Once there was a king who wanted to get married. But his wife had to be more beautiful than the sun, and no matter how many young women he saw, none were beautiful enough for him. So he called his loyal servant and ordered him to search everywhere to find a beautiful girl. The servant set out and traveled all over the land but couldn't find anyone he thought was beautiful enough. One day, after wandering a lot and feeling very thirsty, he came to a small house. He knocked and asked for a drink of water. Inside lived two very old women—one was eighty and the other ninety years old—who made a living by spinning. When the servant asked for water, the eighty-year-old woman got up, opened a small window in the shutter, and handed him some water. From spinning so much, her hands were very white and delicate. When the servant saw them, he thought, "She must be a beautiful young woman, for she has such delicate white hands." So he hurried back to the king and said, "Your Majesty, I have found what you're looking for; here's what happened to me." "Very well," said the king, "go back and try to see her."
The servant returned to the small house, knocked, and asked again for some water. The old woman didn't open the window but handed him the pitcher through the small opening in the shutter. "Do you live here all alone?" asked the servant. "No," she replied. "I live here with my sister; we are poor girls and support ourselves by working with our hands." "How old are you, then?" "I am fifteen, and my sister is twenty." The servant went back to the king and told him everything, and the king said, "I will take the one who is fifteen. Go and bring her to me." When the servant returned to the two old women and told them that the king wanted to make the younger one his wife, she replied, "Tell the king I am ready to do his will. Since I was born, no sunlight has ever touched me, and if a ray of sun or a beam of light touches me now, I would turn completely black. Ask the king to send a closed carriage for me at night, and I will come to his palace."
When the king heard this, he sent royal clothes and a closed carriage, and at night the old woman covered her face with a thick veil and rode to the palace. The king welcomed her happily and asked her to remove the veil. She replied, "There are too many lit candles here; their light would make me black." So the king married her without seeing her face. However, when they went into the king's room and she took off her veil, the king saw for the first time what an ugly old woman he had married. In his anger, he opened the window and threw her out. Luckily, there was a nail in the wall, and she caught onto it by her clothes, hanging between heaven and earth. Four fairies happened to pass by, and when they saw the old woman hanging there, one of them said, "Look, sisters, there's the old woman who tricked the king; should we wish for her dress to tear and let her fall?" "Oh, no! Let's not do that," said the youngest and most beautiful of the fairies. "Let's wish her something good instead. I wish her youth." "And I, beauty." "And I, wisdom." "And I, a kind heart." As the fairies spoke, the old woman turned into a wonderfully beautiful young woman.
The next morning, when the king looked out the window and saw the beautiful girl hanging there, he was shocked and thought, "Unhappy man! What have I done! Was I blind last night?" Then he had her carefully taken down with long ladders and apologized, saying, "Now we will have a great celebration and be truly happy." So they held a splendid feast, and the young queen was the fairest in the whole city.
