Prevod

There was once a lazy girl who would not spin, and whatever her mother said, she could not make her do it. At last, one day, the mother was so overcome with anger and impatience that she beat the girl, who began to weep aloud. Just then the queen was passing by, and when she heard the weeping, she ordered her carriage to stop, went into the house, and asked the mother why she was beating her daughter so that her cries could be heard out in the street. The woman was ashamed to admit how lazy her daughter was, so she said, "I cannot keep her from spinning. She wants to spin for ever and ever, and I am poor and cannot find enough flax for her." The queen replied, "There is no sound I like better than spinning, and nothing makes me happier than the whirring of the wheels. Let your daughter come with me to the palace. I have flax enough, and there she may spin to her heart's content." The mother was delighted to agree, and the queen took the girl away with her.

When they reached the palace, the queen led her upstairs to three rooms filled from floor to ceiling with the finest flax. "Now spin this flax for me," she said, "and if you can finish it, you shall have my eldest son for your husband. Poor though you are, I care nothing for that. Your tireless industry is dowry enough." The girl's heart sank, for she could not have spun all that flax even if she had lived for three hundred years and sat at it every day from morning till night. When she was alone, she began to weep, and sat that way for three days without lifting a hand. On the third day the queen came, and was astonished to see that nothing had yet been spun. But the girl excused herself by saying that she had been too distressed at being taken from her mother's home to begin. The queen accepted this, but as she left she said, "Tomorrow you must begin work."

When the girl was alone again, she no longer knew what to do or where to turn, and in her misery she went to the window. There she saw three women approaching. The first had a broad, flat foot, the second had a lower lip so large that it hung down over her chin, and the third had a broad thumb. They stopped beneath the window, looked up, and asked the girl what was wrong. She told them her troubles, and they offered to help her, saying, "If you will invite us to your wedding, not be ashamed of us, call us your cousins, and give us places at your table, we will spin all your flax for you, and in very little time."

"With all my heart," she answered. "Only come in and begin work at once." She let the three strange women in and cleared a space in the first room, where they sat down and began their spinning. One drew out the thread and trod the wheel, the second moistened the thread, and the third twisted it and tapped her finger on the table. At every tap, a skein of yarn fell to the floor, spun as finely as could be. The girl kept the three spinners hidden from the queen, and whenever she came, showed her the great quantity of yarn they had spun, so that the queen could not praise her enough. When the first room was empty, they set to work on the second, and finally the third, which was soon cleared as well. Then the three women took their leave, saying to the girl, "Do not forget what you have promised us. Your good fortune depends on it."

When the girl showed the queen the empty rooms and the great heap of yarn, the queen arranged the wedding. The bridegroom was delighted to be getting such a clever, hardworking wife, and praised her to the skies.

"I have three cousins," said the girl, "and as they have done me many kindnesses, I should not like to forget them in my good fortune. Please allow me to invite them to the wedding and give them places at our table." The queen and the bridegroom said, "Why should we not allow it?"

When the feast began, the three maidens entered in strange attire, and the bride said, "Welcome, dear cousins." "Oh," said the bridegroom, "how do you come to have such ugly relations?" Then he went up to the one with the broad, flat foot and asked, "How did you come to have such a broad foot?"

"From treading," she answered, "from treading." Then the bridegroom went to the second and said, "How did you come to have that drooping lip?" "From licking," she answered, "from licking."

Then he asked the third, "How did you come to have such a broad thumb?" "From twisting thread," she answered, "from twisting thread." At this the prince was horrified and said, "Then my beautiful bride shall never, ever touch a spinning wheel again." And so she was rid of that wretched flax-spinning.