THE LITTLE LADY
Source
There was once a man and a woman who married together. They had a beautiful daughter, as beautiful as the day. This girl grew up, and she was always praying to God and giving alms to the poor. Also, when she went out, the poor people came to meet her and said:
“Here is the Little Lady."
The Little Lady's mother died, and her father remarried. But the stepmother could not see the Little Lady, and she did everything in the world to have her thrown out.
“See,” she said to her father, “this little thing gives all the bread to the poor. Just now I saw her fill her full apron."
The father called the Little Lady to see what she was carrying in her apron. But it turned out that, by a miracle from God, the apron was full of flowers.
So the stepmother couldn't see the Little Miss. Twenty times a day she beat her. But the Little Lady always prayed to God and was always compassionate and charitable to the poor.
The Little Lady's father and stepmother had a daughter. What did the stepmother do? She killed her daughter, and went to tell her man:
“Your daughter killed my daughter. You know what you have to do."
What did the father do? He cut the Little Lady's wrist, put the dead child in her apron, and threw her out.
The Little Lady went far, far, far away: she found a small fountain. At the small fountain, she washed her mutilated arm. Immediately, her hand returned to her more beautiful than before. Then she bathed the dead child there, and the child came back to life.
The Little Lady and the child went far, far, far away. They found a group of shepherds. The Little Lady asked them to give her a little milk, to keep the child alive. The shepherds gave her milk, and they both left.
They went far, far, far away. Finally, they arrived in Jerusalem and retired to an honest house.
But since the Little Lady had left her parish, all the crops had failed. The fields bore only thistles and brambles. Then people understood that it was because the Little Lady had left. They said she must be found, dead or alive, and set out to look for her.
These people went far, far, far away. They met a group of shepherds.
“Shepherds, have you not seen a little one-armed lady pass by, with a dead child in her apron?"
"No, we didn’t see her."
The people of the parish set out again. Finally, they arrived in Jerusalem and went to knock on the door of the honest house where the Little Lady had lodged.
“Brave girl, couldn’t you accommodate us for this night?”
“Yes,” replied the Little Lady.
"Brave girl, did not a young one-armed girl arrive in Jerusalem with a dead child in her apron?"
"I haven't heard of it."
The strangers went to bed. The next day, at dawn, the Little Lady got up to comb some flax. And the flax cried:
“Ouch! Ouch!"
"Suffer, flax, suffer," said the Little Lady. "I suffered a lot. They cut my wrist, they put a dead child in my apron. And yet I am here."
Then the strangers who heard it said:
“You are indeed the Little Lady."
"No, I'm not. You can see that I'm not one-armed. You see clearly that the child I have with me is not dead."
"Little Lady, you must come with us."
"No, I don't want to go."
But the foreigners took the Little Lady by force, with the child, and they took them back to their country. As they approached the village, the bells rang out of their own accord. And from that moment on, the harvests again became as beautiful as in the other parishes.
Source: La Petite Demoiselle, from the French book Contes populaires de la Gascogne, tome 2, published in 1886
Previous Tale: Belle Madeleine
Next Tale: The Ship Walking on Land
Hello, my name is Vincent Celier.
I am writing translations of folk tales that I found in public domain French books, so that people who do not understand French may enjoy them too.
This tale is shorter than most of the others that I have posted so far.
There is a similitude with the tale of Belle Madeleine. Initially, the Little Lady does not want to be recognized, but she is recognized because she replies to the talking flax she is working with.
Oliver, the younger grandson of Kati, was very much afraid of me the last time we were in Calgary. This is no longer the case.
Yesterday, we went to a playground with the two kids. In this picture, you can see them rotating me in this equipment after I did it for them.
-- Vincent Celier
Oh, poor little lady,
Blessed rather.
The wicked step mother is obviously jealous and that shows just how cruel,to the extent of killing her own baby in order to send the little lady to her exile.
Thank goodness for the power that resurrected the baby and healed the wrist of the little lady.
