A woodcutter lived with his wife and three daughters in a little hut near a forest.
One morning, as he prepared for work, he said,
“Wife, I will not be home at noon and the work is heavy. Send my dinner to me with our oldest daughter. To show the way, I will take a pocketful of wheat and scatter it along my path.”
Away he went with his axe on his shoulder.

Just before noon, his daughter went into the wood. She carried a jug of soup and some bread for her father’s dinner. She looked in vain for the wheat, but the sparrows and finches had picked up every grain.
She walked until the sun set and the wood grew cold. The trees rustled and the owls hooted, and the girl began to feel afraid. At that moment, she saw a far-off light twinkling through the branches.
“Someone must live there,” she thought. “Surely they will give me shelter for the night.” She walked towards the light and came to a little house deep in the wood.
She knocked at the door, and a gruff voice said,
“Come in.”

Inside she went and found an old man sitting beside a table. His white beard almost touched the floor. In the room there were three animals: a hen, a cockerel, and a brindled cow.
“I have lost my way in the forest,” said the girl to the old man. “May I spend the night here?”
Instead of answering her, he turned to the animals and said,
“Pretty fowls and brindled cow,
What have you to answer now?”

“Cluck! Cluck! Cluck!“ said the hen.
“Cock-a-doodle-doo!“ said the cockerel.
“Moo! Moo! Moo!“ said the cow.
That meant she might stay.

So the old man said, “You will find plenty of everything here. Go into the kitchen and cook some supper.”

The girl cooked supper for herself and the old man, but she never thought of the animals. When she had eaten all she wished, she said, “I am very tired. Where shall I sleep?”
The animals replied in a chant,
“Of yourself alone you thought,
Now tonight rest as you ought.”

The girl was so sleepy that she hardly heard what they said. “Go upstairs,” said the old man. “You will find two rooms with a bed in each. Make both beds before you sleep.”
The girl went upstairs and made the bed in the larger room for herself. Then she dropped down and went fast asleep. After a while, the old man came upstairs. Finding his bed not made and the girl asleep, he shook his head. Then he opened a door in the floor and let her bed drop down into the cellar.

Late in the evening, the woodcutter went home. He scolded his wife for having left him the whole day without food.
“It is not my fault,” she said. “I sent our daughter with your dinner. She must have lost the way. She will be back tomorrow, no doubt.”

Early the next morning, the woodcutter had to go to his work.
“Send our second daughter with my dinner today,” he said. “I will carry a pocketful of peas. They are larger than grains of wheat. She will see them and not lose the way.”

But at noon, the peas were all gone. The birds in the wood had picked them up. Not one was left to show the path.
The girl walked up and down in the forest all day. At last she came to the old man’s cottage and was given food and shelter. She, too, failed to feed the animals or to make the old man’s bed. Whilst she slept, he opened the door. Down she dropped into the cellar, as her sister had done.

On the third morning, the woodcutter told his wife to send their youngest child with his dinner. “She is always good and observant,” he said. “She will keep to the path and not lose her way, as her sisters did.”
“No,” said the mother, “I do not wish our youngest child to go. What if she loses her way, too?”
“Do not fear,” said the father, “she is careful and wise, and she will find the way. Besides, I will fill my pockets with beans. I will scatter them along the path.”
But when his daughter went into the forest, there were no beans to be seen. The doves had eaten them all, and she did not know which way to go. She thought sadly how hungry her father was and how her mother would grieve for her.

At dark, she also saw the light and came to the house in the wood. She went in and begged shelter as her sisters had done. When it was granted, she patted the cow and stroked the feathers of the hen and the cockerel.
The old man told her to cook supper, and she did so at once. Then she said, “Shall I have plenty whilst the good beasts want food?”
So she gave food to the fowls and an armful of sweet hay to the cow. “Eat, dear animals,” she said. “Perhaps you are thirsty, too. I will bring you fresh water.”
When this was done, she sat down at the table and ate her supper.

Soon the fowls put their heads behind their wings and the cow shut her eyes. Then the girl asked,
“Shall we not go to rest?”
The old man turned to the animals and said,
“Pretty fowls and brindled cow,
Shall this maiden sleep here now?”

They answered together,
“Of our comfort, too, she thought;
Let her rest now as she ought.”

When the maiden went upstairs, she made both beds. Then she went into the smaller room, and after saying her prayers, lay down and went to sleep.
At midnight she was woken by strange noises. The house was creaking and cracking. The doors flew open. At last there was a crash as if the roof and walls had fallen in. Then all was still. Finding she was not hurt and all was quiet, she lay still and went to sleep again.

In the morning, she was woken by the sun in her face. What a sight met her eyes! She was lying in a large, beautiful room. There were mirrors on the wall and the bed was covered with cloth of gold.
“I must be dreaming,” thought the maiden. But whilst she was rubbing her eyes, three servants came in and asked what they could do for her. “Nothing,” she said. “I must get up and cook the old man’s breakfast and feed the hen, the cockerel, and the cow. Then I must hurry home to my mother.”

She ran to the next room and found the old man, who had been transformed into a handsome prince.
“I was that grey old man,” he said with a smile. “A spell turned my castle into a hut and my kingdom into a forest. It could only be broken by someone who showed kindness to all creatures, great and small. Because you have a heart of gold, I wish to reward you. These three animals are now your own faithful companions.“
He thanked her for her caring heart, sent the animals home with her as loyal friends, and promised joy for her family, whilst her sisters stayed safe in the forest gardens, learning how to care for others as she had.