The story of Mother Holle (Frau Holle) is a German children’s fantasy story written by the Brothers Grimm, published in a children’s stories book in 1812. The character of Mother Holle is one of the legendary figures famous in ancient Germanic culture. The Brothers Wilhelm Grimm and Jacob adopted her because of their love for reviving ancient traditional stories.
Mother Holle
It is told that in ancient times, a mother lived with her two daughters, Stella and Bella. Stella was an active and beautiful girl, while Bella was ugly and lazy. But the mother loved Bella and didn’t love Stella, because Stella wasn’t her mother but was her husband’s daughter - she was actually her stepdaughter.
The stepmother tasked Stella with all household chores like a servant all day, while she cared for and tended to Bella. The stepmother also sent Stella to spin thread at the well after finishing her household work. Stella would continue spinning until her hands were raw. One day, while Stella was spinning, her finger bled, and the blood stained the spinning.
Stella went to the well to wash the spinning of blood. But when she leaned to wash it, the spindle fell from her into the well, and she couldn’t retrieve it. She hurried to tell her mother that she had dropped the spindle in the well. The mother was very angry, scolded her, and said to her: “Where will I get another spindle? You must go to the well immediately and take it out by any means.”
The girl returned to the well crying because she had actually tried all possible ways to take it out and didn’t know how to handle it. Stella thought of going down the well herself to take it out, and actually jumped inside the well.
Suddenly, Stella found herself inside a beautiful garden with the sun shining and beautiful flowers everywhere. Stella was amazed and didn’t know where she was. The girl began walking inside the garden, and after a while, she found a bread oven with a group of loaves. Suddenly, the loaves screamed and said: “Stella, take us out of the oven! We’ve been baking for a while and will burn.”
Stella opened the oven and took out the loaves, and they thanked her. Stella walked again inside that magical forest until she found a tree that spoke and said: “Pick one of my apples and eat it before it falls to the ground and spoils.” Stella went and shook the tree until all the apples on the tree fell to the ground. She gathered the apples in one pile, left them, and walked again.
After a while, she found a cottage, and by it was an old lady. This lady had strange teeth. When Stella saw her, she felt afraid and turned to try to escape. But the lady called her and said to her: “Don’t be afraid of me, little one. I’m inviting you to take care of my house. If you care for it well, you can stay in it, and I’ll give you everything.”
“But you must make sure of only one thing, which is that you put feathers on my bed when you make it every day, just as I do, and cover it as snow covers the ground.”
The lady told Stella that she was called Mother Holle. Stella accepted Mother Holle’s offer, cared for her house well, and covered the bed with feathers as she requested. In return, Mother Holle cared for the girl well and fed her the most delicious foods. Stella was very happy, but she missed her old home.
So one day, Stella went to the good Mother Holle and said to her: “You are very good, dear Mother Holle, and I love you very much, but I want to return to my home.” Mother Holle told her that she was happy because Stella was a good girl who had cared well for her house.
Mother Holle took Stella with her and walked with her inside the forest until she reached a golden door inside the forest. She opened the door and asked the girl to pass through it. Stella actually passed through, and suddenly a quantity of gold fell from the door onto Stella. She found herself covered in gold from her head to her feet.
Mother Holle told her that this gold was a reward for her good service to her. She also gave her the spindle that had fallen from her into the well. Then Mother Holle closed the door, and suddenly Stella found herself standing before the well beside her home.
When Stella entered her home, her stepmother and her daughter Bella were amazed. They asked her: “Where have you been all this time, and where did you get all this gold?” Stella told them the story of Mother Holle.
Greed filled the stepmother’s heart, and she said: “I must send my daughter Bella to the well, and we’ll become rich.” She actually gave the spindle to her daughter Bella, and immediately Bella went to the well, pricked her finger with a thorn until it bled, dropped the blood on the spindle, threw it into the well, and jumped after it.
Bella found herself in the same garden that Stella had gone down to. She walked until she found the bread oven. When the loaves asked her to take them out of the oven, she refused and said to them: “Of course I won’t open the oven so my hands won’t get dirty.”
Bella walked until she reached the apple tree. When the tree asked her to pick the apples, lazy Bella refused and said: “Are you crazy? Of course I won’t shake you so the apples fall on my head and hit me.”
Bella walked until she reached Mother Holle’s house. She had heard about her terrible teeth from her sister Stella, so she wasn’t afraid of her. She approached her and asked her to work for her. Mother Holle told Bella what she had to do.
On the first day, Bella worked hard and covered Mother Holle’s bed with feathers as she requested. On the second day, lazy Bella felt bored and tired, so she didn’t finish the work. As for the third day, she decided not to work at all and went to sleep.
When Mother Holle went to bed and didn’t find it covered with feathers, she felt angry and went looking for Bella, who was sleeping. She said to her: “I see that you must return to your home.”
Bella felt happy, thinking she would get gold like her sister had. But when she reached the gate, she found piles of pitch falling on her. Mother Holle told her: “This is your reward for your work.” Bella returned to her home covered in mud. She realized that because of her laziness and procrastination in work, she had earned mud instead of gold.