It's redemptional and an obvious one at that.
The relevance of the little lady makes her indispensable and I love it.
Let's see what next the wicked step mother plots.
She won't succeed anyways.
Kati's grandson was afraid of you perhaps not because of anything at all but for some mischievous purposes, typical of some kids.
Good to know that you are now friends. Lol
Regards
Some reason will have the authors of stories that always the stepmothers with very bad with the stepchildren, now I say it, it is true with bad, I say it with knowledge of cause, my stepmother was very bad with my sister and me, but it was only on weekends and only happened once, as we had no obligation to return to that house we never returned, only until the death of my father.
that is one of the reasons, it is possible that the writers had bad experiences with their stepmothers.
as for the little lady, for her works and her kindness she was rewarded, in spite of the suffering of having her hand cut off.
In the photo with the child, you look very rested, unlike the photo when you were arriving, the fear was because he didn't know you, now he does, besides, I assume that when he met you he was younger. Some children are like that when they don't know someone they act with caution, then when they meet the person all the fear disappears and confidence arrives.
The Little Lady has a golden heart and helps the poor but misfortune befalls her as her mother dies. She is then left in the care of a wicked stepmother who treats her like a slave and finally slanders her to her own father. The Little Lady is then sent out to wander the world with a dead child in her apron, but providence comes to her rescue and healed her mutilated arm and resurrects the child. This shows that Providence will always intervene for good people who are mistreated. The land is punished for the unjust treatment of the Little Lady and the people of the land were wise to get her back though it shouldn't have been by force. I'm interested in knowing what transpires next whether the Little Lady will agree to stay in the land and what will happen to the wicked stepmother.
Thanks for this interesting tale, @vcelier.
Seems you had a nice time today with Kati's grandchildren. I wonder why Kati's younger grandson was previously afraid of you, maybe your somewhat stern countenance, but it's good both of you are getting along now.
God bless you and your family.
That's so nice of you, you must have shown him the love you have in your heart for this little boy, and see how he is not scared of you and easily sitting with you and smiling. what a cute smile this young boy has <3
It was so cruel of that father and the stepmother, who kill her kid and the little stepdaughter the father didn't even think about how her daughter could kill her stepsister, and he was so cruel to show this behaviour to his own daughter and cut her hand, and that's pathetic.
But God is merciful, he took her to that fountain, where he washed her hands and it came to the previous position and her dead step-sister also came to life. now they both move to jeruslum and start living there.
but the man of that city, where they were previously live came to find both of them and took them with them with force. Let's see what will happened next !!!
If the man and the woman married, that means both of them will definitely be handsome and beautiful at the same time which will make the daughter so beautiful and adorable to admire. It is really good to always do something good because it will really help you. That is what really save the little girl from the stormy world she is about to face and should have faced. Giving arms to the poor. This is very true. In fact if only many of us can be good to Humanity just as the little child and give alms to the poor, the world will definitely be a better place to be and live in.
The moment I saw that stepmother step into the story picture, I knew there will definitely be trouble in the family and not only that but also for the little child who lost her mother. I will say this tale is one of the shortest tale you have ever posted recently but it actually carries so much power and message. Thank you for posting them.
Hmmm! Short but interesting. This one reminds me of Belle, yesterday's tale. Seriously, I can't compare the young lady stepmother's wickedness with that of the marchioness, for her to kill her own child just because she doesn't want her stepdaughter around is the highest evil one could execute. Gosh! The thought of it is even disgusting. The young lady was a good person but she had to suffer because of her stepmother, however, the good Lord did not forsake for her good deeds or and was performing miracles for her. I am glad the child came back alive and she also got her arm back. I hope that on her return, her stepmother will be punished. I have learnt something from here too, it pays to be good! Good people are never forsaken.
Awww! Oliver looks so cute, it's a good thing he is getting close to you now and It's also good to see you having fun with the kids.
That's really great that You are spending time with kids.
Whenever I became frustrated and became overloaded from work, I usually prefer to spend time with kids. They always makes me feel fresh.
