The Orange Fairy Book (10 page)

Down, down, down went the girl—it seemed as if the well must reach to
the very middle of the earth; but at last her feet touched the ground,
and she found herself in a field more beautiful than even the summer
pastures of her native mountains. Trees waved in the soft breeze, and
flowers of the brightest colours danced in the grass. And though she
was quite alone, the girl's heart danced too, for she felt happier than
she had since her father died. So she walked on through the meadow
till she came to an old tumbledown fence—so old that it was a wonder
it managed to stand up at all, and it looked as if it depended for
support on the old man's beard that climbed all over it.

The girl paused for a moment as she came up, and gazed about for a
place where she might safely cross. But before she could move a voice
cried from the fence:

'Do not hurt me, little maiden; I am so old, so old, I have not much
longer to live.'

And the maiden answered:

'No, I will not hurt you; fear nothing.' And then seeing a spot where
the clematis grew less thickly than in other places, she jumped lightly
over.

'May all go well with thee,' said the fence, as the girl walked on.

She soon left the meadow and turned into a path which ran between two
flowery hedges. Right in front of her stood an oven, and through its
open door she could see a pile of white loaves.

'Eat as many loaves as you like, but do me no harm, little maiden,'
cried the oven. And the maiden told her to fear nothing, for she never
hurt anything, and was very grateful for the oven's kindness in giving
her such a beautiful white loaf. When she had finished it, down to the
last crumb, she shut the oven door and said: 'Good-morning.'

'May all go well with thee,' said the oven, as the girl walked on.

By-and-by she became very thirsty, and seeing a cow with a milk-pail
hanging on her horn, turned towards her.

'Milk me and drink as much as you will, little maiden,' cried the cow,
'but be sure you spill none on the ground; and do me no harm, for I
have never harmed anyone.'

'Nor I,' answered the girl; 'fear nothing.' So she sat down and milked
till the pail was nearly full. Then she drank it all up except a
little drop at the bottom.

'Now throw any that is left over my hoofs, and hang the pail on my
horns again,' said the cow. And the girl did as she was bid, and
kissed the cow on her forehead and went her way.

Many hours had now passed since the girl had fallen down the well, and
the sun was setting.

'Where shall I spend the night?' thought she. And suddenly she saw
before her a gate which she had not noticed before, and a very old
woman leaning against it.

'Good evening,' said the girl politely; and the old woman answered:

'Good evening, my child. Would that everyone was as polite as you.
Are you in search of anything?'

'I am in search of a place,' replied the girl; and the woman smiled and
said:

'Then stop a little while and comb my hair, and you shall tell me all
the things you can do.'

'Willingly, mother,' answered the girl. And she began combing out the
old woman's hair, which was long and white.

Half an hour passed in this way, and then the old woman said:

'As you did not think yourself too good to comb me, I will show you
where you may take service. Be prudent and patient and all will go
well.'

So the girl thanked her, and set out for a farm at a little distance,
where she was engaged to milk the cows and sift the corn.

As soon as it was light next morning the girl got up and went into the
cow-house. 'I'm sure you must be hungry,' said she, patting each in
turn. And then she fetched hay from the barn, and while they were
eating it, she swept out the cow-house, and strewed clean straw upon
the floor. The cows were so pleased with the care she took of them
that they stood quite still while she milked them, and did not play any
of the tricks on her that they had played on other dairymaids who were
rough and rude. And when she had done, and was going to get up from
her stool, she found sitting round her a whole circle of cats, black
and white, tabby and tortoise- shell, who all cried with one voice:

'We are very thirsty, please give us some milk!'

'My poor little pussies,' said she, 'of course you shall have some.'
And she went into the dairy, followed by all the cats, and gave each
one a little red saucerful. But before they drank they all rubbed
themselves against her knees and purred by way of thanks.

The next thing the girl had to do was to go to the storehouse, and to
sift the corn through a sieve. While she was busy rubbing the corn she
heard a whirr of wings, and a flock of sparrows flew in at the window.

'We are hungry; give us some corn! give us some corn!' cried they; and
the girl answered:

'You poor little birds, of course you shall have some!' and scattered a
fine handful over the floor. When they had finished they flew on her
shoulders and flapped their wings by way of thanks.

Time went by, and no cows in the whole country-side were so fat and
well tended as hers, and no dairy had so much milk to show. The
farmer's wife was so well satisfied that she gave her higher wages, and
treated her like her own daughter. At length, one day, the girl was
bidden by her mistress to come into the kitchen, and when there, the
old woman said to her: 'I know you can tend cows and keep a diary; now
let me see what you can do besides. Take this sieve to the well, and
fill it with water, and bring it home to me without spilling one drop
by the way.'

The girl's heart sank at this order; for how was it possible for her to
do her mistress's bidding? However, she was silent, and taking the
sieve went down to the well with it. Stopping over the side, she
filled it to the brim, but as soon as she lifted it the water all ran
out of the holes. Again and again she tried, but not a drop would
remaining in the sieve, and she was just turning away in despair when a
flock of sparrows flew down from the sky.

'Ashes! ashes!' they twittered; and the girl looked at them and said:

'Well, I can't be in a worse plight than I am already, so I will take
your advice.' And she ran back to the kitchen and filled her sieve
with ashes. Then once more she dipped the sieve into the well, and,
behold, this time not a drop of water disappeared!

'Here is the sieve, mistress,' cried the girl, going to the room where
the old woman was sitting.

'You are cleverer than I expected,' answered she; 'or else someone
helped you who is skilled in magic.' But the girl kept silence, and
the old woman asked her no more questions.

