Fairy tale lady blizzard in good quality. Grimm brothers. Screen versions in Russia and abroad

The fairy tale Mrs. Snowstorm, written by the Brothers Grimm, will appeal to both adults and children. It tells how a woman had two daughters. One was beautiful and smart, and the other was ugly and lazy. One day, a smart girl fell into a well and ended up with Grandma Metelitsa. The girl helped her with the housework, for which she received a generous reward. The lazy sister envied her and also went to Mrs. Metelitsa for rich gifts. When reading a fairy tale about Lady Snowstorm to children, do not forget to explain the meaning of the fairy tale.

Read online fairy tale Mrs. Metelitsa

A widow had two maiden daughters; one was both beautiful and diligent; and the other is both ugly and lazy. But this ugly and lazy daughter was a widow's daughter, and besides, she loved her, and she dumped all the dirty work on the other, and that one in her house was a mess. The poor thing had to go out every day to the high road, sit down by the well, and spin so much that blood came out from under her nails.

So it happened one day that her spindle was all stained with blood; the girl bent down to the water and wanted to wash the spindle, but the spindle slipped out of her hands and fell into the well. The poor thing began to cry, rushed to her stepmother and told her about her misfortune. She began to scold her so much and showed herself so ruthless that she said: “She knew how to drop the spindle there, manage to get it out of there!”

The girl came back to the well and did not know what to do, but out of fright she jumped into the well - she decided to get the spindle from there herself. She immediately lost consciousness, and when she woke up and came to her senses again, she saw that she was lying on a beautiful lawn, that the sun was shining cheerfully on her, and there were a lot of flowers around.

The girl went along this lawn and came to the stove, which was planted full of bread. The loaves shouted to her: “Take us out, take them out quickly, otherwise we will burn: we have been baked for a long time and are ready.” She went over and took them out of the oven with a shovel.

Then she went further and came to an apple tree, and that apple tree stood full of apples, and shouted to the girl: “Shake me, shake me, the apples have long ripened on me.” She began to shake the apple tree, so that the apples rained down from it, and shook until not a single apple was left on it; put them in a pile and moved on.

At last she approached the hut and saw an old woman in the window; and the old woman has big, big teeth, and fear attacked the girl, and she decided to run away. But the old woman called after her: “What are you afraid of, beautiful girl? Stay with me, and if you do all the work in the house well, then you will be well. Just look, make my bed well and fluff up my feather bed more diligently, so that feathers fly in all directions: when feathers fly from her, then it snows in the world. After all, I am none other than Mrs. Metelitsa herself.

The speech of the old woman calmed the girl and gave her such courage that she agreed to enter into her service. She tried to please the old woman in everything and fluffed her feather bed so that the feathers, like snow flakes, flew in all directions; on the other hand, she lived well with the old woman, and she did not hear a swear word from her, and at the table she had everything in abundance.

After living for some time with Mrs. Metelitsa, the girl suddenly became sad and at first she herself did not know what she lacked, finally guessed that she was simply homesick; no matter how good she felt here, she was still drawn and called home.

Finally, she confessed to the old woman: “I missed my home, and no matter how good it is for me here under the ground, I still don’t want to stay here longer and pulls me back there - to see my people.”

Mrs. Metelitsa said: “It’s a pleasure for me that you again wanted to go home, and since you served me well and faithfully, I myself will show you the way to the earth.”

Then she took her by the hand and led her to the big gate. The gates flung open, and when the maiden found herself under their arch, gold woke up on her like rain from under the arch, and stuck around her so much that she was completely covered with gold. “This is your reward for your efforts,” said Mrs. Metelitsa, and, by the way, returned the spindle that had fallen into the well to her.

Then the gates slammed shut, and the red maiden found herself again in the wide world, not far from her stepmother's house; and when she entered his courtyard, the cockerel sat on the well and sang:

Ku-ka-re-ku! Here are miracles!
Our girl is all in gold!

Then she entered her stepmother's house, and since she had a lot of gold on her, both her stepmother and her sister received her very affectionately.

The girl told them everything that had happened to her, and when her stepmother heard how she had obtained such wealth for herself, she planned to obtain the same happiness for her other daughter, evil and ugly.

She made her daughter sit down to spin by the same well; and in order for the daughter to have blood on the spindle, she had to prick her finger and scratch her hand in the prickly thorn bush. Then she threw the spindle into the well and jumped down after it herself.

And she found herself, just like her sister before, on a beautiful lawn, and went on the same path further.

She came to the stove, and the loaves shouted to her: “Take us out, take them out quickly, otherwise we will burn: we have been completely baked for a long time.” And the lazy person answered them: “Here it is! Will I get dirty because of you!” - and went on.

Soon she came to the apple tree, which shouted to her: “Shake me, shake me quickly! The apples are ripe for me!” But the lazy person answered: “I really need it! Perhaps some other apple will crash on my head, ”and she went on her way.

Arriving at the house of Mrs. Metelitsa, she was not afraid of her, because she had already heard from her sister about her large teeth, and immediately entered her service.

On the first day, she still somehow tried to break her laziness and showed some zeal, and obeyed the instructions of her mistress, because the gold that she was to receive as a reward could not get out of her head; the next day she already began to become lazy, on the third - even more so; and there she did not want to get out of bed in the morning.

And she did not make the bed of Madame Metelitsa properly, and did not shake it out so that the feathers flew in all directions.

So she soon got bored with her mistress, and she refused her a place. The sloth was delighted with this, she thought: now golden rain will fall on her!

Madame Metelitsa led her to the same gate, but when the sloth stood under the gate, it was not gold that fell on her, but a whole cauldron, full of pitch, overturned. “This is your reward for your service,” said Mrs. Metelitsa, and slammed the gate behind her.

The sloth came home, covered from head to toe with tar, and the cockerel on the well, seeing her, began to sing:

Ku-ka-re-ku - these are miracles!
The whole girl is filled with resin.

And this resin stuck to her so tightly that she did not come off all her life, did not lag behind.

A widow had a daughter, she also had a stepdaughter. The stepdaughter is diligent, beautiful, but the daughter is not good in face, and a terrible lazy person. The widow loved her daughter very much and forgave her everything, but she forced her stepdaughter to work hard and fed very badly.

Every morning the stepdaughter had to sit by the well and spin yarn. And she had to spin so much that often even blood appeared on her fingers.

One day she sat like that, spinning and stained the spindle with blood. The girl bent down to the well to wash the spindle, and suddenly the spindle slipped out of her hands and fell into the well.

The stepdaughter began to cry and ran home to her stepmother to tell her about her misfortune.

- You dropped it, you get it, - said the stepmother angrily. - Yes, look, do not return without a spindle.

The girl went back to the well and, out of grief, took it and threw herself into the water. She jumped into the water and immediately lost consciousness.

And when she woke up, she saw that she was lying on a green lawn, the sun was shining from the sky, and flowers were growing on the lawn.

The girl went across the lawn, looks: there is an oven on the lawn, and bread is baked in the oven. The loaves called out to her:

- Oh, take us, girl, out of the oven as soon as possible:

Oh, get out quickly! We are already baked! Otherwise, we will soon burn down completely!

The girl took a shovel and took out the bread from the oven. Then she went further and came to an apple tree. There were many ripe apples on the apple tree. The apple tree called out to her:

“Ah, shake me, girl, shake me!” The apples are already ripe!

The girl began to shake the tree. Apples rained down on the ground. And until then she shook the apple tree until not a single apple remained on it.

"What are you afraid of, dear?" You better stay with me. You will work well, and you will be fine. You just make the bed better for me and beat the feather bed and pillows harder so that the feathers fly in all directions. When feathers fly from my featherbed, it snows on the ground. Do you know who I am? I am Mrs Metelitsa myself.

“Well,” said the girl, “I agree to enter your service.

So she stayed to work for the old woman. She was a good girl, exemplary, and did everything that the old woman ordered her to do.

She fluffed the feather bed and pillows so hard that the feathers flew in all directions like flakes of snow.

The girl lived well at Metelitsa. Metelitsa never scolded her, but always fed her hearty and tasty.

And yet, the girl soon began to get bored. At first, she herself could not understand why she was bored - after all, she lives here a thousand times better than at home, and then she realized that she was bored precisely in the pedigree home. No matter how bad it was, but still she was very used to him.

Here is the time the girl says to the old woman:

“I was very homesick. No matter how well I feel at your place, I still can't stay here any longer. I really want to see my family.

Metelitsa listened to her and said:

— I like that you don't forget your relatives. You did a good job for me. For this, I myself will show you the way home.

She took the girl by the hand and led her to the big gate. The gates opened, and when the girl passed under them, gold fell on her from above. And so she came out of the gate, all sprinkled with gold.

- This is your reward for your efforts, - said Metelitsa and gave her a spindle, the same one that fell into the well.

Then the gate closed, and the girl again found herself upstairs, on the ground. Soon she came to her stepmother's house. She entered the house, and the cockerel, sitting on the well, at that time sang:

- Ku-ka-re-ku, the girl has come!
She brought a lot of gold to the house!

The stepmother and her daughter saw that the stepdaughter had brought with her a lot of gold, and greeted her kindly. They didn't even scold me for the long absence.

The girl told them about everything that had happened to her, and the stepmother wanted her daughter to become rich too, so that she would also bring a lot of gold into the house.

She made her daughter sit by the well to spin. The lazy daughter sat down by the well, but did not spin. She only scratched her finger with a blackthorn until it bled, smeared the spindle with blood, threw it into the well and jumped into the water after it.

And then she found herself on the same green lawn where beautiful flowers grew. She went along the path and soon came to the stove. where the bread was baked.

“Ah,” the loaves shouted to her, “take us out of the oven!” Take out quickly! We've already screwed up! We'll be on fire soon!

- No matter how! - answered the lazybones. - I will get dirty because of you, - and went on.

Then she came to the apple tree, the apple tree called out to her:

“Ah, shake me, girl, shake me!” The apples are already ripe!

- How, how, - she answered, - just look. If I start shaking you, some apple will fall on my head and fill a bump!

Finally, the lazy person approached the house of Mrs. Metelitsa. She wasn't scared of the Blizzard at all. After all, her sister told her about the big teeth of Metelitsa and that she was not at all scary.

So the lazy person came to Metelitsa to work.

The first day she still somehow tried to overcome her laziness, obeyed Mrs. Metelitsa, fluffed her feather bed and pillows so that the feathers flew in all directions.

And on the second and third days, laziness began to overcome her. In the morning she reluctantly got out of bed, made her mistress's bed poorly, and completely stopped fluffing the feather bed and pillows.

Metelitsa is tired of keeping such a maid, so she tells her:

- Go back to your home!

Here the lazybones was delighted.

“Well,” he thinks, “now gold will fall on me.”

Metelitsa led her to a large gate. The gates swung open. But when a lazy person came out of them, it was not gold that fell on her, but a cauldron of pitch overturned.

"Here's your reward for your work," Blizzard said and slammed the gate.

The lazy person came home, and the cockerel sitting on the well saw her and shouted:

- Everyone in the village will laugh:
A girl covered in resin enters!

And so this resin stuck to her tightly, that remained on her skin for life.

Almost every folklore story of our time can be interpreted as a folk tale. "Mistress Blizzard" is no exception. The story described in it echoes many others in which a beautiful, sweet and hard-working girl remains an orphan and suffers infringement from her stepmother or stepfather.

Of course, the tales of different nations, although similar, are not identical. Vivid examples of this are "Morozko", "Babin's daughter, grandfather's daughter" - folk tales. They have a number of differences, in them, first of all, the main fairy-tale character is a man, besides, the stepdaughter did not have to work hard to get a reward. Enough only her meek disposition and kindness. The Russian fairy tale "Mrs. Metelitsa" is a vivid example of how history calls children to virtue, humility and kindness.

background

This story tells about a sweet girl who was left without a father and fell into submission to his wife with her own daughter. The woman mercilessly exploited the girl and eventually forced her to jump into a deep well after the fallen spindle. But she did not perish in cold water, but woke up in a fairy-tale world, where she passed the tests of the Snowstorm, found shelter and a reward for her hard work. Returning home safe and sound, and even with gold, she caused only anger and annoyance from her stepmother, envy from her stepmother. Following her example, she also jumped into the well, but ambitious plans and laziness only ruined the evil woman’s own daughter, and instead of wealth she brought black tar with him as a trace of indelible shame for life. Thus, the fairy tale "Mrs. Metelitsa" teaches its readers to conscientiously fulfill their duties, not to cheat and not to seek profit in good deeds.

The fairy-tale world helps not only children, but also adults in a lighter form to realize the actions and essence of individual characters and the world as a whole, the relationships in it, various ways to achieve results.

Who wrote the tale of Metelitsa?

The author of the fairy tale "Mrs. Metelitsa" (or rather, the authors, because the brothers Wilhelm wrote it and tried to convey to every reader all the absurdity and inconsistency of greedy people. It is worth noting that all the brothers' tales are based on folk folklore tales. They devoted their lives, for many years painstaking work of collecting bit by bit stories, editing them, supplementing them.This is how extraordinary works, such as the fairy tale "Lady Blizzard", the stories "Rapunzel", "Hansel and Gretel" and many others, saw the light of day.

Brief characteristics of the main characters

The characters in this story are absolutely diverse and very vividly describe human nature in all its manifestations. The main character is purity and simplicity itself, sometimes bordering on naivety and childish spontaneity. But no matter how ridiculous these qualities may seem in a person (especially in our cruel time), it was they who helped her get out of a difficult situation with dignity and honor.

The second positive was Mrs. Metelitsa herself. Seeing the house and its inhabitant, the girl was immediately confused and frightened, because the mistress of winter and blizzard seemed terrible and evil to her. There is nothing surprising in this, because people tend to attribute negative traits to natural elements (and the more merciless the element, the more terrible it is in the mind of a person). However, in reality, Metelitsa turned out to be fair and merciful. She sheltered a girl and did not contradict her will when she decided to return to her loved ones.

The stepmother and her own daughter are both similar and distant characters. And if the mother turned into a hard-hearted and soulless woman largely for the sake of her daughter, then the second is the most base person in all its manifestations: lazy, conceited, selfish and selfish. It is these traits that have always been considered vices in society, and the fairy tale "Mrs. Metelitsa" conveyed them most accurately. A vivid example of hypocrisy was the moment when the kind daughter returned from Metelitsa in gold, and the stepmother and sister, who until recently could not stand her spirit, scattered in courtesies and manifestations of imaginary kindness.

What makes the Brothers Grimm different from other authors?

In general, Grimm's fairy tale "Lady Blizzard" is very typical for the authors. In their work, they were guided by maximum realism and plausibility in relation to primary sources, namely folk stories. For the times of the Middle Ages, cruelty and punishment on the verge of torture for wrongdoing were the hallmarks of society. Executions, stigmatization, expulsion from cities and villages for offenses against the community were the norm of that time. It is sometimes difficult for a modern humane person to imagine the realities of past centuries.

Such norms could not fail to appear in folk tales, and sometimes fairy tales became not a good parting word for a child, but rather a terrible and terrible story that really frightened. When publishing their works, the Grimm brothers tried to preserve as much folklore integrity as possible, cutting down only the most impartial moments, in which there were scenes of real violence, incest, cruelty both towards people and animals. Printing houses often insisted on this, motivating their wishes by the fact that fairy tales are still intended for children.

All fairy tales try to teach a lesson in life, to help recognize good and evil. But different ideas about the limits of what is permitted, differences in the mentality of each individual country lead to the fact that the translation of a fairy tale from the original language does not always correspond to the original content. Many authors, at their own discretion, translate names, names of places of what is happening and often soften some details of the plot for easier perception.

"Mrs. Metelitsa": film adaptations

The plot of the fairy tale "Mrs. Metelitsa" is popular with representatives of art. Many illustrations have been created for the fairy tale, which interpret the appearance of the main characters in completely different ways. Unfortunately, a modern high-quality cartoon based on this particular story has not been created. The newest is a film adaptation by a Czech director dating back to 1985. There is also a Soviet cartoon filmed even earlier, in 1971. At the same time, the consistency of the fairy tale, the desire of children and their parents to see their favorite characters live, encourage them to stage plays in theaters and create puppet shows based on it.

About two sisters who fell into the possession of Mrs. Metelitsa. They served the lady in different ways - and received different awards for their work. Once, at the behest of her evil stepmother, a girl spun at the well for a long time, cut her finger to the point of bleeding, put her hand into the water to wash it, and dropped the spindle. The stepmother got angry and told her to get the spindle out of the well. Desperate, the girl jumped into the water and ended up in a magical place where a stove, an apple tree and a raven can talk. She began to work on the housework for Mrs. Metelitsa herself. When the girl shook the mistress's feather bed so hard that feathers flew, it snowed in the world ...

Watch the fairy tale "Lady Blizzard":

A widow had two daughters; one was beautiful and hardworking, and the other was ugly and lazy. But the mother loved the ugly and lazy more, and she had to do all kinds of work and be Cinderella in the house.

The poor girl had to sit every day in the street by the well and spin yarn, so much so that her fingers bled from work.

And then one day it happened that the whole spindle was filled with blood. Then the girl bent down to the well to wash it, but the spindle jumped out of her hands and fell into the water. She cried, ran to her stepmother and told her about her grief.

The stepmother began to scold her strongly and was so cruel that she said:

Since you dropped the spindle, then manage to get it back.

The girl returned to the well and did not know what to do now; and so she jumped in fright into the well to get the spindle. And she felt sick, but when she woke up again, she saw that she was in a beautiful meadow, and the sun was shining over it, and thousands of different flowers were growing on it. She went further along the meadow and came to the oven, and it was full of bread, and the bread shouted:


Ah, pull me out, pull me out, otherwise I'll burn - I've been baked for a long time!

Then she went and pulled out all the loaves one by one with a shovel.

She began to shake the tree, and the apples fell like rain to the ground, and she shook the apple tree until not a single apple remained on it. She put the apples in a pile and went on.


She came to the hut and saw an old woman in the window, and she had such big teeth that she became scared, and she wanted to run away. But the old woman called after her:

Dear child, what are you afraid of! Stay with me. If you do all the work in my house well, you will be well. Just look, make my bed properly and diligently fluff up the feather bed so that the feathers fly up, and then it will snow all over the world - Mrs. Metelitsa.

Since the old woman treated her kindly, the girl’s heart became lighter, and she agreed to stay and become a worker for Mrs. Metelitsa. She tried to please the old woman in everything, and each time fluffed her feather bed so hard that the feathers flew around like snowflakes; and therefore the girl lived well with her, and she never heard a bad word from her, and she had plenty of boiled and fried every day.

So she lived for some time with Madame Metelitsa, but suddenly she became sad and at first she herself did not know what she lacked; but, at last, she realized that she yearned for her native home, and although she was a thousand times better here than there, she still longed for home. At last she said to the old woman:

I yearned for my dear home, and although I feel so good here underground, I can’t stay longer, I want to return upstairs - to my own.

Lady Metelitsa said:

I like that you are drawn home, and since you have served me well and diligently, I myself will escort you there. She took her by the hand and led her to the big gate.

The gates opened, and when the girl was under them, suddenly a strong golden rain fell, and all the gold remained on her, so that she was completely covered with gold.

This is for you for working so diligently, - said Mrs. Metelitsa and also returned to her the spindle that had fallen into the well. The gates closed behind her, and the girl found herself upstairs again, on the ground, and not far from her stepmother's house. And as soon as she entered the yard, the rooster crowed, he was just sitting on the well:

Ku-ka-re-ku!

Our golden girl is right there.

And she went straight into her stepmother's house; and because she was all covered with gold, both her stepmother and half-sister received her affectionately.

The girl told everything that had happened to her. As her stepmother heard about how she achieved such great wealth, she wanted to get the same happiness for her ugly, lazy daughter.

And she made her sit by the well to spin yarn; and so that the spindle was also in her blood, the girl pricked her finger, putting her hand into the thick thorn bush, and then threw the spindle into the well, and she herself jumped after him.

She, like her sister, ended up in a beautiful meadow and went on along the same path. She went to the oven, and the bread again screamed:

Oh, pull me out, pull me out, otherwise I'll burn - I've been baked for a long time!

But the sloth replied:

Why do I want to get dirty! - and went on.

She soon approached the apple tree; and the apple tree spoke:

Oh, shake me off, shake me off, my apples are long overdue!

But she answered the apple tree:

What else I wanted, because an apple could fall on my head! - and moved on.

When she approached Madame Metelitsa's house, she had no fear - she had already heard about her big teeth - and immediately hired herself as a worker for her. On the first day, she tried, was diligent in her work and obeyed Madame Metelitsa, when she entrusted something to her - she kept thinking about the gold that she would give her. But on the second day she became lazy, on the third even more, and then she did not want to get up early in the morning at all. She did not make the bed for Mrs. Metelitsa properly and did not fluff her feather beds so that the feathers flew up. Finally, Mrs. Metelitsa got tired of this, and she refused her a job. The sloth was very happy about this, thinking that now a golden rain would fall on her.

Lady Metelitsa also led her to the gates, but when she stood under them, instead of gold, a full cauldron of resin overturned on her.

This is your reward for your work, - said Mrs. Metelitsa and closed the gate behind her.

The sloth returned home covered in resin; and when the rooster, sitting on the well, saw her, he sang:

Ku-ka-re-ku!

Our girl is dirty right there.

And the resin remained on it for the rest of her life, and it was not washed off until her death.

A widow had two daughters; one was beautiful and hardworking, and the other was ugly and lazy. But the mother loved the ugly and lazy one more, while the other had to do all kinds of work and be Cinderella in the house. The poor girl had to sit every day in the street by the well and spin yarn, so much so that her fingers bled from work.

And then one day it happened that the whole spindle was filled with blood. Then the girl bent down to the well to wash it, but the spindle jumped out of her hands and fell into the water. She cried, ran to her stepmother and told her about her grief.

The stepmother began to scold her strongly and was so cruel that she said:
- Since you dropped the spindle, then manage to get it back.

The girl returned to the well and did not know what to do now; and so she jumped in fright into the well to get the spindle. And she felt sick, but when she woke up again, she saw that she was in a beautiful meadow, and the sun was shining over it, and thousands of different flowers were growing on it. She went further along the meadow and came to the oven, and it was full of bread, and the bread shouted:

Then she went and pulled out the loaves one by one with a shovel.

She began to shake the tree, and the apples fell like rain to the ground, and she shook the apple tree until not a single apple remained on it. She put the apples in a pile and went on.

She came to the hut and saw an old woman in the window, and she had such big teeth that she became scared, and she wanted to run away. But the old woman called after her:
"Dear child, what are you afraid of?" Stay with me. If you do all the work in my house well, you will be well. Just take care to make my bed properly and fluff up the feather bed diligently so that the feathers fly up, and then it will snow all over the world; I am Mrs Metelitsa.

Since the old woman treated her kindly, the girl’s heart became lighter, and she agreed to stay and become a worker for Mrs. Metelitsa. She tried to please the old woman in everything, and each time fluffed her feather bed so hard that the feathers flew around like snowflakes; and therefore the girl lived well with her, and she never heard a bad word from her, and she had plenty of boiled and fried every day.

So she lived for some time with Madame Metelitsa, but suddenly she became sad and at first she herself did not know what she lacked; but at last she realized that she yearned for her native home, and although she was a thousand times better here than there, she still longed for home. At last she said to the old woman:
- I yearned for my dear home, and although I feel so good here underground, I can’t stay longer, I want to return upstairs - to my own.

Lady Metelitsa said:
“I like that you are drawn home, and since you have served me well and diligently, I myself will escort you there. She took her by the hand and led her to the big gate.

The gates opened, and when the girl was under them, suddenly a strong golden rain fell, and all the gold remained on her, so that she was completely covered with gold.

“This is for you for working so diligently,” said Lady Metelitsa, and she also returned to her the spindle that had fallen into the well.

The gates closed behind her, and the girl found herself upstairs again, on the ground, and not far from her stepmother's house. And as soon as she entered the yard, the rooster crowed, he was just sitting on the well:
Ku-ka-re-ku!
Our golden girl is right there.

And she went straight into her stepmother's house; and, because she was all covered with gold, both her stepmother and half-sister received her affectionately.

The girl told everything that had happened to her. As her stepmother heard about how she achieved such great wealth, she wanted to get the same happiness for her ugly, lazy daughter.

And she made her sit by the well to spin yarn; and so that the spindle was also in her blood, the girl pricked her finger, putting her hand into the thick thorn bush, and then threw the spindle into the well, and she herself jumped after him.

She, like her sister, ended up in a beautiful meadow and went on along the same path. She went to the oven, and the bread again screamed:
“Ah, pull me out, pull me out, otherwise I’ll burn, I’ve been baked for a long time!”

But the sloth replied:
- Why do I want to get dirty! - And she went on.

She soon approached the apple tree, and the apple tree spoke:
“Ah, shake me off, shake me off, my apples are long overdue!”

But she answered the apple tree:
- What else I wanted, because an apple could fall on my head! — and moved on.

When she approached the house of Madame Metelitsa, she had no fear - she had already heard about her big teeth - and immediately hired herself as a worker for her. On the first day, she tried, was diligent in her work and obeyed Mrs. Metelitsa, when she entrusted something to her - the sloth kept thinking about the gold that she would give her. But on the second day she became lazy, on the third even more, and then she did not want to get up early in the morning at all. She did not make the bed for Mrs. Metelitsa properly and did not fluff her feather beds so that the feathers flew up. This finally got tired of Mrs. Metelitsa, and she refused her work.

The sloth was very happy about this, thinking that now a golden rain would fall on her.

Lady Metelitsa also led her to the gates, but when she stood under them, instead of gold, a full cauldron of resin overturned on her.

“This is your reward for your work,” said Mistress Blizzard, and closed the gate behind her.

The sloth returned home covered in resin; and when the rooster, sitting on the well, saw her, he sang:
Ku-ka-re-ku!
Our girl is dirty right there.

And the resin remained on it for the rest of her life, and it was not washed off until her death.