There
was a poor wood-cutter who lived with his wife and
three young
daughters in a little hut on the edge of a large
forest. Sometimes,
when he was cutting down the trees near his cottage
the girls would
take him his dinner, and gather up small branches,
make them into
faggots before dragging them home. The children
thought it was great
fun; but very often he had to work further inside
the forest, sometimes
even at the other side, then his wife would wrap up
his dinner in a
cloth and he carried it with him to eat at
noon-day.
The
Wood-cutter did not earn high wages, so his family
were very poor. But
the simple food and the fresh air made the girls
strong and healthy,
and they grew up to be young women and able to help
there parents more
and more.
One morning when he was going to
his usual work, he said to his wife, 'Let our eldest
daughter bring me my lunch into the wood; and so
that she shall not lose her
way, I will take a bag of millet with me, and
sprinkle the seed on the path.'
So when the sun
had risen high over the forest, the girl set out
with a jug
of soup. But the field and wood sparrows, the
larks and finches, blackbirds
and green finches had picked up the millet many
hours earlier and the girl could not
find her way anywhere.
She went on and on, till
the sun set and night clouds crossed the sky came
on. The trees rustled in
the darkness, the owls hooted, and she began to
be very, very frightened. Then
she saw in the distance a light that twinkled
between the trees. There must
be people living yonder,' she thought, 'who will
take me in for the night,'
and she began walking towards it.
She knocked at the door,
and a gruff voice called, 'Come in!'
She opened
the door and there, sitting at the table was an old
man. His face was
buried in his hands and his white beard was flowing
down over the table
and onto the ground.
On the hearth lay three
animals, a hen, a cock, and a brindled cow. The girl
told the old man her story, and asked would it be
possible for her to stay the night
The man turned to the
creatures and said:-
Pretty Hen. Pretty Cock.
And you, pretty brindled Cow. What do you say
now?
'Cluck! answered the animals; and
that must have meant, "We are
happy with that" for the old man said,
"alright there is food in abundance, go into the
back kitchen and cook
us a supper."
The girl found plenty of
food in the kitchen, and cooked them a good meal,
but thought nothing about the
animals.
Another little look at one of my favourite Grimm's Fairy Tale Collection.
