She was to be trusted to put anything in its
proper place, and when meals were over she would stand on a little
stool at the table washing up the dishes. Moreover, she could darn
stockings so well that the darn looked like a part of the stocking.
The slatternly mothers, who spoiled and scolded their children by
turns, and had never taught them to be tidy and obedient, used often
to quote the widow's little girl to their troublesome brats, and say,
"Why don't you help your mother as the widow's daughter helps her?"
Thus it came about that the helpless, useless, untidy little girls
hated the very name of the widow's daughter, because they were always
being told of her usefulness and neatness.
Now the widow's child often earned a few pence by herding sheep or
pigs for the farmers, or by darning stockings for their wives, and as
she could be trusted, people were very glad to employ her. One day she
was keeping watch over five little pigs in a field, and, not to waste
time, was darning a pair of stockings as well, when some of the little
girls who had a spite against her resolved to play her a trick.
Near the field where the little maid and the pigs were there was a
wood, into which all children were strictly forbidden to go. For in
the depths of the wood there lived a terrible Ogre and Ogress, who
kidnapped all children who strayed near their dwelling. Every morning
the Ogre threw a big black bag over his shoulder, and stalked through
the forest, making the ground shake as he walked.
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