Die Nelke

Read this tale aloud, or read along with your little one. Sentences are short and the words are simple.

Once there was a mother. She had two children. The mother was ill.

She said: when I die, marry again. A woman came. She had a stepdaughter.

The stepmother was unkind. The girl went to the well. She dropped a spindle.

She went down. She came to a field. She picked flowers.

She picked a carnation. The carnation spoke. The carnation said: do not pick me.

The girl did not. The carnation said: go home. Your mother is well.

The stepmother saw the carnation. She went to the well. She picked the carnation.

The carnation punished her. The girl was safe. And the carnation was kind.