A woman had three sons who were farmers. She wished them to choose wise and hard-working wives. So, she gave them skeins of flax for their chosen wives to spin. The elder sons had selected their wives, so they gave the skeins to their brides. The youngest son had not yet chosen a wife.
He sat on the bank of a pond and wept, wondering what to do. Suddenly, an ugly frog jumped out and asked him why he was crying. When it heard the problem, it said, “Is that all? I’ll do it for you.” It jumped into the pond with the skein. After a while, the frog returned with fine linen. The young man thanked the frog and took the cloth to his mother. She was delighted, for it was the best linen she had ever seen.
She gave her three sons a puppy each and said, “Tell your future wives to train these puppies!”
Once more, the elder brothers gave the puppies to their chosen wives. The youngest son went to the pond. The frog came out and, taking the puppy, dived into the pond. When the two elder brothers returned, they had ferocious mastiffs that frightened their mother! But the youngest son brought a little dog that was wonderfully trained, obedient and could perform even tricks!
But the woman had one last task still. She gave her sons three pieces of cloth for their wives to sew them into shirts. The frog stitched an exquisite shirt for the youngest son.
The elder brothers had to present their chosen wives to their mother. The frog had got a tiny carriage and the youngest brother asked the frog to sit in it so that he might take the frog to his mother.
As they went along, they met three witches. One witch had a hunchback, the second one was blind and the third had a thorn stuck in her throat. The sight of the frog in the carriage with the youngest brother was so funny that the hunchback rolled on the ground, rocking with laughter. Her back turned straight. The blind witch heard about it and was so curious that her eyes flew open and she could see. The third witch laughed so hard that the thorn shot out of her throat.
The happy witches turned the frog into a beautiful young maiden in a large carriage and presented them a magic purse that would always be full.
The youngest brother and the maiden were married and lived happily thereafter. And she was his mother’s favourite.
