From Slavic Folklore
By a coppice stood a cottage. There lived a man and woman, but they had no children. And so they went and prayed God in his mercy to give them one, and he gave them a daughter. And she grew and grew. And at that time a prince went out hunting, and sent his servant, saying:
“Go, if you please, to the cottage, and ask for water.”
The servant went to ask for water, and there was the little girl in tears, silent and sobbing. Her mother coaxed her and smiled at her.
“So, all flowers blossom,” says the mother.
The servant went out of the cottage and said: “Yonder, my prince, I saw a little girl; she was in tears and silent, the tears streaming down her cheeks and they chaffed her: ‘So, all kinds of flowers blossom!’ ”
The prince goes to the cottage and pets and teases this little girl for crying so. She wept in silence, and the tears streamed down her cheeks. He begged her mother to amuse her; and, when she laughed, the prince also perceived how all flowers blossom.
And so the girl grew, and the prince always went his ride thither, as though to the chase. And so she grew up.
And the prince says: “Father, give me your daughter.”
And she was always embroidering pocket-handkerchiefs with eagles.
And the prince’s father says: “If it be so with you, my son, go and marry.”
Then the prince took the handkerchief that she had embroidered, and brought it to his father. And his father clapped his hands with delight. How else could he do? And so he brought her home, and with her an old woman and the old woman’s daughter. And lo! When the prince, on this journey, stopped to shoot at something, that old woman stripped her of everything, put out her eyes, and pushed her into the ditch. She then dressed her own daughter in the other one’s clothes.
Now, along the ditch the weeds grew luxuriantly; and an old man came to root them up. A girl-child sat by the ditch, and lo and behold! In front of her, a heap of pearls – her tears – that, seated there, she had shed. And she had no eyes.
“Take me home with you, grandfather,” she says, “and take care to collect these precious ornaments.”
The old man took her home, collected the pearls, and carried them home as well. The old man had no child, but there was an old woman.
She, that girlie, says: “Put the precious things in a wallet and take them to the town to sell. And when a certain old woman meets you, do not sell them to her, but say: ‘Give me, in exchange for them, what is in you.’ ”
And so he went and met the old woman.
The old woman said: “Sell me those nick-nacks.”
“Buy!” the old man replies.
“And what do you want for them?”
“Give that which is in you.”
And she gave him an eye. And so the girl, now having one eye, began to embroider a handkerchief. Again the old man went to town.
Again the old woman said: “Sell me those nick-nacks, old man.”
“Buy” the old man replies.
“What for them?”
“Give me what is in you.”
She gave the other eye. Now the girl began to embroider still more beautifully.
The old man said: “I tell you what. There is a dinner at the palace.”
And the girl said: “Go, grandfather, to the dinner, take a pot with you, and beg some soup for me.”
And she tied the handkerchief she had embroidered round the old man’s neck
When the prince perceived the handkerchief round the old man’s neck, he enquires: “Whoever art tho?”
“I am from the court yonder, oh! Prince,” the old man says, “and a girl lives with me there, so please put a little soup in the pannikin.”
“And the handkerchief, old fellow – where did you get it?”
“When I found the girl in the ditch, look you, she was embroidering it.”
And so the prince recognized her by the embroidery. Then he at once ordered the horses to be attached to the coach, drone out and recognized the girl.
“Thank God! Thank God!” he exclaimed.
But the wicked old woman’s daughter was driven out and made to tend swine. And that is all. They lived happy, munched their bread in peace, and drove out in a fine carriage.
Source:
Russian and Bulgarian Folk-Lore Stories, A.W. Strickland, 1907
Kotharian Lightning 