Pretty, industrious stepdaughter, spinning until fingers <br />bled, bloodstained shuttle fell into the well, she jumped <br />in after, landed where bread were to be taken from an <br />oven, apples to be shaken from the tree, she did <br />everything happily <br /> <br />‘Mother Holle’ asked her to shake her bed well, making <br />feathers fly for snow on earth, she complied, going home, <br />she was covered by a golden rain; stepmother sent her <br />own idle daughter down the well to ‘Mother Holle’ also, <br />she refused to do anything <br /> <br />When she left pitch fell over her, stuck fast for as long as <br />she lived – I read and blushed and blushed, I did not work <br />diligently in the office, did not study the Assessment Form <br />or the Work Agreement or edit a long, boring letter <br />thoroughly when I fell ill <br /> <br />Just like the idle daughter I did not help to shake snow on <br />earth for the season’s proper course, hiding my feeling of <br />confusion, instead of admitting openly I could not carry out <br />instructions, tonight I am covered in pitch for <br />doing badly in my duties <br /> <br />And I’m sad, I want to do my job – and I cannot, I shall never <br />attain the golden rain, however hard I try, inside I remain the <br />same, tired and fatigued, the best intentions come to naught <br />- what a terrible shame! <br /> <br /> <br />“Favourite Tales from Grimm and Andersen” <br />Orbis Publishing, London,1985 <br />“Mother Holle” by the Brothers Grimm p.121 – 125<br /><br />Margaret Alice<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/2010-06-05-golden-rain/
