Today we are going to tell a very interesting and heartwarming fairy tale – The Three Dwarfs. This story comes from the famous collection of fairy tales by the Brothers Grimm. It is not only an imaginative fairy tale, but also a life fable about kindness, hard work, and fairness.
In this story, we will see a little girl who was bullied by her family, but in the end she got a happy life because of her good heart and hardworking hands and feet; while those selfish and lazy people were duly punished for their bad behavior.
Next, let’s take a look at this touching and thought-provoking story!
1. The Little Girl and Her Stepmother
Once upon a time, there was a sweet little girl who was beautiful and gentle. But after her mother died, her father married a new wife, whom we often call “stepmother. The stepmother didn’t treat her well because her own daughter was neither smart nor pretty, so she always looked at the little girl in a bad way.
One day it was snowing heavily outside and the weather was very cold. The stepmother deliberately made the little girl a very thin dress that looked as light as paper. Then she said to the little girl, “Put on this dress and go to the forest and pick a basket of strawberries for me and bring them back. If you can’t pick them, you can’t go home.
Then she gave the little girl only a small piece of hard bread to eat. In fact, the stepmother already had a plan in mind: on such a cold day and wearing a paper-like dress, the little girl would surely freeze to death in the forest and never come back.
2. The little house in the forest
The little girl went into the forest alone, even though she was very cold. She walked and walked in the snow and finally she found a little wooden house. She knocked on the door, and when no one answered, she gently pushed open the door and went inside.
Inside the house sat three dwarfs, none of them looked young, but they had smiles on their faces. The little girl went over to the stove, sat down, took out the piece of hard bread and began to eat it.
The two dwarfs looked at her and said, “Can you share some of your food with us?
Without hesitation, the little girl immediately broke the bread in half and gave half to the dwarfs. They all ate the bread together.
The dwarves asked her, “How did you get into the forest dressed like that?”
The little girl sighed and told them what had happened to her. After hearing this, the dwarves said, “Can you help us sweep the snow from the backyard?”
The little girl nodded, picked up her broom, and began to sweep earnestly. The dwarfs were touched as they watched her work and said, “This is such a sensible and hardworking child, how can we repay her?”
The first dwarf said, “I hope she gets prettier and prettier.
The second dwarf said, “I wish gold would come out of her mouth when she speaks.
The third dwarf said, “I wish she would marry the king and become a queen in the future.
A miracle happened! The little girl had just finished sweeping the snow when she found fresh red strawberries in the garden. She was so happy that she hurried to fill a basket, thanked the dwarfs, and went home happy.
3. The stepmother’s daughter’s greedy plan
When she got home, the little girl had just opened her mouth to speak when a piece of gold fell out. She told her stepmother everything she had seen in the forest. From that day on, whenever she spoke, a piece of gold fell out, and soon the house was filled with gold.
The stepmother’s daughter saw all this and was jealous. She too longed for the magical dwarves. So her stepmother prepared a thick leather coat for her and brought her lots of good food, such as cakes and fruit, and told her to go to the forest to try her luck.
When she got to the forest, she immediately found the hut, pushed open the door, and rushed inside. She sat down by the fire and began to eat the food she had brought.
When the dwarves saw that she was there, they said politely, “Will you share some food with us?”
But she immediately refused, saying, “I don’t want to go hungry! Go eat something else yourselves.”
After they finished eating, the dwarves handed her another broom and said, “Will you help us sweep the snow from the backyard?”
She angrily said, “I’m not your servant, I won’t do it!” Having said that, she walked away without looking back.
The dwarves looked at her back and said disappointedly, “Such a girl is so selfish and lazy, how can we ‘reward’ her?”
The first dwarf said, “I hope she gets uglier and uglier.
The second dwarf said, “I hope a toad jumps out of her mouth with every word she says.
The third dwarf said, “I hope she never gets happy.
Sure enough, when she got home, with every word she said, an ugly toad jumped out of her mouth. The stepmother was furious when she saw it.
4. The Little Girl Becomes Queen
Meanwhile, the kind-hearted little girl attracted the king’s attention because she got prettier and prettier and gold fell out of her mouth.
One day, the king passed by a frozen stream and saw her washing wool. He thought she was not only beautiful, but also very elegant, so he invited her to the palace.
Soon after, the king married her and they lived happily ever after. A year later, they gave birth to a beautiful prince, and the whole kingdom was happy for them.
But when the wicked stepmother found out, her jealousy flared up again. She sneaked into the palace with her own daughter, and when no one was looking, she went so far as to throw the real queen out the window and into the moat!
To hide the truth, she had her own daughter pretend to be ill in bed and kept the king away.
5. The Truth Is Revealed
One night, a little servant girl in the palace saw a strange thing: a duck swam out of the sewer of the moat and turned into a beautiful queen. She quietly went upstairs to visit her children, then turned back into a duck and swam away.
The next night the same thing happened. On the third night, when she appeared for the last time, she said to the page, “Please tell the king for me that he should take his sword and wave it over my head three times.
The page immediately ran to tell the king. The king did as he was told. When he waved his sword the third time, the queen returned to her human form and stood in front of everyone. The king was so excited that he shed tears.
The queen told the king everything that had happened to her. To punish the wicked stepmother, the king set a trap. He asked everyone at a public meeting, “If someone does something bad and pushes someone else into the river, how should she be punished?”
Without hesitation, the stepmother said, “She should be put in a vat of nails and rolled down a hill.
The king smiled and said, “Then let it be as you say.
And so the stepmother and her daughter were put in the barrel of nails and rolled down the hill into the river and finally paid for what they had done.
6. What the story teaches us
This story is a bit fantastic, but it teaches us many important lessons:
(1) Kindness and hard work are worth learning.
Although the little girl was bullied, she didn’t complain or learn to be bad, but won happiness with her kindness and hard work. She was willing to help others and do things, so she was blessed by the dwarves.
(2) Selfishness and laziness do not bring good results.
The stepmother and her daughter only wanted to take advantage of the situation and were not willing to give or help others. Their behavior ended up hurting themselves and they got what they deserved.
(3) Good Will Always Triumph Over Evil
Even if bad people get their way for a while, they can’t escape the judgment of the law and conscience. Just like the stepmother in the story, her crime was revealed in the end.
(4) Good things happen to good people, and bad things happen to bad people.
This saying sounds a little old-fashioned, but it is really a truth that we can often see in our lives. If you do good things, you will be remembered someday; if you do bad things, you will be found out sooner or later.
7. What can we learn from this?
Dear children, or you who are reading this, you may be facing some difficulties right now, or you may feel that you are not being understood or treated fairly. But remember, like the little girl in the story, keep a good heart and be a hardworking person, and your future will surely be better and better.
Don’t give up hope because of a moment of pain, or become indifferent because people treat you badly. Instead, prove with your actions that kindness and hard work can change your fate.
Conclusion: Be a kind and responsible person
In conclusion, the story of “The Three Dwarfs” tells us:
- Kindness is a choice and a strength;
- Hard work is not a loss but an accumulation of opportunities;
- Treat others with love and patience;
- In the face of difficulties, persevere to the end and do not give up easily.
I hope that everyone who reads this story will be inspired by it. Maybe your current situation is not ideal, but as long as you are willing to be good and do practical things, the road ahead will definitely be wider and wider.
Let’s be a kind, hardworking and responsible person together!
