Free The Juniper Tree and Other Tales by The Brothers Grimm

had happened to her, and when her stepmother heard how she had come by such riches, she wanted her own daughter, the ugly, lazy girl, to have the same good fortune. So the lazy girl had to sit by the well spinning, and she pricked her fingers and stuck her hand in a hedge of thorns to get the bobbin bloody. Then she threw the bobbin into the well and jumped straight in after it.
    Like her stepsister, she came to the beautiful meadow and walked the same way. When she came to the oven, the bread was calling once again, “Oh, take me out, take me out, or I shall burn. I’m well baked and ready.” But the lazy girl replied, “Do you think I want to get myself all dirty?” and went on walking. Soon she came to the apple tree. “Oh, shake me,” called the tree, “shake me, we apples are all ripe.” But she replied, “What an idea! One of the apples might fall on my head,” and again she went on walking.
    When she came to Mother Holle’s house she wasn’t afraid, because she had already heard about the old woman’s big teeth, and she took service with her at once. On the first day she made an effort, worked hard and did as Mother Holle told her, because she was thinking of all the gold she would be given. On the second day,however, she neglected her work, and on the third day she wouldn’t even get up in the morning. Nor did she make Mother Holle’s feather bed properly, or shake it to make the feathers fly.
    Mother Holle soon got tired of this, and told her that it was time for her to leave. The lazy girl was pleased to hear that, and thought that now she would get the shower of gold. But Mother Holle led her to the gate, and when she was standing in the gateway no gold but a cauldron full of pitch was tipped over her. “That’s the reward for your services,” said Mother Holle, and she shut the door.
    So the lazy girl went home, but she was covered with pitch, and when the cockerel on the well saw her he crowed:
    “Cock-a-doodle-doo, cock-a-doodle-doo
    Here’s our grubby girl come home, cock-a-doodle-doo.”
    The pitch stuck fast to her, and she couldn’t get it off again all the rest of her days.

THE SEVEN RAVENS
    T HERE WAS A MAN who had seven sons and wanted a daughter, but he had no little girl yet. At last his wife told him they were expecting another child, and when the baby was born it was indeed a girl. The man and his wife were delighted, but the baby was so small and weak that they thought she had better be baptised at once. The father sent one of the boys to hurry off to the well for water, the other six went too, and what with each of them wanting to be the first to draw water they lost their hold on the jug and dropped it down the well. There they stood, and they didn’t know what to do next, for none of them dared to go home.
    They didn’t come back, and they didn’t come back, and their father began to grow impatient. “I expect they’ve gone off to play some game or other and forgotten,” he said. “Those thoughtless, wicked boys!” And in his grief, fearing that the baby girl might die unbaptised, he cried, “I wish those boys were all turned into ravens!”
    As he spoke, he heard the beating of wings in the air above his head, and when he looked up he saw seven ravens black as coal flying away.
    The parents couldn’t undo the father’s curse now, but sad as they were over the loss of their seven sons, their dear little daughter was some comfort to them. She was soon strong and well, and she grew prettier every day. For a long time she didn’t know that she was not an only child, for her parents were careful never to mention what had happened in front of her. One day, however, she happened to hear people talking about her, saying yes, she was a lovely girl, but she was to blame for her seven brothers’ misfortune.
    That made her sad, and she went to her father and mother and asked if she really had brothers, and where they had gone.
    Her parents couldn’t keep the secret any