ONCE there was a widower who had a son and a daughter by his first marriage. Both were good children, and loved each other dearly. Some time after the man married a widow, who had a daughter by her first husband. and she was both ugly and bad, like her mother. So from the day the new wife came into the house there was no peace for her stepchildren in any corner; and at last the boy thought he'd best go out into the world and try to earn his own bread. And when he had wandered a while he came to a king's palace, and got a place under the coachman, and quick and willing he was, and the horses he looked after were so sleek and clean that their coats shone again.
But the sister who stayed at home was treated worse than bad; both her stepmother and stepsister were always at her, and wherever she went, and whatever she did, they scolded and snarled so, the poor lassie hadn't an hour's peace. All the hard work she was forced to do, and early and late she got nothing but bad words, and little food besides.
So one day they had sent her to the burn to fetch water; and what do you think? up popped an ugly, ugly head out of the pool, and said,
"Wash me, you lassie."
"Yes, with all my heart, I'll wash you," said the lassie.
So she began to wash and scrub the ugly head; but truth to say she thought it nasty work.
Well, as soon as she had done washing it, up popped another head out of the pool, and this was uglier still.
"Brush me, you lassie," said the head.
"Yes, with all my heart, I'll brush you."
And with that she took in hand the matted locks, and you may fancy she hadn't very pleasant work with them.
But when she had got over that, if a third head didn't pop up out of the pool, and this was far more ugly and loathsome than both the others put together.
"Kiss me, you lassie!"
"Yes, I'll kiss you," said the lassie, and she did it too, though she thought it the worst work she had ever had to do in her life.
Then the heads began to chatter together, and each asked what they should do for the lassie who was so kind and gentle.
"'That she be the prettiest lassie in the world, and as fair as the bright day," said the first head.
"That gold shall drop from her hair every time she brushes it," said the second head.
"That gold shall fall from her mouth every time she speaks," said the third head.
So when the lassie came home looking so lovely, and beaming as the bright day itself, her stepmother and her stepsister got more and more cross, and they got worse still when she began to talk, and they saw how golden guineas fell from her mouth. As for the stepmother, she got so mad with rage, she chased the lassie into the pigsty. That was the right place for all her gold stuff, but as for coming into the house she wouldn't hear of it.
Well, it wasn't long before the stepmother wished her own daughter to go to the burn to fetch water. So when she came to the water's edge with her buckets, up popped the first head.
"Wash me, you lassie," it said.
"The Deil wash you," said the stepdaughter.
So the second head popped up.
"Brush me, you lassie," it said.
"The Deil brush you," said the stepdaughter.
So down it went to the bottom, and the third head popped up.
"Kiss me, you lassie," said the head.
"The Deil kiss you, you pig's-snout," said the girl. |
