THE LOST SPINDLE.
There was once a widow who had two daughters. One was beautiful and lazy, the other ugly and industrious. The mother, however, for some reason showed more love for the beautiful one than she did for the ugly one, who did all the work about the house.
Because her mother did not love her, she lived in the kitchen and was very sad. The poor maid had to go out every day and sit by the great road that ran near the house and spin. Near the road was a deep well. She liked best to sit near this because so many travelers stopped there to draw the cool water from the deep well.
She spun so much yarn that her fingers became worn and thin, and bled a great deal. One day it happened that her spindle slipped from her fingers and fell into the well.
She was very much frightened and ran home, crying, to her mother, and told her that she had lost her spindle in the well. The mother scolded her and was so angry that at last she said, “Since you have been so careless as to lose your spindle in the well, you must get it out again as best you can.”
Suggestions.
Materials used to make yarn. Wool, cotton, etc. Sources.
Different ways of spinning. Twisting by the hands. Spinning wheel. Uses of yarn. Knitting and weaving. Source of drinking water. Different ways of getting it from a well—buckets, windlass, pump, etc.
Idleness. Industry. Tell who the idle and who the industrious ones are in preceding stories.
II.