ashes for her to pick out. In the evening, when she was worn out from working, she had no bed to go to but lay down by the fireside in the ashes. And because she always looked dusty and dirty, they called her Aschenputtel, the cinder-girl.

It happened that the father was going to the fair, and he asked his two stepdaughters what he should bring back for them. "Beautiful dresses," said one. "Pearls and jewels," said the other. "And you, Aschenputtel," he said, "what would you have?" "Father, the first branch that knocks against your hat on your way home, break it off for me." So he bought beautiful dresses, pearls, and jewels for the two stepsisters, and on the way back, as he was riding through a green thicket, a hazel branch brushed against him and knocked off his hat. He broke off the branch and took it with him. When he got home he gave the stepsisters what they had asked for, and to Aschenputtel he gave the branch from the hazel bush.

Aschenputtel thanked him, took the branch to her mother's grave, and planted it there, weeping so hard that her tears watered it. It grew and became a beautiful tree. Three times a day Aschenputtel went and sat under it and wept and prayed, and a little white bird came every time and sat on the tree, and whenever she made a wish the bird threw down to her what she had wished for.

Now the king of the country announced a great feast that was to last three days, and to which all the beautiful young women in the country were invited so that his son might choose a bride. The two stepsisters, when they heard they were to come too, were full of joy. They called to Aschenputtel: "Comb our hair, brush our shoes, fasten our buckles. We are going to the feast at the king's court." Aschenputtel obeyed, but she wept, because she would have liked to go to the dance too. She begged her stepmother to let her go. "You, Aschenputtel?" cried the stepmother. "You are full of dust and dirt and you want to go to the feast? You have no clothes and no shoes and you want to dance?" When Aschenputtel kept on asking, the stepmother said at last: "I have emptied a bowl of lentils into the ashes. If you can pick the lentils out again in two hours, you can come with us."

The girl went out the back door into the garden and called: "Tame doves, turtle-doves, and all the birds beneath the sky, come and help me sort. The good ones into the pot, the bad ones into your crop." Two white doves came in by the kitchen window, and after them the turtle-doves, and at last all the birds beneath the sky came whirring and crowding in and settled themselves around the ashes. The doves nodded their heads and began, peck peck, peck peck, and the others began too, peck peck, peck peck, and they sorted all the good lentils into the bowl. In one hour they had finished and they all flew out again. The girl took the bowl to her stepmother, joyful, thinking she would go to the feast. But the stepmother said, "No, Aschenputtel. You have no clothes and you cannot dance. You would only be laughed at." When Aschenputtel began to cry, the stepmother said: "If you can pick two bowls full of lentils out of the ashes in one hour, you can come." Aschenputtel went into the garden and called the birds again, and again they came and helped her, and in half an hour the work was done. But the stepmother said: "It is no good. You are not coming. You have no clothes and you cannot dance, and we should be ashamed of you." She turned her back on her and hurried off with her two proud daughters.

When everyone was gone, Aschenputtel went out to her mother's grave under the hazel tree and called:

"Shake yourself, dear tree, my dear, Throw gold and silver down to me here."

Then the bird threw down to her a dress of gold and silver and slippers embroidered with silk and silver. She put on the dress in haste and went to the feast. Her stepsisters and stepmother did not recognize her. They thought she must be some foreign princess, she looked so beautiful in the gold dress. Aschenputtel they thought was sitting at home in the dirt picking lentils out of the ashes.

The prince came forward, took her by the hand, and danced with her. He would not let her dance with anyone else. Whenever someone came to ask her, he said: "She is my partner." She danced till evening, and then she wanted to go home. The prince said, "I will go with you and see you home," because he wanted to see whose daughter the beautiful girl was. But she slipped away from him and sprang into the dovecote. The prince waited until her father came, and told him that the strange girl had jumped into the dovecote. The father thought, "Could it be Aschenputtel?" and they had to bring him an axe to break the dovecote open, but no one was inside. When they got home, Aschenputtel was lying in her dirty clothes among the ashes, and a dim oil lamp was burning on the chimney piece. For Aschenputtel had quickly jumped down from the back of the dovecote and run to the hazel tree. There she had taken off her beautiful clothes and laid them on the grave, and the bird had taken them away again, and she had put on her gray smock and gone to lie down in the ashes.

