Papalluga;[30] Or, the Golden Slipper.

[30] Servian name for "Cinderella."

As some village girls were spinning whilst they tended the cattle

grazing in the neighbourhood of a ravine, an old man with a long white

beard--so long a beard that it reached to his girdle--approached them,

and said, 'Girls, girls, take care of that ravine! If one of you

should drop her spindle down the cliff, her mother will be turned into

a cow that very moment!'

Having warned them thus, the old man went away again. The girls,

wondering very much at what he had told them, came nearer and nearer

to the ravine, and leant over to look in; whilst doing so one of the

girls--and she the most beautiful of them all--let her spindle fall

from her hand, and it fell to the bottom of the ravine.

When she went home in the evening she found her mother, changed into a

cow, standing before the house; and from that time forth she had to

drive this cow to the pasture with the other cattle.

In a little time the father of the girl married a widow, who brought

with her into the house her own daughter. The stepmother immediately

began to hate the step-daughter, because the girl was incomparably

more beautiful than her own daughter. She forbade her to wash herself,

to comb her hair, or to change her clothes, and sought by every

possible way to torment and scold her. One day she gave her a bag full

of hemp, and said, 'If you do not spin all this well and wind it, you

need not return home, for if you do I shall kill you.'

The poor girl walked behind the cattle and spun as fast as possible;

but at mid-day, seeing how very little she had been able to spin, she

began to weep. When the cow, her mother, saw her weeping, she asked

her what was the matter, and the girl told her all about it. Then the

cow consoled her, and told her not to be anxious. 'I will take the

hemp in my mouth and chew it,' she said, 'and it will come out of my

ear as thread, so that you can draw it out and wind it at once upon

the stick;' and so it happened. The cow began to chew the hemp and the

girl drew the thread from her ear and wound it, so that very soon they

had quite finished the task.

When the girl went home in the evening, and took all the hemp, worked

up, to her stepmother, she was greatly astonished, and next morning

gave her yet more hemp to spin and wind. When at night she brought

that home ready the stepmother thought she must be helped by some

other girls, her friends; therefore the third day she gave her much

more hemp than before. But when the girl had gone with the cow to the

pasture, the woman sent her own daughter after her to find out who

was helping her. This girl went quietly towards her step-sister so as

not to be heard, and saw the cow chewing the hemp and the girl drawing

the thread from her ear and winding it, so she hastened home and told

all to her mother. Then the stepmother urged the husband to kill the

cow. At first he resisted; but, seeing his wife would give him no

peace, he at last consented to do as she wished, and fixed the day on

which he would kill it. As soon as the step-daughter heard this she

began to weep, and when the cow asked her why she wept she told her

all about it. But the cow said, 'Be quiet! do not cry! Only when they

kill me take care not to eat any of the meat, and be sure to gather

all my bones and bury them behind the house, and whenever you need

anything come to my grave and you will find help.' So when they killed

the cow the girl refused to eat any of the flesh, saying she was not

hungry, and afterwards carefully gathered all the bones and buried

them behind the house, on the spot the cow had told her.

The real name of this girl was Mary, but as she had worked so much in

the house, carrying water, cooking, washing dishes, sweeping the

house, and doing all sorts of house-work, and had very much to do

about the fire and cinders, her stepmother and half-sister called her

'Papalluga' (Cinderella).

One day the stepmother got ready to go with her own daughter to

church, but before she went she spread over the house a basketful of

millet, and said to her step-daughter, 'You Papalluga! If you do not

gather up all this millet and get the dinner ready before we come back

from church, I will kill you!'

When they had gone to church the poor girl began to weep, saying to

herself: 'It is easy to see after the dinner; I shall soon have that

ready; but who can gather up all this quantity of millet!' At that

moment she remembered what the cow had told her, that in case of need

she should go to her grave and would there find help, so she ran

quickly to the spot, and what do you think she saw there? On the grave

stood a large box full of valuable clothes of different kinds, and on

the top of the box sat two white doves, who said, 'Mary, take out of

this box the clothes which you like best and put them on, and then go

to church; meanwhile we will pick up the millet seeds and put

everything in order.' The girl was greatly pleased, and took the first

clothes which came to hand. These were all of silk, and having put

them on she went away to church. In the church every one, men and

women, wondered much at her beauty and her splendid clothes, but no

one knew who she was or whence she came. The king's son, who happened

to be there, looked at her all the time and admired her greatly.

