One poor man's wife died and left him a pretty daughter named Rosina. The poor man worked from morning to night, but there was no one to look after the girl. So he decided to marry again. His second wife also gave birth to a daughter, and they named her Assunta. She was ugly and had a bad temper. The girls grew up together, went to school together, but every time Assunta returned home angry and despicable.
“Mom,” she said, “I don’t want to go with Rosina anymore!” Whoever meets us, everyone praises her: she is both beautiful and friendly, but they tell me that I am beech and black as a firebrand.
Mother doted on Assunta. He sees that she is almost bursting with envy, and asks one day:
- Well, how can I help your grief?
“Send Rosina to graze the cows,” Assunta replies. “And tell her to spin a skein of hemp tow.” And if she returns home without yarn and with hungry cows, give her a beater. Today there are beaters, tomorrow there are beaters - this way she will quickly become ugly, and the friendliness will fly away from her.
The mother gave in to her daughter’s whims, called Rosina and said:
“Don’t you dare go with Assunta anymore.” Now you will graze the cows and store grass for them, and you will also spin a skein of tow a day. Look at me, if you come back in the evening without yarn, and you bring in the cows hungry, I’ll give you a good beating. My word is firm.
Rosina was so surprised that she could not utter a word, but her stepmother had already grabbed the stick, and the girl had to submit.
She took a spindle whorl full of tow and drove the cows into the field. He goes and says:
- You are my little cows, little cows! How can I supply you with herbs when I need to spin a tow? At least someone would help me!
Then the oldest cow turned her head and said:
- Don't be sad, Rosina. Go get some grass, and we’ll spin and wind up the tow for you. Just say:
Cow-cow, Spin my yarn, Help with your horns, Wrap the yarn into a ball!
In the evening the cows grazed to their heart's content. Rosina drove them home and put them in a stall. She carried a large armful of grass on her head and held a ball of yarn in her hand.
When Assunta saw this, she almost suffocated with anger. She says to her mother:
“Tomorrow, send Rosina again to graze the cows, but give her two skeins of tow, and if she doesn’t spin everything, let her taste the sticks.”
But this time it was enough for Rosina to say:
Cow-cow, Spin my yarn, Help with your horns, Wrap the yarn into a ball! - and in the evening the cows were fed, the grass was stored, and two skeins of tow were spun and balls were wound up. Assunta turned green with anger:
– How do you manage to do everything in one day?
“Yes,” Rosina answers. “There are kind hearts in the world.” My cows help me.
Assunta quickly ran to his mother.
“Mom, let Rosina sit at home tomorrow and take charge, and I’ll go with the cows.” Give me some tows too.
So in the morning Assunta set out to graze the herd. She held a twig in her hand and whipped the cows as hard as she could. When they reached the meadow, Assunta wound the tow on the horns of the cows. And the cows stand there and don’t move.
- What are you talking about! Don't you want to spin? - Assunta shouted. “Here I am!”
And let's whip them with a twig more than ever. The cows shook their heads and instantly tangled the whole tow. All that was left was a lump of tow. Assunte is itching. So she says to her mother one evening:
- Mom, I wanted some radish. Let Rosina pull it out of her neighbor's garden.
To please her daughter, Rosina’s mother told her to go to the neighbor’s garden for radishes.
- What is this? - Rosina begged. “Do you really want me to steal?” I've never done this before! After all, if a neighbor sees someone breaking into his fence at night, he will kill the thief!
And that’s all Assunta needs. She now began to command the house herself and said to her sister:
- Go, go, or I’ll treat you with a stick!
Poor Rosina wandered in the dark, climbed over the fence into someone else’s garden, but instead of a radish she grabbed a turnip. She pulled and pulled the turnip, and finally pulled it out; she fumbles, and underneath there is a mole hole, and in the hole there are five very pretty little moles.
- Oh, how cute! - said Rosina and began to collect them in her apron.
