Once upon a time, a man’s wife passed away, and there was also a woman whose husband had died.
Both of them had a daughter.
The woman proposed to the man, saying she wanted to marry him.
However, the man hesitated, fearing that the woman might not treat his daughter well.
The woman swore, “Don’t worry! After I marry you, I’ll treat your daughter well. She will eat and dress well, drink wine, and wash her face with milk. My own daughter will only drink water and wash her face with water.”
Convinced by her words, the man agreed, and his daughter gained a stepmother.
On the first day after the marriage, just as promised, the stepmother gave her stepdaughter wine to drink and let her wash her face with milk, while her own daughter drank water and washed her face with water.
However, on the second day, the woman prepared clear water for both girls, both for drinking and washing.
By the third day, everything was reversed—the stepmother gave her stepdaughter water to drink and wash with, while her own daughter enjoyed wine and washed her face with milk.
From then on, the stepmother revealed her true nature.
She saw her stepdaughter as an eyesore and treated her worse and worse.
The more lovable and beautiful the stepdaughter was, the more jealous she became, especially since her own daughter was ugly and ill-tempered.
One cold winter day, the stepmother hatched a sinister plan.
She thought, “This is the perfect weather to freeze her to death and get rid of this thorn in my side.”
She made a dress out of paper and called her stepdaughter over, saying, “Put on this dress and go into the forest to pick a basket of strawberries for me.”
The girl quickly replied, “It’s winter, the ground is frozen, and there can’t be any strawberries. And this dress is made of paper—if I go out in it, I’ll freeze to death…”
The stepmother glared at her and said, “Stop talking! If you don’t bring back any strawberries, don’t bother coming home!”
She then threw a small piece of hard bread at the girl and said, “Don’t say I’m mistreating you. This is for you to eat today.”
After pushing the girl out of the house, she thought to herself, “If the cold doesn’t kill her, the hunger will!”
The girl had no choice but to wear the paper dress and head into the forest.
There, all the plants and trees were withered, and there were no strawberries to be found.
Just as she was feeling helpless, she noticed a small house.
She approached and knocked on the door.
The door opened, revealing three little dwarfs—it was their home.
The girl greeted them politely and said, “May I come in? It’s very cold outside, and if you allow it, I would like to have breakfast inside.”
The three dwarfs agreed.
The girl sat down at the table, took out the small piece of hard bread, and asked the dwarfs if they would like to share it with her.
The three dwarfs agreed, so the girl shared the bread with them.
One of the dwarfs asked, “In such cold and snowy weather, why are you wearing a paper dress and wandering alone in the forest?”
The girl replied, “I have to pick a basket of strawberries, or my stepmother won’t let me come home.”
The dwarfs felt sorry for the girl.
After they finished eating, one of them said, “The snow in the backyard is heavy. Could you help us clear it before you go?”
The girl immediately said, “Of course, I didn’t know how to thank you, anyway.”
So she went to the backyard. After she finished shoveling the snow, she saw large, bright red strawberries growing on the ground.
Overjoyed, she quickly began picking the strawberries.
She didn’t know that the dwarfs were watching her from the window and discussing something.
One said, “This girl is so lovely and kind. She even shared her little bit of bread with us, though it wasn’t enough for herself. But she’s so pitiful, with such an evil stepmother. I will give her a gift: may she become more beautiful with each passing day!”
The second dwarf said, “I’ll give her a gift too: whenever she speaks, gold will fall from her mouth!”
The third dwarf said, “My gift to her is that she will marry the king and become queen!”
The girl filled her basket with strawberries, thanked the dwarfs, and returned home.
When the stepmother saw that her stepdaughter had brought back strawberries, she was astonished and immediately questioned her.
To her surprise, as soon as the girl opened her mouth to speak, gold fell out.
By the time she finished telling the story of meeting the three dwarfs in the forest, the house was already filled with gold.
The stepmother’s own daughter, driven mad with jealousy, insisted on going to the forest to pick strawberries and get gold.
The stepmother said, “My dear daughter, you can’t go. It’s freezing outside, and you’ll be frozen to death.”
But her daughter was determined to go, so the stepmother had no choice but to sew her a thick fur coat and give her plenty of bread and cake to take along.
The girl set off for the forest, found the dwarfs’ house, and knocked on their door.
When the dwarfs opened the door, she didn’t greet them but instead walked straight inside, sat down at the table, and started eating the bread and cake.
The dwarfs said, “Wow, that’s a lot of bread and cake. Can you share some with us?”
