The Enchanted Clothes

Once upon a time a poor peasant girl dressed in rags, with no shoes or socks upon her feet and her hair all tangled but with dreams of being a lady, passed by a cave and, in the cave, she saw a silver framed full length mirror and a large trunk made of gold and silver and, opening up the trunk, she saw a pile of pretty clothes inside, including fine dressed woven out of golden threads and long silk gloves and shoes of gold and silver, even a large ladies hat and there was a comb and hair brush too, made of precious mother of pearl and gold and make up and perfume from the orient and she longed to try on the fine clothes and comb her hair with the comb and wear the shoes on her feet so that she would look like a lady.

 

“I will just try on the shoes”, she thought, “Maybe the hat and gloves or maybe just the dress, then put them back neatly folded. Who is to know?”.

 

And so she did just that, but getting carried, away she could not stop herself putting on everything that was in the trunk, even putting up her hair with pins from the box and putting on the make-up and perfume.

 

Then, standing in front of the mirror, she admired herself and, twirling around, said,

 

“How pretty, I look. Just like a lady”.

 

But then, as she was looking in the mirror, suddenly she saw, reflected in it, a little bearded gnome standing behind her and smiling with glee.

 

“Aha!”, he said, “Those are enchanted clothes and they that put them on must become my wife”.

 

“I will not”, said the woman, trying to take off the shoes.

 

But the shoes would not come off; neither would the hat from her head, nor the gloves; not any of the clothes.

 

And when she tried to let down her hair and mess it up as it had been before, her hair just tied itself up again, putting the pins back in place.

 

And even the make-up, when she tried to rub it off would not come off.

 

Terrified, she pushed her way passed the old gnome and ran out of the cave, but the shoes turned themselves round and she was forced to run back into the cave.

 

“As long as you wear my things, you shall not ever be free. If you try to run away, the shoes will bring you back”.

 

She tried to slap the dwarf and kick him but the long gloves and shoes she was wearing wouldn’t let her, in fact the gloves forced her to cross her arms.

 

“You shall be my wife”, said the dwarf, “And cook and clean and sow for me. Do all the duties of a wife. You have no choice in the matter”.

 

Then the Dwarf walked to his cottage in the woods and the woman, because the shoes wanted to follow him, had no choice but to follow him too.

 

Then the dwarf placed a bucket at her feet and the handle of a mop within her hand and, snapping his fingers, said “Get to work”.

 

And because the clothes wanted to work, so the woman had to; she had mop the floor and do the dishes and clean the windows and beat his carpet and wash and mend and iron the dwarfs clothes, oh and so many things and the clothes wouldn’t let her rest for a minute and, when finally the dwarfs whole cottage looked gleaming and immaculate and his clothes were spotless, the girl was almost dead from exhaustion.

 

Even so she struggled again, desperately, to take off her shoes and her gloves but, no matter how she pulled, they just would not come off.

 

Then she tried tearing at her clothes and even cutting them off with scissors but each time she made a tear in her clothing it would just, magically, mend itself up again. Even when, out of hatred and anger, she spilt ink from the dwarf’s inkwell upon her clothes, the ink just disappeared. In fact the clothes could not get dirty.

 

Finally, she sank into an old armchair and started to sob, her tears running in a torrent over her rouged cheeks but never causing her make up to smudge at all.

 

“What will I do”, she said, “Oh what will I do. I do not want to be the dwarfs prisoner”.

 

In desperation she threw herself in a nearby pond, trying to drown, but the clothes kept her afloat and would not let her drown and, when finally she gave up and crawled out of the pond, the clothes were clean and dry with not even a wrinkle upon them.

 

But that was not even the worst of it, for when the dwarf came home, he asked,

 

“And what about a kiss for your husband?”.

 

And revolted at the thought of kissing the dwarf, the woman turned her head away and said, “I shall never kiss you and you will never force me to”.

 

But the hat on her head and the shoes on her feet and her dress and gloves had other ideas. They dragged her to her feet and made her bend forward to kiss the dwarf upon his hairy cheek.

 

“Ahh, thank you my dear”, said the dwarf, chuckling before, the clothes releasing their hold upon her, the young woman slumped back down into a chair and started to sob.

 

“You horrible old man”, said the woman, “I hate you. I hate you and I shall always hate you”.

 

“Oh give it time, my dear”, said the dwarf, “You’ll get used to it eventually”.

 

But then the next day, the woman, after having cleaned the dwarfs house and washed his clothes again was sitting down exhausted when she saw, through a window, a big hairy trolless, or female troll, walking by the house and a thought occurred to her.

 

Then, opening the door of the house, she started to sing,

 

“Fine Clothes, fine clothes. Who would like to buy my fine clothes. They do not stain and they do not tear and they make you look like a lady, fair”.

And the trolless, looking at the clothes said,

 

“Oh yes, I would like to buy those fine clothes. I think they would suit me, with my natural Troll beauty, rather well. How much are they?”

 

“To a trolless as pretty as you, only a penny”, said the woman.

 

And so the Trolless reached into her purse and pulled out a brass penny that she gave to the young woman.

 

“Thank you Madam”, she said, “They’re all yours”.

 

But then, when the Trolless tried to pull of the young woman’s hat, she couldn’t.

 

“Oh, I’m sorry”, she said, “I forgot to mention. They are stuck on with magic”.

 

“Magic? Oh that’s no problem”, said the Trolless, “I’ll just use an unsticking spell”.

 

Then she spoke a magic spell,

 

“Magic spell, do the trick. Make this young girls clothes unstick”.

 

And then, to the young woman’s astonishment and utter joy, tugging at her hat, it came off of her head.

 

Hurriedly she took off the rest of the clothes and the shoes and gave them to the trolless who, though they were a tight fit, managed to squeeze herself into them .

 

“How do I look?”, asked the Trolless.

 

“Beautiful”, said the young woman.

 

But then, she told the Trolless to wait in the dwarfs house.

 

“Wait? Why?”, asked the Trolless.

 

“Because with the clothes, you also get a free husband”, said the young woman.

 

“A husband?”, asked the Trolless, “Is he handsome?”.

 

“Handsome?”, asked the young woman, “Well? He’s a little short but yes he’s very handsome and charming too. I think you’ll love him”.

 

And so the Trolless waited inside the dwarfs house while the young woman ran off back home, happy to be free at last from the dwarf.

 

But then, not long afterwards the Trolless heard the dwarf coming towards his house singing to himself,

 

“Oh I’ve got a wife; a very pretty wife who is waiting at home for me and she cleans and she washes and she mends my socks and cooks kippers for my tea”, sang the dwarf with a chuckle.

 

And then, as he entered his house he called out,

 

“I’m home, pretty wife. Have you a kiss for your husband?”.

 

But then, suddenly, to the dwarfs shock and horror, he saw, not the pretty young woman rushing towards him, but the large, fat, ugly and hairy trolless; the look of love in her eyes.

 

No one knows what became of the dwarf and trolless after that, whether they ever found true love but one thing we do know for sure is that from that day on, the young woman  was happy to dress in rags and run around in bare feet and had no more dreams of being a lady.

And yet, not long afterwards, a prince was riding through the forest when, hoping to borrow a cup of water and some food for his horse, he stopped and knocked upon the door of the young woman’s cottage and when she opened the door to him, he though her so beautiful, even in her dress of rags, that he fell instantly and deeply in love with her and, soon afterwards, they were married and she became a princess, living in a palace, in a golden gown with crystal slippers and a crown upon her head but, most importantly, she was married to a man that she loved.