The Spinning-Woman by the Spring

The Spinning-Woman by the Spring or "The Kind and the Unkind Girls" is a wide spread, traditional folk tale, known all over Europe, in large parts of Asia, and in Indonesia too. The tale is catalogued as AT 480 in the international Folktale catalogue.

ynopsis

Two step-sisters are one after another sent out to serve in the house of a witch. They are both assigned with difficult or impossible tasks, e.g. to carry water in a sieve.

The kind girl however obeys requests from grateful animals, and learns from the birds' songs that she has to line the sieve with clay. Other tasks are mentioned too: washing black wool white, gathering flowers at midwinter, etc..

As payment for her household work she can choose one of three caskets, an attractive red, a common yellow or an ugly blue casket. Again she receives advices from the animals and makes her modest choice and becomes rich rewarded. Even the unkind girl is able to understand animal language, but she refuses to follow the advices given by the birds and help offered by other animals.

The same motif with the three caskets used by William Shakespeare

The same motif is used by William Shakespeare in the play The Merchant of Venice. Act 2, Scene VII where the Prince of Morocco has to solve the riddle and find out what casket hides Portia's portrait.

: MOROCCO : The first, of gold, who this inscription bears,: 'Who chooseth me shall gain what many men desire;': The second, silver, which this promise carries,: 'Who chooseth me shall get as much as he deserves;': This third, dull lead, with warning all as blunt,: 'Who chooseth me must give and hazard all he hath.': How shall I know if I do choose the right?

Literature

* Antti Aarne and Stith Thompson: "The Types of the Folktale. A Classification and Bibliography". The Finnish Academy of Science and Letters.FF Communications N:o 184. Helsinki 1961, s. 164-167. ISBN 951-41-0132-4.
* Erik Henning Edvardsen: An Oral Prose Motif from AT 480 used by William Shakespeare in "The Merchant of Venice". (Still unpublished).
*Warren E. Roberts: "The Tale of the Kind and the Unkind Girls. Aa-Th 480 and Related Tales". Fabula. Journal of Folktale Studies. Supplement-Serie. B: Untersuchungen Heft 1. Walter de Gruyter & Co. Berlin 1958.