He had not been gone long when she observed some one coming, and she climbed into the tree and concealed herself in the leafage on a branch directly over the spring. The person she saw approaching was a negro maidservant, who came to fill a jar with water. As this servant looked into the spring she saw the reflection of the damsel in the watery mirror. “Why!” said she in surprise, “I did not know I looked like that. I am much more beautiful than my mistress. She ought to fetch water for me, and not I for her.”
So saying, she gave the jar a bang that broke it to bits, and then she went home. Her mistress asked where the jar of water was, and the servant replied, “I am much more beautiful than you, and you must do the water-fetching in future.”
Her mistress picked up a mirror and held it before the maid. “Look in this,” she said. “I think you must have taken leave of your senses.”
The negress looked into the mirror and saw that she was as black as ever. Without another word she got a jar and went again to the spring. But there she saw the reflection of the face of the damsel who was in the tree, and again she fancied it was her own. “I was right after all,” said she. “I am ever so much more beautiful than my mistress.”
So she smashed the jar and went home. Her mistress asked her why she had not brought the water. “Because I am ever so much more beautiful than you,” said the maid. “Therefore you must fetch the water for me.”
“You are downright crazy,” declared her mistress, and once more produced the mirror.
When the negress saw her face in it she took another jar and for the third time went to the spring. But there the damsel’s face appeared, and the negress was about to break the jar when the fairy addressed her from the tree, saying: “It is my face you see in the water.”
The negress looked up and saw the wondrously beautiful damsel. “Who are you and why are you there?” she asked.
“I am a fairy,” replied the damsel, “and I am waiting for a prince who has gone to the town near by after a carriage. When he returns we shall ride away to his father’s palace.”
The negress climbed up beside the maiden, and said: “Dear lady, you will get a cramp from crouching here. Rest your head against me.”