Once there was a lazy girl who would not spin. While her mother berates her for it, the Queen, passing by, overhears and asks the reason for the scolding. Ashamed to admit that her daughter is lazy, the woman replies that the girl spins so much that her mother cannot afford to buy enough flax to keep her occupied. The Queen, impressed by such industry, offers to take the girl with her. Once at the castle, the queen takes the girl to a room filled with flax. If she spins it all within three days, she'll be rewarded with marriage to the queen's oldest son. Two days later, the queen returns and is amazed to find the flax untouched. The girl pleads that homesickness has kept her from spinning, but she realizes that excuse will not serve her twice. Three women appear in the room that night. One has a grotesquely swollen foot; the second, an overgrown thumb; the third, a pendulous lip. They offer to spin all the flax for the girl if she will invite them to her wedding, introduce them as her aunts, and seat them at the high table. She agrees, and they commence and complete the spinning. In the morning, the queen is satisfied to see the flax all spun. She arranges for the wedding to her son, the prince, and the girl asks to invite her "aunts". When they appear, the king asks how they came to have such deformities, and the three explain that they come from their years of spinning. The king forbids his beautiful daughter-in-law to spin again.