LVII.—THE FRIENDSHIP OF A VILA AND OF THE
MONTHS.
A wicked woman married a poor man, who had already a
little daughter named Maritza. Afterwards God gave her a
daughter of her own, whom she loved and cherished more
than her own eyes. On her stepdaughter, who was a good
and very handsome child, she could scarcely bear to cast a
look; therefore she drove her about, teased and tormented
her, in order as soon as possible to make an end of her;
she threw her the poorest remnants of food and everything,
just as she would have done to a dog. Indeed, she would
have given her a snake's tail to eat, if she had had one at
hand; and instead of a bed, she sent her to sleep in an old
trough.
When her so-called mother saw that the girl, in spite of
all this, was good and patient, and grew handsomer than
her daughter, she thought and thought how to find a pretext
to get rid of the orphan out of the house, and devised one.
One day she sent her daughter and stepdaughter to wash
wool; to her own daughter she gave white wool, to her
stepdaughter black, and said to her with sharp threats: `If
you don't wash the black wool as white as my daughter
will hers, don't come home any more, or else I shall beat you
out of the house.' The poor stepdaughter wept piteously,
entreated her, and said that it was impossible for her to do
this. But all in vain. Seeing that there was no mercy for
her, she tied up the wool and went weeping after her half-sister.
When they came to the water, they undid their
bundles, and began to wash, when a beautiful fair damsel
from somewhere joined and saluted them: `Good luck,
friends! do you want any help?' The stepmother's daughter
said with a scornful laugh: `I want no help; my wool will
soon be white; but our stepdaughter's yonder will not be so
in a hurry.' Thereupon the strange damsel stepped up to
the sorrowful Maritza, saying: `Come! let us see whether
that wool will allow itself to be washed white.' Both began
immediately to rinse and wash, and in a jiffy the black wool
became as white as fresh-fallen snow. When they had
finished washing, her fair friend vanished nobody knew
whither. The stepmother, seeing the white wool, was
amazed and angry, because she had no excuse for driving
her stepdaughter away.
Some time after this came sharp cold and snow. The
wicked stepmother was continually thinking how best to
persecute her unfortunate stepdaughter, and now ordered
her: `Take a basket and go off to the mountain; there
gather me ripe strawberries for the new year. If you don't
bring me them, it will be better for you to stay on the mountain.'
The orphan Maritza wept piteously, entreated her
and said: `How shall poor I procure ripe strawberries in
sharp winter cold?' But all in vain. She was obliged to
take the basket and go.
As she was going all in tears over the mountain she met
twelve young men, whom she saluted courteously. They
received the salutation in a friendly manner, and asked her
`Whither are you wading, dear girl, in the snow thus in
tears?' She told them the whole story prettily. The young
men said to her: `We will help you if you will tell us which
month of the whole year is the best?' Maritza said in
reply: `They are all good, but the month of March is the
best, for it brings us most hope.' They were pleased with
her answer, and said: `Go into the first glen on the sunny
side; there you will get as many strawberries as you wish.'
And indeed she brought her stepmother a basketful of
most excellent strawberries for the new year, and told her
that the young men whom she had met on the mountain
had shown them to her.
Some days later, when the weather had become milder,
the mother said to her own daughter: `Go now into the
mountain for strawberries; maybe you will find those young
men, and they will give you similar good fortune, for they
have shown themselves so wonderfully kind to our greasy
stepdaughter.' The daughter dressed herself grandly, took
the basket, and skipped off merrily on to the mountain.
When she got there, she did actually meet the twelve young
men, to whom she said haughtily: `Show me where the
strawberry-plants grow, as you showed our stepdaughter.'
The young men said: `Good! provided you guess which
month is the best of the whole year.' She answered quickly:
`They are all bad, and the month of March is the worst.'
But at that speech the whole mountain clouded over in a
jiffy, and a storm beat upon her so that she scarcely panted
home alive. The young men were the twelve months.
Meanwhile the goodness and beauty of the ill-used stepdaughter
was noised about in the district, and a young,
rich and honourable lord arranged with her stepmother to
come on such and such a day with his retinue to betroth the
stepdaughter to be his wife. The stepmother, jealous of the
orphan, did not tell her a single word of this, but thought to
thrust her own daughter surreptitiously into this good fortune.
When the appointed evening came the infamous stepmother
packed her stepdaughter off in good time to the
trough to sleep, then cleared up the house, prepared supper,
dressed out her daughter to the best of her ability, and placed
her at table with some knitting in her hands. Thereupon
up came the betrothal party; the stepmother welcomed
them, conducted them into the house, and said to them:
`There is my dear stepdaughter.' But what good was it?
For in the house they had a cock, who began with all his
might, and without intermission, to crow: `Kukuriku,
pretty Maritza in trough! kukuriku, pretty Maritza in
trough!' and so forth. When the betrothal party understood
and comprehended the cock's crowing, they insisted
that the real stepdaughter must come out of the trough, and
when they saw her, they could not sufficiently express their
admiration at her beauty and grace, and took her away with
them that very evening, and the wicked stepmother and her
daughter remained put to shame before all people. Maritza
was happy with her husband and with all her house to a
great age and an easy death, for a Vila and all the months
were her friends.
