The Talking Eggs

" So Blanche took a few of the plain eggs and left the golden ones behind.

Once Blanche was on the road, she threw one of the eggs behind her. In the corner of her eye, she caught a glance of something shining. She turned around and -- imagine her surprise! -- there, amid the broken egg shells, glittered a pile of diamonds! From another broken egg sprang gold jewelry, from another one a beautiful carriage. Yet from another, beautiful dresses beyond belief. By the time she arrived at her mother's, she had so many fine things that it wasn't easy to fit them all into the house. Her mother was delighted and pretended to be very glad to see her. The next day at dawn, the mother shook her older daughter awake and whispered to her, "You, too, must go to the woods to look for this same old woman. There is no reason you shouldn't have even finer dresses than your sister."

Millison was not at all pleased at having to get up out of bed so early in the morning. Grumbling and muttering, she marched into the woods. Before long she met the same old woman, who invited her to come to her cabin. The old woman warned her, also, not to laugh at anything she saw. But when Millison saw the axes, the arms, the legs, and the heads fighting, she couldn't help but laugh and laugh. And when the old woman took off her head and set it on her lap to comb and braid her hair, the girl shrieked, pointing, "Well, now, if that isn't the stupidest thing I've ever seen!"

The next day the old woman said to Millison, "Listen to me. What I am about to tell you is exactly what I told your sister. And like her, out in the chicken-house I believe you will find exactly what you deserve. You must take only the eggs that say, 'Take me.' The others you must leave behind. When you throw the eggs behind your back, one by one, you will have a surprise."

With glee, Millison rushed into the chicken-house. Like before, the plain-looking ones called, "Take me, take me!