"You are come just at the right moment; for to-morrow is to be my wedding with the princess; but I want nothing of her and her long nose, for you are the only one I will wed. I shall therefore say, that I want to know what my bride is fit for, and I shall require her to wash the three spots of oil out of my shirt. This she will willingly undertake to do, but I know that she will not succeed; for the spots were made by your hand, and can only be washed out again by Christian hands, and not by the hands of such a pack of sorcerers as she belongs to. I shall, however, say, that I will have no other bride than she who can succeed, and when they have all tried and failed, I shall call you, and desire you to try." So the night passed happily away, and on the bridal day the prince said:—
"I should like vastly to see what my bride is fit for."
"That is no more than fair," said the step-mother.
"I have such a beautiful shirt," said the prince, "that I should like to wear it on my bridal day, but there are spots of grease on it, and I would willingly have them washed out; I have in consequence resolved to wed none but her who is able to wash them out."
Truly, that was no such mighty matter, thought the women, and immediately set to work; and the princess with the long nose began to wash away as fast as she could. But the longer she washed, the larger and darker grew the spots.
"Oh! you do not know much about the matter," said the old sorceress, her mother: "give it to me."
But when she got hold of the shirt, it grew darker still, and the more she washed and rubbed, the larger grew the spots. Now the other witches of the establishment all tried their hands on the shirt, and the longer they washed the worse it grew, and at last the whole shirt looked as if it had been put up the chimney.
"Ah! you are all good for nothing," cried the prince; "there sits a poor beggar wrench under the windows; I'll lay any wager she knows more about washing than all of you put together. Come hither, wench!" cried he; and when she came, he asked her:—
"Can you wash that shirt clean?"
"I don't know," said the maiden; "but I think I can."