There was once a girl who was idle and would not spin. No matter what her mother said, she could not be persuaded. Finally, the mother, overcome with anger and impatience, beat her, and the girl began to weep loudly.
At that moment, the Queen happened to drive by. Hearing the weeping, she stopped her carriage, entered the house, and asked the mother why she was beating her daughter so that the cries could be heard from the road. Ashamed to reveal her daughter's laziness, the woman lied, "I cannot get her to stop spinning. She insists on spinning forever, and I am too poor to procure more flax."
The Queen replied, "There is nothing I like better than the sound of spinning. Let me take your daughter to the palace. I have plenty of flax, and she may spin as much as she likes."
The mother was heartily satisfied, and the Queen took the girl away. At the palace, the Queen led her to three rooms filled from floor to ceiling with the finest flax. "Spin all this flax," said the Queen, "and when you have finished, you shall marry my eldest son. Your indefatigable industry is dowry enough."
The girl was secretly terrified, for she could not have spun that flax even if she lived three hundred years. Alone, she wept for three days without touching the flax. When the Queen visited and saw no progress, the girl excused herself by saying she was too distressed from leaving home. The Queen accepted this but insisted she begin work the next day.
Alone again and desperate, the girl went to the window. She saw three women approaching: the first had a broad, flat foot; the second had a huge underlip hanging over her chin; the third had a broad thumb. They stood before the window and asked her what was wrong. Hearing her trouble, they offered help on one condition: "If you wilt invite us to your wedding, call us your aunts, seat us at your table, and are not ashamed of us, we will spin all the flax for you quickly."
"With all my heart," the girl replied, and let them in. They cleared a space and began to work. One drew the thread and trod the wheel, another wet the thread, and the third twisted it, striking the table with her finger. With each strike, a perfectly spun skein of thread fell to the ground. The girl concealed the spinners from the Queen, showing only the growing piles of yarn. Soon, all three rooms were emptied.
The three women then took their leave, reminding the girl, "Do not forget your promise—it will make your fortune."
When the maiden showed the Queen the empty rooms and the great heap of yarn, the Queen ordered the wedding. The bridegroom rejoiced at having such a clever and industrious wife and praised her mightily. "I have three aunts," said the girl. "They have been very kind to me. May I invite them to the wedding and seat them at our table?"
The Queen and the bridegroom agreed. At the feast, the three women entered in strange apparel. "Welcome, dear aunts," said the bride. "Ah," said the bridegroom, "how did you come by these odious friends?" He asked the first about her broad foot. "By treading," she answered. He asked the second about her hanging lip. "By licking," she answered. He asked the third about her broad thumb. "By twisting the thread," she answered.
Hearing this, the King's son was alarmed. "Neither now nor ever shall my beautiful bride touch a spinning-wheel!" And so, she was rid of the hateful task of spinning flax forever.