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Updated: June 13, 2025
In her eagerness to get the largest and the sweetest berries for her mother, she too strayed away from the path, and all happened with her as it had with her sisters. When Alween entered the hut and begged for food and shelter, the old man turned to his animals and said, "My cock, my hen, My brindled cow, What say you now? What say you now?"
But when she opened her eyes she seemed to be no longer in the loft of the little old hut in the wood. Instead of its dingy walls she saw before her a vast hall hung with cloth of gold and rich embroideries, and light and sunshine and flowers were everywhere. "I am surely dreaming," said Alween.
Oh, where is the little cock and the little hen and the pretty brindled cow and where, oh, where am I?" she cried. At this the stranger wakened and, sitting up in bed, he called softly: "Do not run away. Alween! Alween! Come back! Come back! Do not be frightened. We are all here. I was the old man with the long white beard and my servants yonder were the cock, the hen and the brindled cow.
The Prince smiled too and, looking into Cinderella's face, he saw his long lost lady of the party. With a cry of joy he lifted her, all ragged as she was, upon his horse and the Prince and his chosen princess rode away. "Indra! Indra! Indra! Oh, Indra! Where are you?" called Carla and Alween. "Come, Indra, we are going home. Come, it will soon be dark. Hurry, or we shall lose our way."
Now as the two sisters Carla and Alween gathered berries in the forest one day not long after, Carla, in her eagerness to fill her pail with the biggest berries, strayed away just as her sister Indra had done. Alween was forced to return home alone, and it happened with Carla just as it had with her elder sister.
That night Alween slept soundly in the loft of the little hut, but not before she had seen the old man tucked snugly into his bed and fast asleep. When she wakened, with the first rays of morning light, she thought, "I must dress quickly and get breakfast for the poor old man and feed the little cock and the little hen and the pretty brindled cow."
Then shaking his head sadly and slowly, he opened a curious door beneath the bed on which the girl lay and let her down into the dark, underground cellar of the hut. That night there was trouble and sorrow for good Mother Grougans and for Carla and Alween.
Mother Grougans was lost in grief and she forbade her youngest daughter, Alween, to go into the wood on any account whatsoever. And she said, "Shall I lose my youngest and my dearest also?" But soon mother and daughter were both so hungry that Alween was forced to go into the forbidden forest in search of food.
The cock, the hen, and the brindled cow all opened their mouths and called out together, "Oh, let her stay! We'll not say nay." Then Alween thanked the animals for their kindness and, going close to them, she stroked the smooth feathers of the cock and the hen and patted the brindled cow on the white star in her forehead.
And Alween married the king's son and they were very happy together for many, many years; but her sisters were forced to live lives of hardship and poverty until their hearts had grown more kindly toward all living creatures. Once, a long, long time ago, there lived a brave king and a beautiful queen.
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