Books with title The Three Little Men in the Wood

A woman offered marriage to a widower with a daughter, saying that her own daughter would drink water and wash in water, while the man's daughter would drink wine and wash in milk. The man gave his daughter a boot with a hole in it, and told her to take it to the barn and fill it with water; if it held the water, he would remarry, and if not, he would not. The water pulled the hole together, and the boot held it, so he remarried...

Excerpt: ...pantry. There on a shelf stood a big white box marked "Lord & Taylor, Ladies' Suit Dept." Jean's nose rose a degree higher in the air as she drew near it and carefully raised the lid. "Ah-hah! Didn't I know it! I guess her cousins-in-the-Lord must like candy pretty well, for she has taken that box with her every single time she's gone to South Riveredge," whispered this astute young person. Now it so happened that as Mammy had advanced in years, she had grown somewhat hard of hearing, and had also developed a habit quite common to her race; that of communing aloud with herself when alone. Jean was quite alive to this and more than once had caused the old woman to regard her with considerable awe by casually mentioning facts of which Mammy believed her to be entirely in ignorance, and, indeed, preferred she should be, little guessing that her own monologues had given the child her cue. Clambering softly upon the broad shelf which ran along one side of the pantry, Jean gently pushed back the sliding door made to pass the dishes to and from the kitchen, and watched Mammy's movements. The kitchen was immaculate and Mammy was just preparing to set forth for her Saturday morning's marketing, a task she would not permit any one else to undertake, declaring that "dese hyer Norf butcher-men stood ready fer ter beat folks outen dey eyesight ef dey git er chance." As usual Mammy was indulging in a soliloquy. "Dar now. Dat's all fix an' right, an' de minit I gits back I kin clap it inter de oven," she murmured as she set her panfuls of bread over the range for their second rising. "I gotter git all dis hyer wo'k off my han's befo' free 'clock terday ef I gwine get ter Souf Riveredge in time fer ter sell all dat mes o' candy." Behind the window a small body's head gave a satisfied nod. "'Taint lak week days. De sto'es tu'n out mighty early on Sattidays. Hopes I kin sell eve'y bit and grain dis time....

"The Three Little Men in the Wood2 or "The Three Little Gnomes in the Forest" is a German fairy tale collected in 1812 by the Brothers Grimm. A woman offers her hand in marriage to a widower: in return, her daughter would wash and drink water, and the man's would wash with milk and drink wine. After performing a test to determine his choice, he marries the woman, who keeps her word. However, by the second day of marriage, both daughters bathe and wash with water. By the third, the man's daughter washes with and drinks water, while the woman's daughter drinks wine and washes with milk. It remains this way afterwards, because the woman secretly hates her step-daughter due to her being prettier than her own...