The girl quickly guarded her food, saying, “I don’t have enough for myself, so why would I share with you?”
After she finished eating, the dwarfs said, “Could you help us clear the snow at the back door?”
“That’s a joke! I’m not your servant. Why should I do such work for you?”
she retorted and left.
One of the dwarfs said, “This girl is lazy and selfish. I’ll give her a gift: may she grow uglier with each passing day!”
The second dwarf said, “I’ll give her a gift too: whenever she speaks, toads will jump out of her mouth!”
The third dwarf said, “My gift is that she will meet a terrible end!”
When the stepmother’s daughter returned home and started to speak, toads leaped out of her mouth.
By the time she finished telling the story of what happened in the forest, the house was filled with toads.
The mother and daughter were furious.
The stepmother began plotting how to further torment the stepdaughter.
On another freezing winter day, she deliberately dirtied some yarn and called the stepdaughter over, saying, “Go to the river and wash this yarn.”
The girl quickly said, “But it’s freezing outside, and the river is frozen solid. How can I wash the yarn?”
“The water under the ice isn’t frozen. Can’t you break a hole in the ice?” the stepmother retorted.
The girl had no choice but to go to the river.
She broke a hole in the ice and began washing the yarn, but the icy water made her hands crack from the cold.
Just then, a young king passing by in a splendid carriage noticed the girl and asked, “What are you doing here, young lady?”
“I’m just a poor girl washing yarn here, or else my stepmother won’t let me go home,” she replied.
The king felt great sympathy for her, and, captivated by her beauty, he asked, “Would you come with me to the palace and be my queen?”
The girl immediately agreed, not only because she liked the young and handsome king but also because she was overjoyed at the chance to escape her stepmother and stepsister.
So the girl and the king had a grand wedding, and just as the dwarfs had predicted, she married the king and became queen.
The following year, she gave birth to a little prince.
But the story doesn’t end here. When the stepmother learned that her stepdaughter had become queen, she was furious and nearly fainted.
She said to her daughter, “How dare she become queen? You are the one who deserves to be queen!”
So she took her daughter to the palace to confront the stepdaughter.
With sweet words, they managed to persuade the kind-hearted queen to forgive them and even treat them as honored guests.
The queen had no idea they were plotting against her.
One day, when the king was away, the mother and daughter seized the queen—one grabbed her by the head, the other by the feet—and threw her out of the window into the river.
The stepmother then placed her daughter in the queen’s bed, covering her from head to toe to avoid detection.
When the king returned and saw his wife with her head covered, he moved to uncover her.
The stepmother quickly intervened, saying, “The queen is ill, please don’t disturb her.”
“Then let me speak with her,” the king said.
But as soon as the imposter queen opened her mouth, toads leaped out.
The king found it strange and said, “Usually, when the queen speaks, gold falls from her mouth. Why are toads coming out today?”
The stepmother quickly replied, “She’s sick. Once she recovers, she’ll produce gold again.”
The king believed her.
Meanwhile, the poor queen, after being thrown into the river, was transformed into a duck.
At night, it swam up the drain to the palace. Passing by a kitchen, it saw a boy working as a kitchen helper who was still awake and asked him, “What are the queen’s stepmother and her daughter doing?”
“They’re sleeping,” the boy replied.
As soon as he finished speaking, he was astonished to see the duck transform back into the queen.
The queen then went to the prince’s room, fed him, and afterward, she returned to the kitchen, turned back into a duck, and swam away.
This happened for two consecutive nights.
On the third night, the duck said to the boy, “Go and tell the king to come with his sword and wave it three times over my head.”
The boy, who had been bursting to tell someone, quickly informed the king.
The king, already suspicious about the strange behavior of his “queen,” immediately grabbed his sword and came to the kitchen.
When he waved the sword three times over the duck’s head, the duck instantly transformed back into the queen.
The king was overjoyed.
After learning everything that had happened, he was furious.
He hid his wife away in secret.
On the day of the prince’s christening, the king asked the stepmother, “What punishment should be given to someone who mistreats another, such as forcing her to wear a paper dress in winter to pick strawberries, making her wash yarn in icy water, and after she has just given birth, throwing her into a river?”
The stepmother replied, “Such a person is truly wicked! The most fitting punishment would be to seal them in a barrel lined with nails and roll it down a hill into a river!”
“Excellent!” the king exclaimed. “This is exactly what you and your daughter did to the queen. Now you will suffer the same fate!”
The king immediately ordered his men to carry out the punishment on the stepmother and her daughter.
👉 Very Short Story
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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