The Lazy Spinner

Once upon a time, in a certain village, there lived a man and his wife. The wife was so lazy that she would never work at anything. Whenever her husband gave her yarn to spin, she never finished it, and what she did spin she did not wind into a ball, but left it all tangled up in a heap. When the man scolded her, she was always ready with an answer. “Well, how am I supposed to wind it when I don't have a reel?” she said. “Just go into the forest and get me one.”

“If that's all,” said the man, “then I will go into the forest and get some wood to make reels.” But the woman was afraid that if he got the wood, he would make her a reel, and then she would have to wind her yarn and start spinning again. She thought for a moment, and then a clever idea came to her. She secretly followed the man into the forest, and when he had climbed up a tree to choose and cut the wood, she crept into the bushes below, where he couldn't see her, and cried out:

“He who cuts wood for reels shall die, And he who winds, shall perish.”

The man listened, put down his axe, and wondered what that could mean. “Hmm,” he said at last, “what could that have been? My ears must be ringing. I won't scare myself for nothing.” So he picked up his axe again and started to chop. Then again a voice came from below:

“He who cuts wood for reels shall die, And he who winds, shall perish.”

He stopped, feeling afraid and alarmed, and thought about what was happening. But after a few moments, he gathered his courage and reached for the axe a third time. But someone called out a third time, loudly:

“He who cuts wood for reels shall die, And he who winds, shall perish.”

That was enough for him. He lost all desire to cut wood, quickly climbed down from the tree, and hurried home. The woman ran as fast as she could along the back paths to get home first. When the man entered the living room, she put on an innocent face, as if nothing had happened, and said, “Well, did you bring a nice piece of wood for reels?”

“No,” he said, “I see very well that winding won't work.” And he told her what had happened in the forest. From that time on, he left her in peace about spinning.

Nevertheless, after a while, the man began to complain again about the mess in the house. “Wife,” he said, “it really is a shame that the spun yarn lies there all tangled.”

“I'll tell you what,” she said. “Since we still don't have a reel, you go up to the loft, and I will stand down below and throw the yarn up to you, and you throw it down to me. That way we'll get a skein after all.”

“Yes, that will do,” said the man. So they did that, and when they were done, he said, “Now the yarn is in skeins. It must be boiled.” The woman was worried again. She said, “Yes, we'll boil it early tomorrow morning.” But secretly she was planning another trick.

Early in the morning, she got up, lit a fire, and put the kettle on. But instead of the yarn, she put in a lump of tow and let it boil. Then she went to the man, who was still lying in bed, and said, “I just have to go out. You must get up and look after the yarn that is in the kettle on the fire. But you have to be quick. Mind that, because if the cock should happen to crow and you aren't watching the yarn, it will turn into tow.”

The man was willing and took good care not to dawdle. He got up as quickly as he could and went into the kitchen. But when he reached the kettle and peeped inside, he saw, to his horror, nothing but a lump of tow. Then the poor man was as still as a mouse, thinking he had neglected it and was to blame. From that day on, he never again said anything about yarn and spinning. But you yourself must admit: she was a horrid woman!