Many days passed during which the girl went about her work as usual,
but at length one day the old woman called her and said:

'I have something more for you to do. There are here two yarns, the
one white, the other black. What you must do is to wash them in the
river till the black one becomes white and the white black.' And the
girl took them to the river and washed hard for several hours, but wash
as she would they never changed one whit.

'This is worse than the sieve,' thought she, and was about to give up
in despair when there came a rush of wings through the air, and on
every twig of the birch trees which grew by the bank was perched a
sparrow.

'The black to the east, the white to the west!' they sang, all at once;
and the girl dried her tears and felt brave again. Picking up the
black yarn, she stood facing the east and dipped it in the river, and
in an instant it grew white as snow, then turning to the west, she held
the white yarn in the water, and it became as black as a crow's wing.
She looked back at the sparrows and smiled and nodded to them, and
flapping their wings in reply they flew swiftly away.

At the sight of the yarn the old woman was struck dumb; but when at
length she found her voice she asked the girl what magician had helped
her to do what no one had done before. But she got no answer, for the
maiden was afraid of bringing trouble on her little friends.

For many weeks the mistress shut herself up in her room, and the girl
went about her work as usual. She hoped that there was an end to the
difficult tasks which had been set her; but in this she was mistaken,
for one day the old woman appeared suddenly in the kitchen, and said to
her:

'There is one more trial to which I must put you, and if you do not
fail in that you will be left in peace for evermore. Here are the
yarns which you washed. Take them and weave them into a web that is as
smooth as a king's robe, and see that it is spun by the time that the
sun sets.'

'This is the easiest thing I have been set to do,' thought the girl,
who was a good spinner. But when she began she found that the skein
tangled and broke every moment.

'Oh, I can never do it!' she cried at last, and leaned her head against
the loom and wept; but at that instant the door opened, and there
entered, one behind another, a procession of cats.

'What is the matter, fair maiden?' asked they. And the girl answered:

'My mistress has given me this yarn to weave into a piece of cloth,
which must be finished by sunset, and I have not even begun yet, for
the yarn breaks whenever I touch it.'

'If that is all, dry your eyes,' said the cats; 'we will manage it for
you.' And they jumped on the loom, and wove so fast and so skilfully
that in a very short time the cloth was ready and was as fine as any
king ever wore. The girl was so delighted at the sight of it that she
gave each cat a kiss on his forehead as they left the room behind one
the other as they had come.

'Who has taught you this wisdom?' asked the old woman, after she had
passed her hands twice or thrice over the cloth and could find no
roughness anywhere. But the girl only smiled and did not answer. She
had learned early the value of silence.

After a few weeks the old woman sent for her maid and told her that as
her year of service was now up, she was free to return home, but that,
for her part, the girl had served her so well that she hoped she might
stay with her. But at these words the maid shook her head, and
answered gently:

'I have been happy here, Madam, and I thank you for your goodness to
me; but I have left behind me a stepsister and a stepmother, and I am
fain to be with them once more.' The old woman looked at her for a
moment, and then she said:

'Well, that must be as you like; but as you have worked faithfully for
me I will give you a reward. Go now into the loft above the store
house and there you will find many caskets. Choose the one which
pleases you best, but be careful not to open it till you have set it in
the place where you wish it to remain.'

The girl left the room to go to the loft, and as soon as she got
outside, she found all the cats waiting for her. Walking in
procession, as was their custom, they followed her into the loft, which
was filled with caskets big and little, plain and splendid. She lifted
up one and looked at it, and then put it down to examine another yet
more beautiful. Which should she choose, the yellow or the blue, the
red or the green, the gold or the silver? She hesitated long, and went
first to one and then to another, when she heard the cats' voices
calling: 'Take the black! take the black!'

The words make her look round—she had seen no black casket, but as the
cats continued their cry she peered into several corners that had
remained unnoticed, and at length discovered a little black box, so
small and so black, that it might easily have been passed over.

'This is the casket that pleases me best, mistress,' said the girl,
carrying it into the house. And the old woman smiled and nodded, and
bade her go her way. So the girl set forth, after bidding farewell to
the cows and the cats and the sparrows, who all wept as they said
good-bye.

She walked on and on and on, till she reached the flowery meadow, and
there, suddenly, something happened, she never knew what, but she was
sitting on the wall of the well in her stepmother's yard. Then she got
up and entered the house.

The woman and her daughter stared as if they had been turned into
stone; but at length the stepmother gasped out:

'So you are alive after all! Well, luck was ever against me! And
where have you been this year past?' Then the girl told how she had
taken service in the under-world, and, beside her wages, had brought
home with her a little casket, which she would like to set up in her
room.

'Give me the money, and take the ugly little box off to the outhouse,'
cried the woman, beside herself with rage, and the girl, quite
frightened at her violence, hastened away, with her precious box
clasped to her bosom.

The outhouse was in a very dirty state, as no one had been near it
since the girl had fallen down the well; but she scrubbed and swept
till everything was clean again, and then she placed the little casket
on a small shelf in the corner.

'Now I may open it,' she said to herself; and unlocking it with the key
which hung to its handle, she raised the lid, but started back as she
did so, almost blinded by the light that burst upon her. No one would
ever have guessed that that little black box could have held such a
quantity of beautiful things! Rings, crowns, girdles, necklaces—all
made of wonderful stones; and they shone with such brilliance that not
only the stepmother and her daughter but all the people round came
running to see if the house was on fire. Of course the woman felt
quite ill with greed and envy, and she would have certainly taken all
the jewels for herself had she not feared the wrath of the neighbours,
who loved her stepdaughter as much as they hated her.

But if she could not steal the casket and its contents for herself, at
least she could get another like it, and perhaps a still richer one.
So she bade her own daughter sit on the edge of the well, and threw her
into the water, exactly as she had done to the other girl; and, exactly
as before, the flowery meadow lay at the bottom.