The next day, when the festival began again and the parents and stepsisters had set out, Aschenputtel went to the hazel tree and said:

"Shake yourself, dear tree, my dear, Throw gold and silver down to me here."

The bird threw down a dress that was even more splendid than the first. When she came to the feast in this dress, everyone was astonished by her beauty. The prince had been waiting for her, and when she came he took her hand and danced only with her. When others came to ask her, he said: "She is my partner." When evening came she wanted to go home, and the prince followed her to see which house she went into. But she sprang away from him and went into the garden behind the house. There stood a fine tall tree with the most beautiful pears hanging on it. She climbed nimbly up between the branches and the prince did not know where she had gone. He waited till her father came, and said to him, "The strange girl has slipped away from me, and I think she has climbed up into the pear tree." The father thought, "Could it be Aschenputtel?" and had an axe brought and chopped down the tree. But there was no one in it. When they came into the kitchen, Aschenputtel was lying among the ashes as before. She had jumped down on the other side of the tree, taken her beautiful clothes back to the bird on the hazel, and put on her gray smock.

On the third day, when the parents and sisters had set out again, Aschenputtel went to her mother's grave and said to the tree:

"Shake yourself, dear tree, my dear, Throw gold and silver down to me here."

This time the bird threw down a dress that was so splendid and shining that no one had ever seen its like, and the slippers were of pure gold. When she came to the feast no one had words to speak for her beauty. The prince danced with no one but her, and when anyone else came to ask her, he said: "She is my partner."

When evening came Aschenputtel wanted to go home, and the prince wanted to go with her. But she ran away from him so quickly he could not follow. The prince had used a trick. He had had the whole staircase smeared with pitch, and as the girl went hurrying down it her left slipper got stuck. The prince picked it up. It was small and dainty and gold all over.

The next morning he went with it to the father and said: "No one shall be my wife but the woman whose foot fits this golden shoe." The two sisters were glad, for they had pretty feet. The eldest went into the chamber to try on the shoe with her mother beside her. But she could not get her big toe in. The shoe was too small. Then the mother handed her a knife and said: "Cut the toe off. When you are queen you will not have to walk anymore." The girl cut off her toe, forced her foot into the shoe, swallowed her pain, and went out to the prince. He took her on his horse as his bride and rode away with her. But they had to ride past the grave, and the two doves on the hazel tree called out:

"Roo coo coo, roo coo coo, Blood is in the shoe. The shoe is too tight. The right bride waits at home."

The prince looked down at her foot and saw the blood streaming from it. He turned the horse around and brought the false bride back. He said this was not the right one and the other sister should try on the shoe. The other sister went into the chamber and got her toes into the shoe well enough, but her heel was too big. Her mother handed her the knife and said: "Cut a piece off your heel. When you are queen you will not need to walk." The girl cut off a piece of her heel and forced her foot into the shoe and went out to the prince. He took her up on his horse as his bride and rode away with her. But when they came past the hazel tree the two doves called out:

"Roo coo coo, roo coo coo, Blood is in the shoe. The shoe is too tight. The right bride waits at home."

He looked down at her foot and saw the blood spreading inside the shoe and staining her white stocking red. He turned his horse around and brought the false bride back. "This is not the right one either," he said. "Have you no other daughter?" "No," said the man, "only a stunted little kitchen-maid that my late wife left behind. She cannot possibly be the bride." The prince said she should be sent for. But the stepmother said: "Oh no, she is much too dirty to come into the prince's sight." But the prince insisted, and Aschenputtel was called. She first washed her hands and face, and then she came and curtsied to the prince, who handed her the golden shoe. She sat down on a stool, took her foot out of the heavy wooden clog, and put it into the slipper. It fit her perfectly. And when she stood up, the prince looked at her face and recognized the beautiful girl who had danced with him, and he cried: "This is the right bride." The stepmother and the two sisters went pale with rage, but he set Aschenputtel on his horse and rode away with her.

When they came past the hazel tree the two doves called:

"Roo coo coo, roo coo coo, No blood in the shoe. The shoe is not too tight. The right bride rides home."

When the wedding came, the two false sisters came too, hoping to share in Aschenputtel's good fortune. As the bridal procession went into the church, the eldest walked on the right side and the youngest on the left, and the doves pecked one of each of their eyes. Afterwards as they came out of the church, the eldest was on the left and the youngest on the right. And the doves pecked the other eye out of each. So they were punished with blindness for their wickedness all the days of their lives.