There was a beautiful and kind-hearted girl, but her stepmother saw her as a thorn in her side and tormented her at every turn.
One cold winter day, the stepmother ordered the girl to wear paper-thin clothes and go to the forest to pick strawberries.
But how could there be strawberries in such freezing weather? And wearing such thin clothing would surely cause her to freeze to death.
This, of course, was the evil stepmother’s intent.
With no other choice, the girl went into the forest, where she encountered three little dwarfs.
The three little dwarfs felt sympathy for this beautiful and considerate girl. Besides giving her strawberries, they also gifted her three blessings: becoming more beautiful each day, having gold coins fall from her mouth when she speaks, and becoming a queen.
When the stepmother saw the girl had returned alive, she intensified her abuse, forcing her to wash clothes by the river on a bitterly cold winter day.
While washing on the ice, a king passed by and was struck by the girl’s beauty at first sight.
He approached her and asked if she would marry him.
The girl, who liked the handsome and gentle king, was overjoyed, as this marriage would also free her from her stepmother’s torment. She happily accepted his proposal.
Upon hearing that the girl had survived and was soon to become queen, the stepmother, consumed with anger and jealousy, snuck into the palace with her daughter, scheming to kill the girl so her own daughter could take her place as queen.
However, their plot was exposed, and they received the harshest punishment.
Just as the three dwarfs had foretold, the girl married the king, became queen, and lived happily ever after with him.
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