and said to him: "Father, marry the neighbour who is so kind and gives me honey-sops." Her father would say to her: "No, Maria; now she gives thee sops in honey, and afterward she would give them thee in gall." She would answer; "No, father, the neighbour is most kind." At last her father told her that he would marry the neighbour, but that she must not grumble if she should find afterwards that her stepmother was unkind to her.
The neighbour had a daughter of the same age as the other, and whose name also was Maria. So the father of the former married the old woman, who soon afterwards began to treat Maria badly, because she was much more comely than her own daughter. She used to slap her face, and straightway would thrust her into the kitchen clad in very dirty raiment, and she gave her the nickname of Cinder-wench.
Maria, the cinder-maiden, had a little cow, with which she played, and would busy herself with it all day. So the old woman, envious that she should have a cow of her own, wherewith to busy herself, managed to get from her husband to give her daughter also a cow. She was not content with this, but told her husband that she was going to kill [the cinder-wench's cow] because the girl did nothing but play with her cow. So although her father was sorry about this, he had to give his consent, for fear lest his wife would be still more angry with the girl. The old woman called to her and said: "Tomorrow I am going to have thy cow slaughtered, because thou art an idle wench, and dost no work, and spendest thy time playing with it." Maria began to weep, and went to caress her cow. So [the cow] said to her: "Maria, weep no more; when they slaughter me, ask them to give thee leave to go to wash my tripes in the river; and inside thou wilt find a wand of virtue, and thou mayst ask of this all thou desirest, and it will be granted thee. Keep it well hidden, tied round thy waist, so that they may not see it."
The next day they slaughtered the little cow, and Maria went to the river to wash the tripe, and inside she found the wand of virtue, and hid it round her waist. When she was finishing washing the tripe, and had it ready in the tray, it went down the stream. She began to weep, because her stepmother would be sure to beat her sorely. While she was weeping there came a little old woman clad in
