The Mythology & Folklore Database
So he called them to him, and said, "It is time to go out in the world and seek your fortune. I'll start the oldest first. Go and see what luck you have in the world!"
So the oldest girl took her bundle of clothes tied up in a big kerchief, and away she went. After a while, just as she was beginning to feel hungry, she saw standing right near her a cow.
The cow said:
Milk me, milk me, or my bag will bust!No sooner had the cow said this, and the girl was wishing for something to milk the cow into, than she espied right near the cow an oven. From it came a voice, which said:
Milk me, milk me, or my bag will bust!
Take me out or I'll burn up!The girl looked inside the oven to see what was talking, and there was a fine loaf of bread. She took it out, dug the center out of it, and filled the hollow with milk from the cow, then had a meal of bread and milk.
Take me out or I'll burn up!
She said, "The old man sent me out, and I must be doing well."
After she had eaten all the bread and milk she wanted, she went on her way. Pretty soon she came to an apple-tree full of apples.
Shake me, shake me, or my limbs will break!said the apple-tree.
Shake me, shake me, or my limbs will break!"
So the girl shook the tree until her lap was full of apples. When she had eaten all the apples she wanted, she put some in her kerchief and went on her way.
Towards dusk she came to a fine-looking mansion, and she thought she would inquire if they (the occupants) wanted anybody to work for them.
Seeing a man standing in front of the house, she called out, "Halloo!"
"Halloo!" answered the man, who liked the girl's looks.
"Do you want a girl to work for you?" asked the girl.
"I think we do need one," answered the man; "but my master isn't home tonight, so you had better stay all night. Which door would you like to enter? One is a gold door: if you go in through it, you will be covered from head to foot with gold. The other is a tar door: if you go in through it, you will be covered with tar."
"Oh, I don't mind!" replied the girl. "I had just as soon be covered with tar as with gold."
"You are so humble, you deserve to go through the golden door."
"I don't care," repeated the girl.
Thereupon the man led her through the golden door; and the gold clung to her nose, her fingers, her ears, to every part of her, until she was completely covered with gold.
When she was well inside the house, the man said, "We have two places where we put those who come here. Will you sleep under the ladder with the cats and dogs, or will you sleep in the high bed with all your gold and glitter?"
"I'd just as soon crawl under the ladder with the cats and dogs as to sleep in the high bed."
"Being as you are so humble, I'll put you in the high bed with all your gold and glitter."
When she reached the room where the high bed was, she saw that everything was of gold. The gold from everything she touched stuck to her, even the golden sheets; and in the morning, with the golden sheets clinging fast to her, she thought she was rich enough to go home. So home she went.
When the family saw her coming, her father said, "What! Is that lazy whelp coming back? I'll get the horse-whip and whip her to death!"
The girl, however, as soon as she came near enough to make herself heard, cried out, "O father! I'm rich, rich!"
And sure enough, the father had never seen so much gold in his life as he now saw on his daughter. As soon as he touched her, the gold fell off from her to the ground.
The father ordered the girl to tell where she had been. When he heard the story, he decided to send the second daughter to try her luck in the same way.
The second daughter had precisely the same experiences as her sister, and she too returned home "rich, rich!"
Then the father said, "Now for Lazy Maria! She's never been good for anything yet. Let's see what she can do!"
To her he said, "Even if you are our baby, you must go."
So Lazy Maria took her bundle on her shoulder and started. Soon she came to the cow, which said:
Milk me, milk me, or my bag will bust!"Go along, you old bitch! I don't care if it does," replied the girl.
Milk me, milk me, or my bag will bust!
Then the voice from within the oven cried out:
Take me out or I'll burn up!"Burn up, then! I won't touch you. I won't work when I'm all tired out," complained the girl, and went on her way. When she came to the apple-tree, it cried:
Take me out or I'll burn up!
Shake me, shake me, or my limbs will break!"Let your limbs break, then! I sha'n't shake you," said the girl, and went on.
Shake me, shake me, or my limbs will break!"
When she came to the mansion, the man on guard told her of the two doors, and asked her through which she wanted to enter.
"I want to go through the golden door," said the girl.
"All right!" and the man pushed her through the tar door. The tar stuck to her hair, filled her eyes, and covered her from head to foot.
"Oh, my father will kill me!" she cried.
"Where will you sleep, under the ladder with the cats, or in the high bed?" asked the man.
"In the high bed, tar and all," at once decided the girl.
"All right! Creep under the ladder."
And the man pushed her among the cats and dogs.
"You must be more humble," said he, "if you would get on in the world."
The next morning the poor girl, all covered with tar as she was, started for home.
When the family saw her coming, they rushed out to see the gold; but when they discovered that she was covered with tar instead of gold, they cried, "Let's whip her!"
"Oh, no!" said her father. "Let's scrub the tar off!" but, scrub as they would, they couldn't get it off, because, you see, it had been put on by a witch.
They scraped and scraped until they scraped the hair off her head, and the skin off her fingers and toes. At last they scraped off one of her warts, and there lay the witch. At that all the tar fell off, and Lazy Maria was free once more. But while her two sisters were rich and could go and come as they liked, Lazy Maria always had to stay at home, poor.