Once upon a time there was a widow who had two daughters; one of themwas beautiful and industrious, the other ugly and lazy. The mother,however, loved the ugly and lazy one best, because she was her owndaughter, and so the other, who was only her stepdaughter, was made todo all the work of the house, and was quite the Cinderella of thefamily. Her stepmother sent her out every day to sit by the well in thehigh road, there to spin until she made her fingers bleed. Now itchanced one day that some blood fell on to the spindle, and as the girlstopped over the well to wash it off, the spindle suddenly sprang outof her hand and fell into the well. She ran home crying to tell ofher misfortune, but her stepmother spoke harshly to her, and aftergiving her a violent scolding, said unkindly, «As you have let thespindle fall into the well you may go yourself and fetch it out.»
The girl went back to the well not knowing what to do, and at last inher distress she jumped into the water after the spindle.
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