Wednesday, January 15, 2025

Bushy Bride - Part One


Once upon a time, there lived a man who had lost his wife. He had two children - a boy and a girl. The brother and sister loved each other a lot and were there for each other after they had lost their mother.

Unfortunately for the siblings, their father remarried a widow who had a daughter. Now their father’s new wife and the daughter of the new wife were both wicked.

The boy could no longer stay at home, after the man had remarried and decided to go out into the world and earn his own money.

The boy traveled and then came to the king’s palace. There, the boy worked under a coachman. The boy looked after his horses so wel that his horses were all fat and sleek and these horses shone brightly.

Meanwhile the sister was not doing so well.

The step-mother and the step-sister found fault with everything that the girl did. She did the hardest work in the house and still she found no peace.

Things went on from bad to worse for the sister. 

She once went to a brook to get some water.



At that time an ugly head rose up from the water. 

“Wash me.” The head commanded the girl.

The girl felt that this was very unpleasant work, but she decided to do as she was told and washed the ugly face.

She had done her work well, when another ugly face with wild hair came out of the water. “Brush me.” The face commanded the girl.

The hair of the second hair was messy and tangled, but the girl set about working on it.

After she was done, a third face came out of the water. “Kiss me.” The third face told the girl.

The girl felt this was the worst thing she had to do in her life, but she did this too.

Adapted from Norwegian Folktales


No comments:

Post a Comment