Aarne-Thompson-Uther Index type 501: The Three Spinners
No content warnings needed for this one! That’s a rarity! Ok, so this very short tale has a number of much longer variations. This version is from the 1st edition and was told to the brothers by Jeanette Hassenpflug, the sister of Marie Hassenpflug, who was well-known to the brothers and wrote her own collection of tales that would later be adapted by the brothers.
The queen summoned the three spinsters to the castle, and on the day that the king was supposed to return home, she sat them down next to one another in her room, gave each of them a spinning wheel, and ordered them to spin. Moreover, she told each of them what to answer when the king questioned them. As soon as the king arrived, he heard the humming of the wheels from a distance and was so glad that he intended to praise his daughters.
Work Cited:
Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm. The Original Folk and Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm: The Complete First Edition. Princeton University Press. Kindle Edition.
Bluestocking Writes... 