A widow lived with her two daughters. One was beautiful and hard-working, while the other was ugly and lazy. The mother loved the lazy daughter more because she was her own child. The other girl, her stepdaughter, had to do all the housework. Every day, the poor girl had to sit by a well and spin wool until her fingers bled.
One day, the girl’s tool—the spindle—became covered in blood. When she tried to wash it in the well, it slipped and fell into the water. She ran home crying, but her stepmother was very angry. "Since you dropped it in," she shouted, "you must go down and get it out!"
The girl went back to the well. She was so upset that she jumped into the water to find the spindle. Suddenly, everything went dark. When she woke up, she was in a beautiful meadow full of sunshine and flowers.
She walked along and soon came to a baker’s oven full of bread. The bread cried out, "Take us out! We are finished baking, and we don't want to burn!" The girl quickly used a shovel and took all the bread out.
Next, she came to an apple tree. "Shake me!" the tree cried. "My apples are all ripe!" The girl shook the tree until all the apples fell like rain. She gathered them into a neat pile and continued walking.
Finally, she reached a small house. An old woman with very large teeth was looking out of the window. The girl was scared, but the woman said, "Don't be afraid, dear child. Stay with me. If you do the housework well, I will make you very happy. You must shake my bed very hard so that the feathers fly. When that happens, it snows in the world. I am Mother Holle."
The old woman was very kind, so the girl agreed to work for her. She worked hard and shook the bed every morning. She was very happy there and always had delicious food to eat. However, after some time, she began to feel homesick.
"I am very happy here," she told Mother Holle, "but I miss my family. I must go back."
Mother Holle smiled. "I am glad you want to go home. Because you have been so faithful, I will take you back myself."
She led the girl to a large gate. As the girl walked through, a shower of gold fell on her. The gold stuck to her clothes until she was covered in it. "This is your reward for working so hard," said Mother Holle. She also gave the girl the spindle she had lost.
The girl found herself back near her mother’s house. When she walked into the yard, the rooster cried, "Cock-a-doodle-doo! Your golden daughter is back with you!"
Her mother and sister welcomed her because she was now very rich. When the mother heard the story, she wanted the same for her lazy daughter. She sent the lazy girl to the well to spin. The girl purposefully made her hand bleed, threw the spindle into the well, and jumped in.
She woke up in the same beautiful meadow. When she reached the oven, the bread cried out for help. But the lazy girl said, "I don't want to get my hands dirty!" and walked away. When she reached the apple tree, she refused to help because an apple might fall on her head.
At Mother Holle’s house, the girl was hard-working on the first day because she was thinking about the gold. But on the second day, she began to be lazy. By the third day, she wouldn't even get out of bed. She forgot to shake the bed, so it didn't snow in the world.
Mother Holle soon told the girl it was time for her to leave. The lazy girl was excited, thinking, "Now the gold is coming!"
Mother Holle led her to the same gate. But as the girl walked through, a huge bucket of black pitch—a sticky, dirty oil—poured over her instead of gold. "That is your reward," said Mother Holle, and she shut the gate.
The lazy girl went home covered in the black, sticky mess. When the rooster saw her, he cried: "Cock-a-doodle-doo! Your dirty daughter is back with you!" The pitch stuck to her so strongly that it stayed on her for the rest of her life.