Good Readings: "Gold-Maria and Pitch-Maria"by Ludwig Bechtein (translated into English)

Once there was a widow with two daughters. One was her own child and the other her step-child, and both were named Maria. The first was neither affectionate nor honest, but the step-daughter was a good and hard-working girl. She had many vexations and slights to suffer at the hands of her mother and sister, but through all she kept her temper; she did all the kitchen-work without murmuring, and when she was particularly aggrieved by her mother or sister, she had a quiet cry in her own room. After that she was quite happy again and would say to herself, "Never mind, Heaven will help you soon." And then she would work away vigorously and make everything neat and clean.

Her mother, however, was never satisfied; and one day said to her, "Maria, I cannot any longer keep you at home, you work little and eat much. Your father left you no property, and your mother did not either. What there is, is all mine and I will not maintain you any longer. So you must leave this place and look out for another mistress."

So saying, she made a cake of milk and ashes, filled a small bottle with water and giving them to Maria, sent her away from the house.

Maria was very much grieved with this harsh treatment, but still she walked bravely off over the fields and meadows, for she thought to herself as she went along, "Someone will soon hire me as servant, and perhaps I shall find another mistress that is kinder than my step-mother."

When she began to feel hungry she sat down on the grass and took out her cake and drank some of the water, while round her several birds fluttered, now picking up the crumbs that she scattered and now dipping their bills in the water she held out to them in the hollow of her hand. Just then her ashy cake changed into a delicious cake and the water into milk.

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Strengthened and refreshed by her meal, Maria got up and walked on. When it was getting dark, she came to a solitary house. The walls around it seemed to have two doors, one black as pitch and the other shining like gold.

Maria went through the least attractive door of the two into the courtyard and then knocked at the house-door. A man that looked terribly wild, opened it and asked her what she wanted. "Only to know if you could shelter me for the night," answered Maria, trembling,

"Come in," murmured the man hoarsely.

Maria followed him, shaking more and more with fear as she heard on every side a confused howling of dogs and mewing of cats, for there was nothing else in the house except the rough owner.

"Will you sleep with me or with the cats and dogs?" growled the man.

"With the cats and dogs," answered Maria, but he gave her a nice white bed, and there she could sleep peacefully enough.

In the morning the man asked, "Will you have breakfast with me or with the dogs and cats?"

"With the dogs and cats," she answered, but he gave her coffee, sweet milk, eggs, cheese, and buttered slices of good bread.

Soon after, Maria prepared to start off. Then the man asked again, "Will you go out of the golden door or the pitch door?"

She answered, "The pitch door," but he told her to go out at the golden door. As she walked through it, the man showered gold down on her from the wall above the door, so that she went her way covered with a golden garment.

She went home again. As soon as she opened the garden-gate, the hens she had used to feed came flying towards her and the cock cried out, "Cock-a-doodle-doo - here comes our Gold-Maria - cock-a-doodle-doo!"

Her stepmother came down the steps to meet her and made her a low bow as if she was a princess who had come to honour her with a visit.

Maria said, "Do you not know me? I am Maria."

Soon her sister came, wondering at the sight as much as her mother. Maria had to tell all that had happened to her and how she had become covered with gold. Her mother now took her in again and treated her better than before, so that Maria was honoured and loved by everybody. In a little while a worthy young farmer took a fancy to her and married her, and they lived together very happily.

By and by the other Maria wanted to leave home and see if she could come back covered with gold, she too. Her mother gave her sweet cakes and wine to refresh her on her journey. The birds came and pecked at the crumbs when she rested and had a meal, but she drove them away. Then her cake changed into ashes and her wine into muddy water.

At evening-time she came to the same house that her sister had come to. She went brashly in at the golden gate and knocked at the door.

When the man opened it and asked what she wanted, she answered, "I have come to pass the night here."

"Come in," he growled. "Where will you sleep? With dogs and cats or in the best chamber?"

"In the best chamber," she answered, but he led her into the room where the dogs and cats were, and locked her in. In the morning when she arose, her face was all scratched and bitten. When she came out, the man asked her if she would have breakfast with him or with the dogs and cats.

"Oh, with you," she answered, hastily, but she had to sit down with his dogs and cats.

After the meal she wished to leave. The man asked again, "Do you want to go out of the golden door or the pitch door?"

"The golden door," she answered, but that door was closed and she had to go out by the other. As she passed through, the man was standing above it showered down on her a cloud of pitch.

Full of rage she hurried home. As she approached, the cock began to crow, "Cock-a-doodle-doo! Here comes our Pitch-Maria – Cock-a-doodle-doo!"

When she entered the house, her mother was horrified and never dared allow anybody to see her daughter for a long time, although the scratches and bite marks healed soon enough.