“The Little Flax Flower.” The Turnip Princess: and other newly discovered fairy tales, Franz Xaver von Schönwerth, New York: Penguin Books, 2015, pp. 109-111.

Tale Summary

Once upon a time there were two young women, one who was pretty, and one who was plain. They spent their days sowing flax seeds, with the pretty one working on the hills and the plain one in the valley. One day, the pretty one began to sing:

“I'm searching for a love so true,

as pure as linen through and through,

with bright red cheeks so very dear,

Glowing like violet and gold so clear,

with beautiful eyes ever so blue,

like little flax blossoms in their hue.

whoever chooses me to wed,

will win as well both cloth and thread.”

The plain girl kept quiet while walking, and would occasionally playfully toss a few seeds for the Lady of the Woods, but the pretty girl managed only to plant a few seeds. During harvest, the two girls weeded. The pretty one spent much time standing around in the hopes of attracting a suitor, while the plain girl worked hard, and was soon finished with her work. She brought a few stalks of flax to a little hut that she had built, and called out:

“Lady of the Woods, the woods, the woods,

here I place your share of the goods!

give the flax a nice good start,

and let's dress up so we look smart.”

As the time passed the flax on the hills wilted, while the flax in the valley flourished, and in the spring the two girls had spun and woven the flax. They brought the linen to the fields to bleach, and it was apparent that the pretty girl’s linen was inferior to the plain girl's fabric, which was fine as silk. The pretty girl accused the other of being a witch in cahoots with the Lady of the Woods. Just then a fine carriage crossed their path, and a handsome young man stopped to greet the girls. He told the pretty one that he would like to marry her, but first wanted to see her handiwork, and asked if her linen was bright. A voice from the woods said no, it was not, and the prince instead turned to the plain girl and told her that he would like to marry her, and the voice in the woods praised her linen. The prince hugged and kissed her, and an aroma of flowers enveloped them, and the young woman became beautiful and was wearing a dress with jewels. The pretty girl was envious, and suddenly became as ugly as a toad, and returned to her village and was scorned. Ever since then, the young girls who work the fields no longer sing songs, and never forget to leave flax for the Lady of the Woods.