“And they send me to draw water for them! Me, who ought to sit on a throne above them all. But I’ll no longer be their slave. I’ll break their water jar to pieces, and if they send me with others I’ll break them too!”
With that she threw down the jar with such violence that it was broken into bits, and then she stamped about with rage.
The sight amused the Princess so that she laughed aloud. The servant wench looked up and saw the lovely face peering out at her from among the green leaves; it was the same beautiful face she had seen reflected in the water.
“Who are you? What are you doing up there among the leaves?” she asked in a thick voice.
“I am the promised bride of the Prince who has just gone up to the castle,” answered the beauty. “He has gone to fetch fine robes and jewels that I may dress myself properly before I appear before his father.”
When she said this an evil thought came into the servant wench’s head.
“Come down,” said she, “and I will dress your hair for you; I have often done this for the other Princesses, and I can arrange it so that you will look even more beautiful when the Prince returns.”
The Princess was nothing loath. She had no thought of evil. She climbed down from the tree and sat herself upon a rock, while Lucy looped and pinned her hair in place and wove a crown of flowers to place upon it. “Come now, and see how beautiful you are,” said the servant.
She led the Princess to the place where the stream was deepest, and then, when the beauty stooped to look at herself in the water, Lucy pushed her in. After that she stripped herself to her shift, and hid her clothes under a rock, and climbed up into the tree. There she sat among the leaves, peering out just as the Princess had done.
Presently the Prince returned, bringing with him all sorts of beautiful clothes and gifts for his Princess bride. What was his amazement to see, instead of the beauty he left in the tree, the ugly face of the servant wench smiling down at him from among the leaves.