The widow
immediately called her favorite daughter to her.
"Fanny, wouldst thou have the same gift as thy sister?" asked she. "Go
thou to the fountain and fetch water. And if an old woman asks thee
for a drink, mind thou treat her civilly."
The girl refused to perform the menial task, until the widow lost
patience and drove her to it. Finally, she took the silver tankard and
sullenly obeyed. No sooner was she at the fountain than from the wood
came a lady most handsomely attired, who asked the haughty girl for a
drink from her pitcher.
"I have not come here to serve you," she rudely replied, "but take the
pitcher and help yourself, for all I care. I would have you know that
I am as good as you."
The lady was the fairy, who had taken the appearance of a princess to
see how far the girl's insolence would go. "I will make you a gift,"
she said, "to equal your discourtesy and ill breeding. Every time you
speak, there shall come from your mouth a snake or a toad."
The girl ran home to her mother, who met her at the door. "Well,
daughter," she said, impatient to hear her speak. When she opened her
mouth, to the mother's horror, two vipers and two toads sprang from
it.
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