Betty and the Wood-Lady - Part Seven

Betty then looked at the basket in her hands. She removed the spindle and the unspun flax to see the birch wood leaves that she had left in the basket.

Both Betty and her mother were stunned because the remaining birch leaves had turned to gold!

Betty studied her mother. “She asked me not to look now and look after I had reached home.” Betty was unhappy. “I was hasty and I looked at the forest and found that they were only birch leaves and threw them away.”

The next day Betty went to the woods to look for the birch leaves that she had thrown away from her basket, but there was nothing in the forest but fresh birch leaves.

But the riches that Betty brought from the few golden leaves were sufficient for Betty and her mother.

Betty’s mother bought an estate and they had many cattle. Betty had pretty clothes and she did not need to take her goats to the woods everyday.

Betty tried to be as cheerful as always but still nothing gave her as much joy as remembering her dance with the Wood Lady. 

But Betty never saw the beautiful maiden ever again.

Adapted from Slavonic Folktales

Betty and the Wood-Lady - Part Six

Betty’s mother was anxious. “What sort of spool did you bring home yesterday, Betty?”

“Why?”

Betty’s mother was shocked. “When you left for the woods, I started reeling the skein. I kept on reeling and the spool still was full.” Betty’s mother shook her head. “I have reeled in three skeins and the spool still remained full.” Betty’s mother looked anxious again. “I wondered to myself about what sort of evil spirit has spun this. Then the entire yarn vanished!” Betty’s mother finished looking shocked. 

Betty then told her mother everything.

Betty’s mother was astonished. “That was a wood-lady. At around mid-day or mid-night they come out to dance. If you had been a boy, then you would not have come out of her arms alive, because they would dance till there was breath in the boy’s body or would have tickled them to death!” Betty’s mother studied the girl. “But wood-ladies like girls and they often give rich presents to girls.” Betty’s mother sighed to herself. “If I had not had such wrong thoughts about the skein when I was reeling it, I would have had a room full of yarn by now.”

Adapted from Slavonic Folktales

Betty and the Wood-Lady - Part Five

 

This time too at mid-day, after Betty had had her food, the maiden appeared. 

They danced till the sun went down.

Betty then looked at her undone work and again miserable.

The maiden smiled at Betty. “Give me your basket.”

Betty did as she was told and the maiden disappeared for a second. She came back in a moment and handed over the basket to Betty. “Do not look into the basket now. Look into it, after you have gone home.”

Immediately after the maiden had said this, the maiden disappeared as if she had been blown away by the wind.

Betty took her basket and she did not dare look into it immediately.

However, Betty was half-way home and she could not curb her curiosity.

The basket was light and Betty wondered whether the maiden has tricked her.

Finally when Betty looked into the basket, she was sad because it had nothing but birch leaves.

Betty was angry with herself for believing the maiden and in anger she threw away two handfuls of leaves from her basket.

She was about to empty the basket when she realized that she could give the leaves to her goat.

So she left some of the leaves in the basket and walked home.

But Betty was again afraid because she had not done any work for the day. 

The goats also wondered why their shepherdess was not cheerful as always.

Betty slowly came home and found her mother waiting for her.

Adapted from Slavonic Folktales

Betty and the Wood-Lady - Part Four

 

The maiden took the flax from Betty’s hands and twined it around the stem of a slender birch tree and she took the spindle and began to spin.

Betty stopped crying and was amazed because before the sun had set, the maiden spun the yarn not only for that day, but even for the day before.

The maiden smiled and handed over the spool to Betty. “Remember, my words, reel and grumble not.”

After saying that, the maiden nearly vanished from there.

But Betty was happy. She realized that even her dancing had not caused any harm and she was determined that if the maiden came the next day, she would dance with her.

Betty happily sang and went home with her goats.

But her mother was annoyed. “Why did you not finish your task yesterday, Betty?”

Betty shook her head. “Yesterday I danced a little too long.” Betty’s eyes brightened. “But I have made up for it today.”

On seeing the yarn, Betty’s mother said nothing else.

Betty wanted to tell her mother about the maiden and her adventures in the forest, but finally Betty decided against it. She decided that if the maiden came again, she would ask the maiden who she was and then after learning everything, Betty decided to tell her mother everything.

