Even as the girl was sad, a procession of cats came inside the room. "What is the matter?" The cats asked the girl.
"The farmer's wife has given me a job and I cannot seem to weave this into a cloth. She has asked me to finish this job by sundown. I am afraid that I have not even started it." The girl told the cats in utter despair.
"Is that all?" The cats asked. "We will do it for you."
The cats jumped on the loom and they wove the yarn. The cats worked very well and in a very short time the cloth was ready and was as fine as could be.
The girl was so delighted that she kissed every cat on its forehead.
The farmer's wife was stunned to see the yarn. “Who has taught you to do this?”
The girl this time too only smiled, and she did not reply.
After that, the farmer's wife sent for her maid and told her that she was free to return home. But for her year of service, the farmer's wife was willing to offer her anything more. The farmer’s wife even offered the girl to stay here with her forever.
The girl however shook her head. “I have been happy here and I thank you for what you have done for me. However, I have left a stepsister and a stepmother behind and I have to be with them.”
The farmer's wife studied the girl. “I want to give you a reward. Go to the loft above the storehouse. There you will find many caskets. Choose the one which you want. Take one of the caskets to your home, but do not open it till you come to your home."
The girl went to the loft. The cats followed her in a procession. There, she saw that the loft was filled with caskets of all sizes, shapes and colours. She did not know what to choose.
That is when she heard the voice of the cats behind her. "Take the black."
The girl looked around the loft but she could not find a black casket.
Finally, she found a black casket beneath all the other caskets and it was very small.
But the girl trusted the cats and she took the black casket to the farmer's wife. “This is what I would like to take from the loft.”
The farmer's wife smiled and bade her to go her way.
After that, the girl walked away bidding farewell to the cows, the cats, and the sparrows who were very sad to see her go.
She finally reached the flowery meadow into which she had fallen in this place. She could not believe it because immediately from there she found herself in the wall of the well into which her stepmother had pushed her into, which had started the whole thing.
The stepmother and the stepsister stared at the girl, unable to believe what they were seeing. They could not believe how the girl had made it back alive.
The girl told the stepmother of how she had gotten a job in the other world, and she had gotten her wages and the small casket at the end of her work.
The stepmother grabbed the money from the girl and looked angrily at her. “Take that ugly box to the outhouse.”
The outhouse was very dirty because nobody had been there since the girl had fallen down the well.
But the girl scrubbed and cleaned everything and made it beautiful again.
She decided that this was going to be her home, and she opened the casket there.
When the girl opened, the light struck from the black box dazzled everyone around the place. The black box held beautiful and precious things like crowns and necklaces, all made of gold and wonderful stones. The jewelry shone with such brightness that all the people around came running to see if the outhouse was on fire.
On seeing this the stepmother was very greedy. She would have definitely taken all the jewels for herself. However, the neighbours had also seen the jewels and they knew that the jewels belonged to the girl, and that was the reason that the stepmother could not take it and claim that it was her own.
Adapted from Scandinavian Fairy Tales
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