Every day the poor girl would sit beside the spring and spin and spin,
until her fingers bled.

One day, while she was washing the blood from her hands, the spindle
fell into the spring and sank to the bottom.

With tears in her eyes, she ran and told her stepmother what she had
done.

The stepmother was angry and said, "You let the spindle fall into the
spring. Now you must go and get it out."

The maiden went back to the spring to look for the spindle.

She leaned so far over the edge that her hand slipped, and down, down,
she sank to the very bottom.

All at once she found that she was in a beautiful field where many wild
flowers grew.

As she walked across the field, she came to a baker's oven full of new
bread.

The loaves cried to her, "Oh, pull us out! pull us out, or we shall
burn!"

"Indeed I will!" cried the maiden.

Stepping up, she pulled all the sweet brown loaves out of the oven.