There was once upon a time a woman who was a real witch and hadtwo daughters, one ugly and wicked, and this one she loved because shewas her own daughter, and one beautiful and good, and this one shehated, because she was her stepdaughter. The stepdaughter once had apretty apron, which the other fancied so much that she becameenvious, and told her mother that she must and would have that apron.«Be quiet, my child,» said the old woman, «and you shall have it.Your stepsister has long deserved death; tonight when she is asleep Iwill come and cut her head off. Only be careful that you are at the farside of the bed, and push her well to the front.» It would have beenall over with the poor girl if she had not just then been standing ina corner, and heard everything. All day long she dared not go out ofdoors, and when bedtime had come, the witch’s daughter got into bedfirst, so as to lie at the far side, but when she was asleep, theother pushed her gently to the front, and took for herself the place atthe back, close by the wall. In the night, the old woman came creepingin, she held an axe in her right hand, and felt with her left to see ifanyone were lying at the outside, and then she grasped the axe with bothhands, and cut her own child’s head off.
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