Once upon a time there were an old man and an old woman.  Now the old woman was the old man’s second wife.  His first wife had died, and had left him with a little daughter:  Martha she was called.  Then he married again, and God gave him a cross wife, and with her two more daughters, and they were very different from the first.

The old woman loved her own daughters, and gave them red kisel jelly every day, and honey too, as much as they could put into their greedy little mouths.  But poor little Martha, the eldest, she got only what the others left.  When they were cross they threw away what they left, and then she got nothing at all.

The children grew older, and the stepmother made Martha do all the work of the house.  She had to fetch the wood for the stove, and light it and keep it burning.  She had to draw the water for her sisters to wash their hands in.  She had to make the clothes, and wash them and mend them.  She had to cook the dinner, and clean the dishes after the others had done before having a bite for herself.

For all that the stepmother was never satisfied, and was for ever shouting at her:  “Look, the kettle is in the wrong place;” “There is dust on the floor;” “There is a spot on the tablecloth;” or, “The spoons are not clean, you stupid, ugly, idle hussy.”  But Martha was not idle.  She worked all day long, and got up before the sun, while her sisters never stirred from their beds till it was time for dinner.  And she was not stupid.  She always had a song on her lips, except when her stepmother had beaten her.  And as for being ugly, she was the prettiest little girl in the village.

Her father saw all this, but he could not do anything, for the old woman was mistress at home, and he was terribly afraid of her.  And as for the daughters, they saw how their mother treated Martha, and they did the same.  They were always complaining and getting her into trouble.  It was a pleasure to them to see the tears on her pretty cheeks.

Well, time went on, and the little girl grew up, and the daughters of the stepmother were as ugly as could be.  Their eyes were always cross, and their mouths were always complaining.  Their mother saw that no one would want to marry either of them while there was Martha about the house, with her bright eyes and her songs and her kindness to everybody.

So she thought of a way to get rid of her stepdaughter, and a cruel way it was.

“See here, old man,” says she, “it is high time Martha was married, and I have a bridegroom in mind for her.  To-morrow morning you must harness the old mare to the sledge, and put a bit of food together and be ready to start early, as I’d like to see you back before night.”

To Martha she said:  “To-morrow you must pack your things in a box, and put on your best dress to show yourself to your betrothed.”

“Who is he?” asked Martha with red cheeks.

“You will know when you see him,” said the stepmother.