The prince of Emania always kept the shoe; and when the young women saw it, they had great hopes, for it was of proper size, neither large nor small, and it would beat any man to know of what material it was made. One thought it would fit her if she cut a little from her great toe; and another, with too short a foot, put something in the tip of her stocking. But no use; they only spoiled their feet, and were curing them for months afterwards.
The two sisters, Fair and Brown, heard that the princes of the world were looking all over Erin for the woman that could wear the shoe, and every day they were talking of trying it on; and one day Trembling spoke up and said: “Maybe it’s my foot that the shoe will fit.”
“Oh, the breaking of the dog’s foot on you! Why say so when you were at home every Sunday?”
They were that way waiting, and scolding the younger sister, till the princes were near the place. The day they were to come, the sisters put Trembling in a closet, and locked the door on her. When the company came to the house, the prince of Emania gave the shoe to the sisters. But though they tried and tried, it would fit neither of them.
“Is there any other young woman in the house?” asked the prince.
“There is,” said Trembling, speaking up in the closet; “I’m here.”
“Oh! we have her for nothing but to put out the ashes,” said the sisters.
But the prince and the others wouldn’t leave the house till they had seen her; so the two sisters had to open the door. When Trembling came out, the shoe was given to her, and it fitted exactly.
The prince of Emania looked at her and said: “You are the woman the shoe fits, and you are the woman I took the shoe from.”
Then Trembling spoke up, and said: “Do you stay here till I return.”