The Best English Fairy Tales / Лучшие английские сказки

She made meat for her, she set on water, she washed her feet, and she let her sleep. In the morning the housewife said “You will be in the house of my youngest sister tonight,” said she. And she gave her the needle.

She was going, and going. She saw a house. When she went in, the housewife was spinning at the end of the fire.

“Come up,” said she. She made meat for her, she set on water, she washed her feet, and she let her sleep. In the morning she gave her some thread. The thread would go into the needle by itself and as the shears would cut, and the needle sew.

“You will be in the town tonight,” said the housewife.

She reached the town in the evening. She went into the house of the king’s hen wife, she was warming herself at the fire. She asked the old woman to give her work. The woman said:

“The king’s daughter is marrying the next day and no one is working.”

She gave her shirts to make; she took the shears from her pocket, and she set it to work; she set the needle to work after it; as the shears would cut, the needle would sew, and the thread would go into the needle by itself.

A royal serving-maid saw and told the king’s daughter.

“Well,” said the king’s daughter, “ask her, what she will take for the shears.”

In the morning she went over, and she said to her that the king’s daughter was asking what would she take for the shears. “Nothing I asked,” said she, “but to sleep in your bedroom.”

“Go,” said the king’s daughter, “and say to her that she will get that.

She gave the shears to the king’s daughter. When they were going to sleep, the king’s daughter gave him a sleep drink. He did not wake for the whole night. The king’s daughter came in the morning to throw her out.

Later the woman was working with the needle, and cutting with other shears. The king’s daughter sent her maid servant over, and she asked “what would she take for the needle?”

She said she would sleep in her bedroom again.

“She will get that,” said the king’s daughter. The maid servant told that she would get that, and she got the needle. When they were going to sleep, the king’s daughter gave him a sleep drink, and he did not wake that night. The eldest son he had was lying in a bed beside them. He heard how she said to him that she was the mother of his three children.