Long time ago there lived a village governor who had no wife. He had a beautiful daughter who was called Rosamund. The governor married again and Rosamund’s stepmother did not love her. When the governor died, Rosamund’s stepmother made her work hard. She had to chop wood and get water from deep wells. The stepmother’s daughter, Rosamund’s stepsister, did not work at all. She was very lazy and very ugly but she thought she was very beautiful. She spent all day looking at herself in a mirror. Her mother loved her much.

One day Rosamund found a fish in a bucket of well water. It was gold and red and very beautiful. Rosamund took it home and put it in a big, glass bowl. She looked after it and fed it every day. When the fish grew too big for the bowl, she took it to a pond. Every time she went to the pond, the fish came up to meet her.

Rosamund’s stepmother asked herself, “Why does that girl go down to the pond every day?” One morning she sent Rosamund to a well that was a long way off. Then she dressed in Rosamund’s clothes and went to the pond. The fish thought she was Rosamund and came up to meet her. The wicked stepmother killed it with a knife, took it home and cooked it for dinner. She hid the bones under some rubbish.

When Rosamund returned home, she went at once to the pond, but she could not find her fish. The next day she went to the wood to get some sticks; she was crying because she was thinking about the fish. She met a man who said, “I know why you are crying; it was your wicked stepmother who killed your fish. Don’t cry; I have magic powers. Go home and find the bones of the fish under the rubbish. Hide them in your room and then wish for anything you want. You shall have everything that you ask for.”

Some time later the stepmother went to a great ball for all the important people who lived in the district. She would not let Rosamund go.
- “You have nothing to wear. Besides you have a lot of work to do,” the stepmother told her. “There is wood to chop and water to fetch. When you have done that, you must sweep all the floors and clean all the windows!”
Poor Rosamund! She wanted to go to the ball very much. “If I had a dress and some slippers, I could go to the party,” she thought. Then she remembered the fish bones. She went to her room, took out the bones and asked for a dress and some slippers. At once she found herself wearing a beautiful long dress and a pair of lovely, shining slippers. She hurried off to the party.

Rosamund enjoyed the ball very much. Everyone was kind to her because she was such a beautiful and likeable person.
- “I have never been so happy in my life!” she thought.

At first her stepmother and stepsister did not know who she was because she was wearing the beautiful dress and slippers. Then they began to move closer to her to have a better look.
- “I must go!” thought Rosamund. She left the room and ran home as fast as she could. She ran so fast that she lost one of her slippers and did not go back for it.

The next day someone found the slipper. He gave it to a friend who gave it to his friend. The slipper was passed on in this way until it came into the hands of the king of a nearby country. He knew at once that the owner of the slipper should be his wife.
- “Find the owner of this slipper,” he ordered. “I shall marry her.”

The king’s messengers went everywhere to try to find the slipper’s owner. At last they came to Rosamund’s home.
- “It’s my slipper,” said Rosamund stepsister. “I lost it at the party. I shall marry the king.”
But when she tried to put it on, her foot was much too big.
- “May I try please?” said Rosamund.
Her stepmother laughed. “Of course not,” she said. “How can it be your slipper?”
But the messengers said, “She shall try.”

Rosamund put on the slipper and she also brought out the other slipper, which she had kept in her bedroom.
- “It’s yours,” said the messenger. “You will be our new queen!”

The king married Rosamund and they lived very happy lives. But Rosamund remembered how unhappy she was once and how hard she had to work. So she always tried to help poor and unhappy people and she never forgot the fish that brought her so much happiness.