Prevod
Once there was a girl who had a stepmother, and her stepmother hated the very sight of her because she was prettier than the daughter the woman had brought with her. Under the stepmother’s influence, the girl’s father came to hate her too, and began to curse and beat her merely to please his wife. One day the woman said to him, “Come, husband, let us send this girl of yours out into the world to seek her fortune.” He answered, “But where are we to send her, wife? Where can a girl go all alone?” She said, “Husband, if you will not do this, I will not live with you. Tomorrow morning you must take her away from home and lead her deep into some forest where she will not be able to find her way back, then slip away from her and hurry home.” The poor man agreed and said, “At least pack her something for the journey, so she does not starve on her very first day in the forest.” The stepmother baked her a round loaf, and at daybreak the next morning her father led her far into the forest, slipped away, and returned home. Left alone, the poor girl wandered through the forest all day, but could find no way out. Darkness fell, and she climbed a tree to spend the night, lest some wild beast devour her on the ground. All night wolves howled beneath her, and the poor girl was nearly dead with fright. When morning came, she climbed down and set off through the forest again, hoping to find some way out, but the trees only grew thicker, and there was no end to them. As evening drew near once more, she began looking for a suitable tree in which to spend the night, when suddenly she noticed something gleaming white through the gloom of the forest. Thinking that perhaps, with luck, it might be a house, she went towards it. And indeed she found a fine, large house. The door stood open, and she went inside. The rooms could not have been more beautiful, and in one of them a candle burned on the table. She thought it must be the home of some brigands, but she was not afraid, for she said to herself, “Only rich people need fear brigands. I have no reason to be afraid of them. I shall tell them I will obey them in everything and work for the crust of bread they give me.” Taking her loaf from her bag, she crossed herself and began to eat. No sooner had she begun than a rooster appeared and started jumping up for some bread, so she crumbled a little for him. Before long a little dog came in and began fawning on her. She broke off a piece of bread for it, took it onto her lap, and began stroking it and feeding it from her hand. Then a cat came, and she broke off some bread for the cat too. Suddenly she heard a heavy thudding and a growl, and she trembled all over when she saw a lion enter the room. But the lion at once began wagging its tail and fawning on her. She took a little courage and held out some bread to it as well. The lion took it and began licking her hand, and then she lost all fear and began stroking the lion and feeding it bread. Suddenly she heard the clatter of weapons and almost fainted with fright, for into the room came some creature in a bearskin. The rooster, the dog, the cat, and the lion immediately ran to meet it, fawning on it and crying out for joy. It never occurred to the poor girl that this might be a man. She thought it must be some dreadful beast, and waited for it to seize her and tear her apart. But the fearsome creature pulled the bearskin away from its face and cast it off, and the whole room shone with the light of his golden garments. After her terrible fright, the girl was quite overcome at the sight of this handsome young man in his splendid clothes. But he came up to her and said, “Have no fear, dear heart. I am no wicked man, but an emperor’s son. I come here when I wish to hunt, and I wear this bearskin so that no one will recognize me. Until this moment, no one but you has even known that I am a man. Everyone who sees me takes me for some monster and runs away. No one dares enter this house or even pass near it, for they have seen me and know I live here. You alone were not afraid to come. Surely you knew I was no monster?” She began to tell him that she had known nothing of him or his house, but that her stepmother had driven her away, and she related everything just as it had happened. When he had heard it all, he felt great pity for her and said, “Your stepmother hated you, but God loves you. I wish to marry you. Will you have me?” “I will,” she said. The next day he took her to his father’s palace, and there they were married. After some time, she begged leave to go and see her father. Her husband let her go, and she dressed herself all in gold and went to her father’s house. Her father was not at home, only her stepmother, who, when she saw her, was afraid that her stepdaughter had come to take revenge. She ran to meet her, saying, “You see, it was I who set you on the road to such good fortune.” The stepdaughter embraced and kissed both her and her daughter. She was very sorry not to find her father at home, but before leaving she gave her stepmother a good deal of money. Shaking her fist after her, the stepmother said, “Just you wait, you wretch! You shall not be the only one to fare so well. Tomorrow my daughter shall go too.” When her husband came home that evening, she began, “Do you know what, husband? I say we should let this girl of mine go out into the world to seek her fortune too. You see, we sent the other one away, and she has not come back. Perhaps by now she is glittering with gold.” The man sighed, but agreed to this as well. The next day she packed cakes and roast meat for her daughter and sent her into the forest with her father. He led her astray as he had the first girl, then went home. When she saw that her father was gone, she began looking for the way home and came upon the house in the forest at once. She went inside, and when she saw there was no one anywhere in the house, she locked the door, saying, “Even if God himself comes, I shall not open it.” She took the roast meat and cakes from her bag, set them on the table, and began to eat her supper. Then along came the rooster, the dog, and the cat, and began fawning on her in the hope that she would give them something. But she snapped furiously, “To the devil with you! I have not enough for myself, let alone any to give you.” She began beating them, and the little dog cried out. When the lion heard its cries, it came rushing in, seized the girl, and tore her to pieces. The next day the emperor’s son came hunting with his wife. She recognized her sister at once by her dress, gathered up all her remains, and took them to her stepmother’s house. This time she found her father at home, and he was overjoyed to see his daughter married to the emperor’s son. When he heard what had happened to his wife’s daughter, he was grieved. “But her mother,” he said, “has brought this upon herself before God, for she hated you without cause. There she is by the well. I shall go and tell her.” When the woman heard what had become of her daughter, she said to her husband, “Husband, I cannot bear the sight of your daughter. Come, let us kill them both. If you will not, I shall throw myself into the well this instant.” “Then jump!” the man replied. “I cannot kill my own child.” “Very well, if you will not, I cannot bear to look at her.” And she jumped into the well.