Before the service was ended she stood up and quietly left the church.

She then ran away home, and as soon as she got there took off her fine

clothes and again laid them in the box, which instantly shut itself

and disappeared.

Then she hurried to the hearth and found the dinner quite ready, all

the millet gathered up, and everything in very good order. Soon after

the stepmother came back with her daughter from the church, and was

extremely surprised to find all the millet picked up and everything so

well arranged.

Next Sunday the stepmother and her daughter again dressed themselves

to go to church, and, before she went away, the stepmother threw much

more millet about the floor, and said to her step-daughter, 'If you do

not gather up all this millet, prepare the dinner, and get everything

into the best order, I shall kill you.' When they were gone, the girl

instantly ran to her mother's grave, and there found the box open as

before, with the two doves sitting on its lid. The doves said to her,

'Dress yourself, Mary, and go to church; we will pick up all the

millet and arrange everything.' Then she took from the box silver

clothes, and having dressed herself, went to church. In the church

everyone, as before, admired her very much, and the king's son never

moved his eyes from her. Just before the end of the service the girl

again got up very quietly and stole through the crowd. When she got

out of church she ran away very quickly, took off the clothes, laid

them in the box, and went into the kitchen. When the stepmother and

her daughter came home, they were more surprised than before; the

millet was gathered up, dinner was ready, and everything in the very

best order. They wondered very much how it was all done.

On the third Sunday the stepmother dressed herself to go with her

daughter to church, and again scattered millet about on the ground,

but this time far more than on the other Sundays. Before she went out

she said to her step-daughter, 'If you do not gather up all this

millet, prepare the dinner, and have everything in order when I come

from church, I will kill you!' The instant they were gone, the girl

ran to her mother's grave, and found the box open with the two white

doves sitting on the lid. The doves told her to dress herself and go

to church, and to have no care about the millet or dinner.

This time she took clothes of all real gold out of the box, and,

having put them on, went away to the church. In the church all the

people looked at her and admired her exceedingly. Now the king's son

had resolved not to let her slip away as before, but to watch where

she went. So, when the service was nearly ended, and she stood up to

leave the church, the king's son followed her, but was not able to

reach her. In pushing through the crowd, however, Mary somehow in her

hurry lost the slipper from her right foot and had no time to look for

it. This slipper the king's son found, and took care of it. When the

girl got home she took off the golden clothes and laid them in the

box, and went immediately to the fire in the kitchen.

The king's son, having determined to find the maiden, went all over

the kingdom, and tried the slipper on every girl, but in some cases it

was too long, in others too short, and, in fact, it did not fit any of

them. As he was thus going about from one house to the other, the

king's son came at last to the house of the girl's father, and the

stepmother, seeing the king's son coming, hid her step-daughter in a

wash-trough before the house. When the king's son came in with the

slipper and asked if there were any girl in the house, the woman

answered 'Yes,' and brought out her own daughter. But when the slipper

was tried it was found it would not go even over the girl's toes. Then

the king's son asked if no other girl was there, and the stepmother

said, 'No, there is no other in the house.' At that moment the cock

sprung upon the wash-trough, and crowed out 'Cock-a-doodle-do!--here

she is under the wash-trough!'

The stepmother shouted, 'Go away! may the eagle fly away with you!'

But the king's son, hearing that, hurried to the wash-trough, and

lifted it up, and what did he see there! The same girl who had been in

the church, in the same golden clothes in which she had appeared the

third time there, but lying under the trough, and with only one

slipper on. When the king's son saw her, he nearly lost his senses for

the moment, he was so very glad. Then he quickly tried to place the

slipper he carried on her right foot, and it fitted her exactly,

besides perfectly matching with the other slipper on her left foot.

Then he took her away with him to his palace and married her.