The Two Wives and the Witch

There was once a man who had a wife that was not pretty. He became

tired of looking at her, and so went away and married another wife.

His first wife was in great sorrow, and wept every day. One day as she

was crying by the well, where she had gone for water, a woman asked

her: "Why are you weeping?" The wife answered: "Because my husband has

left me and gone to live with another wife." "Why?" said the witch,

for that is what the woman was.

"Because I have not a pretty face," answered the wife. While she

was talking the witch touched the wife's face, and then she said:

"I cannot stay here any longer," and went off.

When the wife reached home she looked in the glass and saw that her

face had been changed until it was the most beautiful in the town. Very

soon a rumor spread through the town that in such and such a house

there was living a very beautiful woman. Many young men went to see

the pretty woman, and all were pleased with her beauty.

The bad husband went also. He was astonished that his wife was not at

home, and that a pretty woman was living there alone. He bowed to the

lady and avowed his love. The lady at first refused to believe him,

and said: "If you will leave the woman who is now your wife and come

to live with me right along I will take you for my husband." The man

agreed, and went to live with the pretty woman.

The other woman was very angry when she heard the news, for it was

reported that the pretty woman was the man's first wife, who had

been changed by a witch. She determined to try what the witch could

do for her, and went to get water at the same well.

The witch appeared and asked: "Why are you weeping, my good woman?" The

woman told her that her husband had gone away to live with the pretty

woman. As she was speaking, the witch touched her face, and said:

"Go home, my good woman, and do not weep, for your husband will come

very soon to see you."

When she heard this she ran home as fast as she could. All the

people whom she met on the road were afraid of her, because she was

so ugly. Her nose was about two feet long, her ears looked like large

handkerchiefs, and her eyes were as big as saucers. Nobody recognized

her, not even her mother. All were afraid of such a creature. When

she saw in the glass how ugly she was, she refused to eat, and in a

few days she died.