So the third day too Betty went to the forest with her goats and she spun and sang at the same time.

At mid-day, after her meal, when Betty was about to start dancing, the maiden appeared again.

Adapted from Slavonic Folktales

Betty and the Wood-Lady - Part Three

The next day Betty drove her goats to the forest and today she sang to herself happily. She sat under the tree and started spinning. She sang as she spun the flax and soon it was mid-day.

Betty gave a morsel of bread to the goats and this time went deeper and found some strawberries in the forest and ate her food. 

“I must not dance today.” Betty told herself and her goats and she sighed and placed her left-over bread crumbs on the nearby stone for the birds.

“Why not?” A voice came from beside Betty.

Betty was afraid and she did not answer the maiden who had appeared before her. 

Betty closed her eyes wishing that the maiden disappeared. But the maiden repeated her question.

Betty slowly opened her eyes and studied the maiden. “I cannot dance with you, because then again I would fail my task of spinning. Then my mother would scold me.” Betty nodded unhappily. “I must make up for what I left undone yesterday.”

The maiden smiled mysteriously at Betty. “Come and dance. By sun down, some help will be found for you.”

The maiden tucked her dress and took Betty round the waist and today too the two dancers began to twirl around.

Today the maiden danced even more enchantingly and today too Betty could not take her eyes off the maiden and she forgot her goats and her task.

At last in the evening, the dancers stopped and the sun was on the verge of setting.

Betty then looked at the unspun flax and began to cry.

Adapted from Slavonic Folktales

Betty and the Wood-Lady - Part Two

When they circled, Betty heard music around her. 

Different birds like nightingales, larks, linnets, goldfinches, greenfinches, thrushes, blackbirds and mocking birds all appeared on the trees around them and together the birds created the most beautiful music ever.

As the maiden and Betty danced around the forest, Betty was thrilled and she could think of nothing else. 

She forgot her tasks and her goats. All Betty could think about was her charming partner who danced beautifully well. Though the two of them danced from afternoon till the evening, Betty was neither tired nor did she feel any pain.

All of a sudden, in the evening, the maiden disappeared. The music stopped too.

Then Betty realized that she had spent the entire time dancing and had not done any work and had not spun any of the flax either.

Betty was sad and she realized that she had been duped by the maiden whoever she was. Betty told herself to ignore the maiden if she came again.

Betty walked the she-goats back to her cottage, but this time she was cheerless and the goats themselves seemed puzzled wondering whether this was indeed the shepherdess who usually took care of them.

In the cottage, Betty’s mother immediately realized that something was wrong, because Betty did not sing like she usually did.

“No mother, I am not ill. But my throat is dry today, so I cannot sing.”

Her mother usually did not reel in the yarn that Betty had woven immediately so Betty was not worried. She just promised herself that she would work harder the next day and make up for the work that remained undone today. Betty was sure that if she did that, her mother would never know what had happened today.

Adapted from Slavonic Folktales

Betty and the Wood-Lady - Part One

A widow and her little daughter - Betty, lived in a broken down cottage. All they had other than the cottage were two she-goats.

However, Betty was very cheerful and she took the two goats to graze in the woods, every day. 

That was not all. 

Every day, in the morning, her mother gave her a slice of bread, a spindle and a basket. Just as her mother wanted, while the goats grazed, Betty would spin with the spindle and flax. At mid-day, she would put her spindle aside, call the goats and she gave the goats a morsel of bread. Then she would collect any fruit of the season from the forest and eat it with her bread.

After her meal, Betty danced and sang in the woods. 

Even the goats enjoyed the happy and cheerful Betty dancing around the forest in the sunshine. 

After that, Betty went back to her spinning and till date, her mother never scolded Betty for bringing the spindle empty.

However, all that changed one day.

One day, after having her meal, she was just about to dance when a beautiful maiden appeared before Betty. The maiden had golden hair, a white dress and she wore a garland of flowers.

Betty was stunned.

The maiden smiled at Betty. “Betty, do you like dancing?”

On hearing the melodious words of the maiden, Betty was no longer afraid. “I could dance all day long.”

The maiden smiled. She tucked her dress and took Betty by the waist. “Let us dance together. I will teach you.”

Adapted from Slavonic Folktales