The Tale of the Two Sisters
By: Tiger Lily21
Summary: One-shot. Two daughters—one kind, one unkind—find out the rewards and punishments of showing kindness to strangers.
A/N: Years ago I read a fairy tale like this one (and yes, I know about "Toads and Diamonds", which is quite similar to that tale) about two girls in a bakery and a fairy in disguise coming and rewarding one and punishing the other. I couldn't find it online when I looked, so I figured I'd write my own version. I'm not exactly going to continue this story, but it will connect to another story I intend to post soon. In the meantime, enjoy this one. Please leave a review!
--Anne--
Once upon a time, a baker had two daughters: Ilsa and Della. Ilsa was bold and outspoken, impatient, and ambitious. Della was quieter and quite shy, but she had a loving heart and a skill for baking. Because of that, her father gave most of the cooking duties to Della and most of the selling duties to Ilsa. Della was content with the arrangement; she loved to bake and preferred to be by herself in the kitchen to dealing with customers at the counter. Ilsa hated her job; she dreamed of a life outside the bakery. She wanted power and money.
One day, while Della was baking bread and Ilsa was minding the counter, an old woman came into the shop. Her clothes were ragged and her face was wrinkled. Her nose was long and hooked and she leaned heavily on a strange wooden staff. She hobbled up to the counter and laid a single copper coin on it. "Please miss," she said in a croaky voice, "give an old woman a bit of bread."
Ilsa scowled down at the single coin, annoyed. She had been in the middle of a daydream about marrying a duke and living in a fine manor. "That won't buy you much," she snapped.
"It's all I have, child," said the old woman. "Please, give me something. I've traveled far and have not eaten in nearly a day."
"Fine," said Ilsa. She reached down and pulled a stale roll from under the counter. "Here," she said, tossing it at the old woman.
The lady fumbled and the roll slipped from her grasp. It landed on the floor. The woman bent and picked it up, dusted it off, and looked at Ilsa. Her eyes seemed to bore into the girl. Ilsa froze. The woman's eyes were bright and clear, not at all like those of an old crone. As Ilsa watched, the woman changed into a tall, elegant woman with long flowing black hair and flashing purple eyes. Purple wings like those of a butterfly flashed behind her and the staff in her hand became a delicate wand with a purple stone set in the top. The stale roll disappeared completely. Ilsa realized with horror that this customer was not an old crone but a fairy.
"Forgive me!" she begged. "I didn't realize…Are you still hungry? You can have anything you wish from the shop, anything at all!" She reached down and pulled out a fine loaf of bread, coated in cinnamon sugar and raisins. She thrust it at the fairy. "Here! Our finest loaf! My sister makes it! The king himself buys it! That is, he sends his cook to buy it. It's very good. Much better than that rock I gave you. I'm terribly sorry about that. Please forgive me! I didn't mean—"
The fairy raised a hand. Ilsa fell silent. The fairy spoke in a clear, ringing voice. "You have shown that your heart is hard, Ilsa Baker," she said. "Had you been kind, I might have rewarded you handsomely. However, because of your cruelty, I must punish you instead. Until you learn to show kindness to others, everything you eat will taste like the dry, stale bread you tried to give me. Furthermore, you will marry a man who is just as unkind as you and then you will know what it is like to be treated unkindly.
She held up her wand. The stone on its top flashed once, momentarily blinding Ilsa. When she could see again, the fairy was gone. That night Ilsa found that all her food did indeed taste like stale bread. This only made her more ill-tempered. She grew so nasty that her father forbid her to work in the shop anymore. She was confined to her room and Della was forced to work at the counter while her father did all the baking himself.
A few weeks later, an old woman entered the shop again. She was dressed in ragged clothes and leaned heavily on a strange wooden staff. She reached up and placed a single copper coin on the counter in front of Della. "Please miss," she said in a croaky voice, "give an old lady a bit of bread."
"Of course, Grandmother," said Della with a smile. She put the copper coin in the money box, then reached under the counter and pulled out a large loaf of bread, its top coated in cinnamon and dotted with raisins. She handed it over the counter to the old woman. "There you go," she said. "I hope you enjoy it."
The old woman smiled at Della and then seemed to shift and grow before her eyes. As Della watched, she changed into the magnificent violet fairy. Della immediately swept a curtsey. "Forgive me, lady," she said. "I did not realize who you were or I would have baked an even finer loaf for you."
The fairy laughed. "Oh my dear, you've done more than enough. You have shown that you have a good heart. For that, I will reward you."
"I don't need anything, Lady," said Della. "I'm happy here with my father and my sister." She paused, then looked at the fairy. "You might do something for my sister, though, if you feel you must reward me."
"What could I do for your sister?" asked the fairy.
"She is unhappy," said Della. "I'm afraid she is ill. Could you do something to make her well, Lady? I am very worried about her."
The fairy's face twisted in anger briefly, but then she smiled. "I can only reward the one who was kind to me directly," she said. "Your sister will have to find her own cure, I am afraid. But because you have shown you have a kind heart, all that you do will go well, and you will marry a kind and wealthy man."
Before Della could protest that she did not need such a reward, the fairy raised her wand and the stone on its top flashed. When Della could see again, the fairy was gone.
That day, the cook of a young duke came to the shop and bought some of the finest cakes. The duke liked them so much that the next day he came to the bakery himself to order more. He met Della and, when he saw how beautiful and kind she was, he asked her to marry him. Della was reluctant to leave her father and sister, but the duke persisted. He came back every day and gradually Della gave in and married him.
As for Ilsa, she remained ill-tempered and unkind. Eventually she married the blacksmith's apprentice, a man just as ill-tempered and unkind as she. Until the end of her days, all the food she ate tasted like stale, dry bread. The violet fairy was not seen again in the kingdom for many years.