The Hen-Eyed Maiden

Once upon a time, far from here and far from there, there was a tiny little village. In the prettiest house lived a widow who had once been pretty, and with her lived her pretty daughter. This maiden was so lovely that she was as slender as a reed, her face as delicate as a blooming rose, her hair was like sun-ripened hay, and her eyes were as blue as the summer sky. So great was her beauty that even the Sun was surprised by it, so much that he would stand still in the sky as He took His daily walk across His courtyard, admiring her.

The girl had one flaw, and one flaw only: she was extremely short-sighted, so much that she was practically blind. In that region, this was known as being hen-eyed, and so she became known in the village as the hen-eyed maiden. This was very unfortunate. Although all the village lads admired her beauty and sighed after her, none of them wanted to consider asking for her hand in marriage. In those parts, a young man wouldn't be able to survive with a blind wife who couldn't hold a shovel in the garden, who couldn't see what she was cooking for dinner. In short, no one wanted to start life's journey out with such a disadvantage, so despite her beauty, she was left waiting. The maiden was despondent over this, as was her mother, but there was nothing to be done.

It so happened that the town held a social which included a dance, and of course the widow and her daughter were in attendance. A young man from a neighboring village had been invited, and as he laid eyes on the beautiful girl, his heart skipped a beat, then leapt around in his chest. He had never seen a girl so lovely, and when he found that she wasn't spoken for, he resolved to visit her house the next evening. But when the locals heard about his plan, they just shook their heads sadly and warned him: "You're wasting your time, young one. She can't see; she's hen-eyed!" But he was so besotten that he replied that he would go see for himself whether she was blind or not.

The next night he did indeed show up at the widow's house. The girl was overjoyed, as was her mother; they gave him food, gave him drink, entertained him, and in short made such a fuss over him that the lad was quite flattered, and didn't even notice that the girl couldn't see much. He thought to himself that the villagers might simply be spreading mean rumors about her by calling her hen-eyed. He left that night with a promise to come back the next evening.

The next day, the mother decided that the young man was a good enough prospect that she would do all she could to help her daughter land him as a husband. "My darling daughter," she began. "I'm going to thread a needle, and tie the thread to your finger. When the young man comes to call, and you two are talking amongst yourselves, jump up suddenly as if you had just seen something on the ground, pull the needle up by the string, and call out loudly to me, 'Look here, Mother, I found a needle on the ground!' Does that sound like a decent plan, daughter?"

"Mother, that would be perfect!" the daughter replied. And so it went, exactly according to the plan. The girl hid the thread in her hand and when the young man came to call, the two stepped outside to take a little moonlit stroll in the front yard so they could get a little privacy. Just as the young man began to think about taking his chances caressing her, she suddenly bent down and exclaimed, "Mother dearest! I've found that needle you were looking for! It was out here on the ground!" Well, the youth was overjoyed. If a girl could see a needle on the ground lit only by moonlight, her eyes must be very good indeed! He left that night in a good mood, resolving to himself that if the next evening's visit was as pleasant as the last two, he would ask her hand in marriage indeed and bring her home to his village.

The next evening came, and everything was going as planned, and after some initial chatter, they sat the youth down at the kitchen table to serve him dinner. The mother had baked a wonderful bread and sent her daughter to the kitchen to fetch it; in the meantime, she set a huge bowl of home-made cottage cheese on the table. The daughter came back with the bread and set it down, but she suddenly saw the bowl of white cottage cheese. The first thought that sprang to her head was that it must be her snow-white cat who often liked to sit on the table. The girl was almost giddy with high spirits, and as she set the bread down on the table, she cried, "Get down from there, you silly old thing!" And with that, she gave the white bowl a strong swat - sending cottage cheese flying all around the room, even into her prospective groom's hair!

The young man jumped out of his chair as if he had been burned. "You two are veritable tricksters, you are! This girl cannot tell cottage cheese from a cat, much less find a needle by moonlight! And I won't take a liar for a wife!" he shouted as he stormed out of the house, never to be seen again, not only in the widow's house but in the whole village.

Whether the beautiful girl found a husband or remained an old maid, I don't know, but if you wish to find out, you can always try visiting her to ask!