If we talk about the story, little lady is very innocent and She new very well that her father trusted his wife just.
I think those couples who have kids, they do not get married again if one of them die because in this the childrens suffer and stepmother or stepfather do not wants to bring up with care or love.
They don't have effection towards step childs.
Stepmother here has lost the humanity and also killed her own daughter but why?
Her only aim was to blame little lady or she doesn't want to have a baby girl?
Waiting for the next. Why she doesn't want to recognize by others.
There are many truths in this story that we see happening in today's era when a husband and wife get married and the wife who is one of them leaves the world, then the man marries another and another.
A wife can never give that love and that respect to children And as we have seen that the daughter of this man was very tender-hearted and very loving towards the poor. And after that when he had a daughter from his second wife, his wife did a very wrong thing and blamed him for killing her who was his second daughter and due to which he If he cut off her hand, it is very cruel and after that he threw them both out of the house and the next way we saw, the girl who was still alive and still these two who are here. They are wandering around with no place to stay and later we also see that a person has come looking for them yet they have not found him the story is very interesting.
Life is beautiful with children, the way we see these children playing and you are also very happy playing with them, this is real life.
Women and their problems! The little Lady is golden-hearted, praying to God and giving alms to the poor. Why should this be a problem for the stepmother? And why would she go to the length of killing her own child just to have the Little Lady thrown out. And her father is not a man at all to have believed his wife and inflicting such injury on his daughter.
Thank God the people realized that their crops refused to bloom because of the absence of the Little Lady.
I can see you are more relaxed today playing around with the children.
Interesting story. The little lady was a nice and generous person who gave alms to the poor and was always praying to God. When the little lady's mother died her father remarried and her stepmother wasn't treating her well, up to the extent of lying to her father that the little lady killed their child, which she never did. The stepmother turned the little lady's father against her and her father cut her wrist and threw her out of the house with the dead child. God was so merciful to her for her good will and resurrected the dead child and her wrist was also restored.
Calamity later came upon the people of parish and they noticed that it was because of the innocent little lady who was sent away. All the people of parish set out in search of the little lady and when they found her, they brought her back to parish and immediately all the harvests again became as beautiful as in the other parishes.
Good to hear that Oliver, Kati's grandson who was initially always scared of you is now coming closer to you. And I can see from the picture, the way he is sitting beside you joyfully and smiling.
This is Man's inhumanity to Man. The Little Lady didn't deserve what was meted out to her by the stepmom and her own dad. It's touching that to get rid of the Little Lady, the stepmom had to resort to lying and cheap blackmail, killing her own child and passing on the blame. There are Nature's forces which would always counter evil and I know that no matter how long it takes, good will triumph over evil.
The children are lovely and I can see you all having a fun time together 👍
I really feel bad with the way that the little lady was treated. I can imagine how happy and smooth her life will be if her mother was alive but there is nothing they can do to stop her mother from dying and that is why I always say that there is absolutely no one that can behave like your mother.
If her mother was alive, she might not have to go through that kind of pain. I feel bad for her and I’m sure that there are also some other people who are going through this but I hope things go fine for them.
The stepmother is so wicked that she could even kill her daughter just because she wants to implicate the little lady but I’m glad she did not die. I don’t like the way she was dragged to that foreign country but I hope things work fine for her over there
The injustice faced by the Little Lady at the hands of her stepmother highlights the darker aspects of human nature. However, her journey towards redemption, marked by the restoration of her arm and the revival of the dead child, reflects the philosophical concept that goodness and virtue can overcome injustice.
PS: Lovely grandchildren.
#hive #posh
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Intriguing folk tale with a touch of mystery and a twist in identity.
I love it when stories have similarities to each other.
Even if it's shorter, it sure is just as captivating. And it's funny that the Little Lady is recognized through the talking linen, that sounds magical!
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So many wonderful stories out there in many different languages … it’s great that you are translating them for the world to enjoy.