A man and a woman lived in a village. The woman was so lazy that she never wanted to do any work. She never finished what the man gave her to spin, and what she did spin she did not wind onto a reel, but left it tangled on the bobbin. If the man scolded her, she always had a quick tongue, and would say, "Well, how can I wind it up? I don't have a reel. First you must go into the woods and get me one."
"If that's the problem," said the man, "then I'll go into the woods, and get some wood for a reel."
The woman was afraid that once he had the wood, he would make a reel, and she would have to wind up her yarn and begin to spin again. She secretly followed him into the woods. When he climbed a tree to cut wood, she hid in the brush below and cried upward:
Cut wood for a reel, and you shall die,
Wind onto it, and ruin your life.
The man listened, laid down his ax, and wondered. "Your ears must have been ringing," he said finally, and took up his ax again. But the call came a second time, and then a third, each time with the same warning. Frightened, he hastily climbed down and went home.
The woman took a shortcut and ran home first. When he entered the parlor, she innocently asked, "Well, did you bring a good piece of wood for a reel?"
"No," he said, "I see very well that winding onto a reel is not possible," and he told her what had happened. From then on, he said nothing more about it.
Nevertheless, a short time later the man complained again about the disorder. "Wife," he said, "it is a shame that the spun yarn is just lying there on the bobbin."
"Do you know what?" she said. "Since we have no reel, you go up into the loft. I will stand below and throw the bobbin up to you, then you throw it down to me. Thus we can make a skein."
"Yes, that will work," said the man. So they did. When finished, he said, "The yarn is skeined. Now it must be boiled."
The woman, again concerned, agreed to boil it the next morning but planned another trick. Early, she got up, started a fire, and put the kettle on. However, instead of the yarn, she put in a clump of tow and let it boil. Then she went to the man, still in bed, and said, "I must go out. Get up and look after the yarn in the kettle. Do it now, for if the cock crows and you are not looking, the yarn will turn into tow."
The man agreed and hurried to the kitchen. But when he looked into the kettle, he saw with horror nothing but a clump of tow.
Afterward, the poor man was as quiet as a mouse, thinking it was his fault. He never spoke of yarn or spinning again. But you yourself must admit that she was a disgusting woman.