The Story of the Two Sisters and the Caskets - Part One

In the middle of a pine forest there lived a woman with two daughters. One of the daughters was her own, and the other was her step daughter. 

The woman very often ill treated her step daughter and took good care of her own child.

Once the woman said an impossibly difficult competition for the stepdaughter to finish. She asked both the girls to spend while sitting on the low wall of the well. 

After that the woman had warned both the girls that the girl whose thread would break first would be thrown into the bottom of the well. The woman gave her own daughter good and strong flax and gave her stepdaughter some very coarse material that would break easily. Naturally the step daughter's materials broke.

After this the woman angrily threw the stepdaughter into the well. 

The girl went down and down into the well, but she did not die. She had actually gone through another land. 

There she found the field more beautiful, trees with soft breeze and bright flowers dancing everywhere.  She was very happy here, and she walked on as she desired. 

She came up to an old and broken fence. She wondered how the fence even stood up. 

She stared at the fence when she heard a voice. "Do not hurt me little maiden. I am old and I may not have much longer to live." 

The girl shook her head and told the fence because it was indeed the fence who had spoken to the girl. "I will not hurt you." 

So instead climbing over the fence the girl jumped over the fence.

The fence thanked the girl and she walked on a path which ran between two flowery hedges. 

There was an oven and on it she saw white loaves. "Take as many as you want, but do not hurt me."

It was indeed the oven which had spoken to the girl.

Hearing that, the girl shook her head. "I will not hurt you." 

She was very grateful for the oven's kindness, and she finished every single loaf down to the last crumb and shut the oven door.

The oven also thanked her, and she went her way.  

The girl was very thirsty, and that was when she saw a cow with a milk bucket hanging on its horn. The cow turned to the girl. "Milk me and drink as much as you will, Little girl." The cow told the girl, "but do not spill any of it on the ground and do not hurt me for I have never heard anyone." 

The girl shook her head. "I have also not hurt anyone."  

So she milked the cow until the bucket was nearly filled, and she drank all of it except a little drop at the bottom. 

"Now throw any that is left over my hoofs and hang the bucket on my horns again." The cow told the girl did as she was asked and kissed the cow on its forehead and went her way.  

Then as the girl walked on, it was getting dark. 

At that time, she saw an old woman.

A girl looked around wondering where she could spend the night. "Good evening," the girl told the old woman.  The girl was very polite and she told the woman how she had ended up here. "I am in search of a place for the night." 

The old woman smiled at the girl. "You are very polite, please wait here and comb my hair and at that time you can tell me all the things that you can do so that I can suggest a proper place for you." 

A girl happily combed the old woman's hair and told her all the things that she could do. 

The old woman looked at her combed hair and was very happy. "You can go further and you will find the house there. Be wise and patient and all will go well in the house." 

The girl thanked her and set out for a farm a little distance away. 

And there she was engaged in a farmhouse to milk the calls and sift the corn there.

Adapted from Scandinavian Fairy Tales