"Maiden, beautiful and good, give me your golden apple, and in return
for it I will thrice wish you well."

The girl thought that one who spoke so fairly to her would not do her an
ill turn, so she put the apple into the little hand. Then she bent down
over the spring, and, taking care not to muddy the water, filled her
bucket. As she went home the guardian of the well wished that the girl
would become thrice as beautiful as she was, that whenever she laughed a
gold ring might fall from her mouth, and that red roses might spring up
wherever she trod. The same hour all that he wished came to pass. From
that day the girl was called the Maiden Swanwhite, and the fame of her
loveliness spread all through the land.

When the wicked step-mother perceived this, she was filled with rage,
and she thought how her own daughter might become as beautiful as
Swanwhite. With this object she set herself to learn all that had
happened, and then she sent her own daughter to fetch water. When the
wicked girl had come to the well, she saw a little hand rise up out of
the water, and heard a voice which said--

"Maiden, beautiful and good, give me your gold apple and I will thrice
wish thee well."

But the hag's daughter was both wicked and avaricious, and it was not
her way to make presents. She therefore made a dash at the little hand,
wished the guardian of the well evil, and said pettishly--

"You need not think you'll get a gold apple from me."

Then she filled her bucket, muddying the water, and away she went in a