But then she inadvertently dropped one of the little ones on the ground, and he hurt his paw.
“Oh, forgive me, dear, I did it by accident,” said Rosina.
And she began to caress and stroke the mole family. The four moles that were sitting in her apron liked Rosina, and they said:
– Dear girl, you are so kind and affectionate, we want to give you a gift. You will become the most beautiful in the world and will shine like the sun. So be it.
But the lame mole grumbled:
“How affectionate she is, I almost lost my leg because of her!” Let her, as soon as a ray of sun falls on her, turn into a snake, and become a human again only when she falls into a burning oven.
Rosina returned home, she was both happy and afraid. And around her, even though it was night, it became as light as day—her beauty shone so brightly. Her stepmother and sister looked at her, so beautiful and sparkling like the sun, but they just opened their mouths. Rosina told them everything that happened in the garden.
“It’s not my fault,” she says. “Just take pity on me, don’t send me into the sun, otherwise I’ll become a snake.”
From then on, Rosina left the house only in the evening or on a cloudy day. She spent all her time in the shade by the window, working and singing. And from the window the light radiated far, far away.
One day the prince passed by. The radiance illuminated him, he raised his head and saw Rosina. “Where does such beauty come from in a peasant hut?” thought the prince and entered the house.
That's how they met. Rosina told the prince her story, and also about the spell that hung over her head.
The prince says:
- Come what may. There is no reason for such a beauty to stay in a shack. You will become my wife - I decided so, and my word is firm.
Here the stepmother intervened:
“Your Majesty, be careful, otherwise you will get into trouble.” Judge for yourself: when a ray of sun falls on Rosina, she will immediately turn into a snake.
“That’s my business,” the prince replies. “It seems to me that you don’t love this girl.” I order her to be sent to the palace. And so that the sun does not illuminate it on the way, I will send a closed carriage. See that everything is done. And now - stay happy!
The stepmother and Assunta did not dare to disobey the prince and began to pack Rosina for the journey. But they harbored anger in their souls.
Finally, a carriage rolled up - an old one, completely closed, only a small peephole at the top, and at the back of it a servant, all in ribbons, in a hat with a feather and with a sword in a sling.
Rosina entered the carriage, and her stepmother sat down with her to take her to the palace. But first she took the servant aside and said to him:
“Good man, if you want to earn ten paolos for tea, open the peephole in the carriage when the sun is overhead.”
“Okay, signora,” answered the servant. “As you order!”
And the carriage rolled off. And at noon, when the sun was directly overhead, the servant, not knowing the secret and evil intent, opened a peephole in the carriage, and a ray of sunlight fell on Rosina’s head. At that same moment, the girl turned into a snake and crawled away into the forest with a hiss.
The prince opened the carriage door at the gates of his castle, but Rosina was not there! When he heard what happened, he cried, screamed and almost killed his stepmother. But then everyone began vying with each other to tell him that this was apparently Rosina’s fate: if this misfortune had not happened now, it would have happened later. The prince stopped killing himself, but remained sad and inconsolable.
Meanwhile, the cooks in the royal kitchen had long been baking, boiling and frying food for the wedding feast in ovens, on stoves and on spits, and the guests were already sitting at the table. They learned that the bride had disappeared, and thought like this: “Since we are here, let’s feast.” And the servants were ordered to heat up the food.
Then a bundle of brushwood was brought from the forest, and one of the cooks threw it into the burning stove. Suddenly he sees a snake in the bundle! Before he had time to pull it out, the brushwood burst into flames! The cook began to look into the oven as the snake burned, suddenly a girl jumped out of the flames onto the floor, red as a rose, and shining brighter than the sun.
The cook was simply speechless, and then he screamed:
- Here! Here! The girl jumped out of the oven! The prince came running to the cry, followed by all the courtiers. The prince recognized his Rosina and hugged her tightly.
The wedding was celebrated right there. Rosina lived happily, and no one offended her anymore.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru