From the folklore of the Bulgarians
Several girls were once gathered together by a moat to spin, and as they conversed together came an old greybeard and said to them: “girls, when you spin and converse be careful about the moat, for if any one of you lets her spindle fall into it, her mother will become a cow.” Thus he said and passed on his way. After this the girls, surprised at his words, collected together round the moat and looked down into it, and without intending it, one of them, who was the prettiest, dropped her spindle into the moat. In the evening when she went away, she observed a cow, her mother, before the gate and drive it to pasture with the rest of the cattle.
After some time the father of this girl married a widow, who brought him a daughter. The second wife hated her husband’s daughter particularly, because she was prettier and more diligent than her own, and continually sought pretexts to bully and scold her, and gave her nothing to wash or comb herself with, nor any change of clothes. Once she sent her with the cattle, gave her a wallet full of flax and said: “If, today, you do not spin this flax and wind it on to the spindle, you needn’t come to supper or I’ll kill you!” The poor girl, as she followed the cattle, racked her brain to think how she could finish the task. In the afternoon, when the cattle lie down to chew the cud, she looks into the wallet and sees what there is to be done; but when she sees that it is impossible for her to accomplish it, she begins to cry. When the cow, that was her mother, sees her crying, it asks her what she is crying for. She tells the cow all about it. Then the cow says to her: “Fear not, I will help you. I will take the flax in my mouth and chew it, and the thread will come out at my ear; you will seize it and wind it on the spindle, and will thus finish in time.” As she said, so it was. She began to chew the flax bit by bit; the thread came out at her ear, and the girl drew it, wound it, and so finished her task. In the evening she went away and brought it to her stepmother, who was astonished to see that she had finished it all.
The next time she gave her a similar quantity of flax to spin. The girl spun in the forenoon, and in the afternoon, when the cattle lay down to chew the cud, the cow approached, began to chew, the thread came out at her ear, and the girl drew it off, wound it, and so finished in time. In the evening she went away and gave her stepmother all the flax spun and wound. The stepmother was astonished to see the whole task completed. The third day she gave her still more, and sent her own daughter to see who helped her. The daughter sallied forth, crept aside, and saw how it was that the girl completed her task int he day. She saw how the cow took the flax in its mouth and chewed it, and how the thread came out at its ear, and the girl drew and wound it. Then the girl went and told her mother. When she had learnt this from her daughter, she urged her husband to kill the cow. He tried in every way to persuade her not to have it killed, but could not dissuade her. At last, when he perceived that there was nothing else t be done, he promised her that he would kill the cow some day. The girl, when she heard that they were going to kill the cow, began to cry. Then she went off and told the cow that they were going to kill it. It said to the girl: “Hold your tongue and do not cry. If they kill me, don’t eat of my flesh, but collect my bones and bury them behind the house. Then, if trouble overtake you, go to my grave, and from there help will come to you.”
One day they killed the cow, prepared its flesh, brought it into the dining hall and began to eat. Only the girl did not eat, because it had been forbidden her, but collected the bones, and, without letting anyone see her, carries them away and buries them behind the house, in the place where the cow (her mother) had ordered her to bury them. This girl was called Maria; afterwards, when all the drudgery of the house was imposed upon her – namely, to sweep, fetch water, cook, and wash up the earthenware – she became scorched and smudgy from excessive labour by the fire; and so her stepmother rechristened her Cinderella, and this name struck to her.
One day her stepmother and daughter sallied forth to go to church, and before setting off, the stepmother took a pan full of millet, strewed it on the floor in the house, and said to Cinderella: “Hi! You, Cinderella, if you do not collect this millet and prepare our dinner for us when we have returned from church, don’t venture into my presence or I will kill you.” So saying she departed. Poor Cinderella, when she looked at all the millet, howled and wept and lamented: “I will sweep, and I will cook, and do all their drudgery for them, but how can a poor girl pick up all that millet?” When she had wept herself to silence, all at once it occurred to her what the cow had said to her: to go to her grave, that there she would find relief in her trouble.
Cinderella hurries off to the grave. Arrived: just fancy what she sees! On the grave stands an open trunk, full of all sorts of rich dresses; and two doves, as white as snow, are standing on the lid. These said to her: “Maria! Take dresses from here, array yourself and go to church, and we will pick up the millet and cook the dinner.” She stretched out her hands and took the top dress, which was of pure silks and satins, dressed herself, and went to church. In church great and small wondered at her beauty and her dress, and, above all, because no one had the least idea who she was nor where she came from; and, most of all, the czar’s son admired her and could not take his eyes off her. When the service was over, she crept away and ran quickly home again, hastily undressed, stuffed the dress into the trunk, and the trunk in an instant vanished. She then went to the kitchen, and what do you think she saw there? The millet all picked up, the dinner cooked, and all the household work completed. After a short time, lo! Her stepmother comes with her daughter from church, sees everything tidied up as it should be, and is much surprised.
Next Sunday, when she would go to church with her daughter, she takes a larger pan of millet, scatters it on the floor, and threatens Cinderella that, if she does not collect it all and cook the dinner, she will kill her. The stepmother then goes off to church with her daughter, and Cinderella to the cow’s grave. By the grave she finds the two doves and the trunk open, with the dresses in it. The doves bid her dress herself and go to church, and they will pick up the millet and cook the dinner. She takes a dress of pure silver, puts it on and goes to church. And now great and small wonder more than before, and the czar’s son cannot take his eyes off her. The service concludes, and she slips through the choir and so home. There she undresses, stuffs the dress into the trunk, and the trunk vanishes. Soon after, lo! Her stepmother, who looks and looks; all the millet picked up, dinner cooked, and Cinderella by the kitchen stove! She is much surprised at seeing so great a task completed.
And now, for the third time, the stepmother goes to church, but before setting off she takes a pan full of millet, three times larger than before, scatters the millet on the ground, and says to Cinderella: “Cinderella! If this millet be not all collected and the dinner cooked, and everything tidied up when I come home from church, don’t venture into my presence or I will kill you.” Then she set off to church. After this, Cinderella also went off to the cow’s grave, and there sees the trunk open and the two doves upon it. They bid her dress and go to church, and that they will pick up the millet and cook the dinner. She takes a dress of pure gold, and goes to church. There, when they look upon her, they are astonished, for nobody knows who she is and where she comes from. The czar’s son cannot take his eyes off her, and determines when service is over, to follow her, in order to see whither she disappears. Service over, she steals off among the choir boys, and hurries away to get home before her stepmother; but as she struggled through the choir one of her shoes came off, and the czar’s son picked it up. She returned home with one shoe, hastily undressed, stuffed the dress into the trunk, and the trunk vanished. Then she went and looked into the house: the millet was all collected, the dinner cooked, and the whole place tidied up. She seats herself by the kitchen fire, and, lo! Her stepmother comes in, looks all round: the millet is all picked up, the dinner cooked, everything in order; she cannot find a single thing awry to scold Cinderella for.
The czar’s son goes home, unrobes, takes the shoe and goes from house to house and tries it on, to see who it may belong to And so, when he had gone and made enquiries, he tried the shoe on the feet of pretty nearly all the girls, but it fitted none of them: for some it was too big, for others too small, for some too narrow, for some too broad. And so, at last, he comes to the house of Cinderella. Her stepmother, on seeing him, clapped Cinderella under a trough. He enquired if they had any girls there. She replied that they had, and introduced her daughter. He tried on the shoe, but it would not even go over her foes. Then he asks again if they have no other girl, and she says that they have not. Just as she said to the czar’s son that they had no other girl, the cock which had hopped on to the trough pipes out: “cock-a-doodle-do! There’s a pretty girl under the trough, though, too!” The stepmother screamed: “May the eagles take you.”
And the czar’s son, as soon as he heard what the cock had said, approached and turned over the tub; and lot! There was the very girl he had seen at church, in those beautiful dresses, only that n one of her feet she had no shoe. He tried the shoe on, which, when he had fitted it, was exactly like the one on the other foot. Then the czar’s son took her by the hand, led her away to the court and married her, but the stepmother was punished for her evil heart.
Source:
Russian and Bulgarian Folk-lore Stories, WW Strickland, 1907
Kotharian Lightning 