“The Lassie and Her Godmother.” East of the Sun and West of the Moon: Old Tales from the North, Asbjørnsen, Peter Christen, Jørgen Engebretsen Moe, and Sir George Webbe Dasent, New York: G. H. Doran Company, 19--, pp. 65-73.

Tale Summary

A woman who lives in the woods with her husband gives birth to a beautiful baby girl. The family is poor and they do not have the money to pay for the baby’s christening. The father walks from house to house for a full day in search of someone who will pay the christening fees, but finds nobody who is willing to pay.

On his way home, the man encounters a beautiful lady in fine clothes who offers to pay for the christening, if she can keep the baby in exchange. On returning home, the man asks his wife if she would like to give her daughter to the lady, and she refuses. The next day, the man encounters the lady again. This time, his wife agrees to give her child to the lady if they find nobody else who will pay, since she seemed good-natured.

On the third day, the baby’s father promises the lady that he will give her the baby in exchange for her christening. The lady comes to christen the baby girl the following morning. The baby goes to live with the lady as her foster mother.

When the lassie is old enough to have a sense of morality, the lady gives her permission to go anywhere in the house, except a set of three rooms that she had shown her. While her foster mother is away, the girl cannot resist opening one of the doors just a bit, and a star comes out. When the lady returns, she is very angry and threatens to send the girl away, but the girl pleads with her foster mother and is allowed to stay. The lady leaves on another journey, and this time the girl opens a second door, from which the moon flies out. The lady is very angry and tells the girl that she can no longer stay with her, but the girl once again pleads with her foster mother and is allowed to stay.

When the lady leaves a third time, the lassie opens the third door, and the sun comes out. This time, the lady throws the girl out of her house, but gives her a choice: she can either be the most beautiful woman in the world, and be unable to speak, or she can be the ugliest woman, but able to speak. The girl chooses to become beautiful and loses her speech.

The lassie wanders through a vast wood and sleeps in a tall tree above a spring. A maid from a nearby castle comes to fetch water from the spring for the Prince’s tea, and sees a beautiful face reflected in the spring. She mistakes the reflection for her own and abandons her task, believing that she is too good to fetch water. Another maid comes to fetch the water, also believing the reflection to be her own. Finally, the Prince comes to the spring; upon seeing the reflection, he looks up to find a beautiful young woman in the tree. The Prince takes the lassie home to be his wife, against his mother’s wishes.

A few months later, the lassie gives birth to a child. Everyone in the castle enters a deep sleep,

and the lassie’s foster mother arrives, cuts the infant’s finger, and smears the lassie’s mouth with blood. She takes the infant so that the lassie will know the grief the foster mother felt when the lassie allowed the star to escape. The Queen, believing the lassie has eaten her own child, wants her burned alive, but the Prince dissuades her. The foster mother comes for the lassie’s next two children, to punish her for letting out the moon and sun. The third time, the Prince agrees that the lassie should be burned at the stake. The foster mother then appears with the lassie’s three children and reveals herself to be the Virgin Mary. Since her punishment is complete, she returns both the lassie’s speech and her children. From that point onward, the Prince and the lassie live happily together.