'Now I may open it,' she said to herself; and unlocking it with the key
which hung to its handle, she raised the lid, but started back as she
did so, almost blinded by the light that burst upon her. No one would
ever have guessed that that little black box could have held such a
quantity of beautiful things! Rings, crowns, girdles, necklaces--all
made of wonderful stones; and they shone with such brilliance that not
only the stepmother and her daughter but all the people round came
running to see if the house was on fire. Of course the woman felt
quite ill with greed and envy, and she would have certainly taken all
the jewels for herself had she not feared the wrath of the neighbours,
who loved her stepdaughter as much as they hated her.

But if she could not steal the casket and its contents for herself, at
least she could get another like it, and perhaps a still richer one.
So she bade her own daughter sit on the edge of the well, and threw her
into the water, exactly as she had done to the other girl; and, exactly
as before, the flowery meadow lay at the bottom.

Every inch of the way she trod the path which her stepsister had
trodden, and saw the things which she had seen; but there the likeness
ended. When the fence prayed her to do it no harm, she laughed rudely,
and tore up some of the stakes so that she might get over the more
easily; when the oven offered her bread, she scattered the loaves onto
the ground and stamped on them; and after she had milked the cow, and
drunk as much as she wanted, she threw the rest on the grass, and
kicked the pail to bits, and never heard them say, as they looked after
her: 'You shall not have done this to me for nothing!'

Towards evening she reached the spot where the old woman was leaning
against the gate- post, but she passed her by without a word.