Frau Holle: Hard Workers Get Rewarded

Imagine that you have somehow fallen down a well. You are surprised to find yourself not in darkness, not in the cold water, but a bright sunny meadow. You walk for some time until you meet an old woman who offers you a place to stay in exchange for some odd chores. Meet Frau Holle.

She is known by many other names as well: Mother Holle, Holla, Mother Huldra, Old Mother Frost, and many other names depending on the region.

Originated by Germanic paganism and then assimilated into folklore by the Christians during the early middle ages, Frau Holle served as a popular figure until the 19th century.

In Germanic pre-Christian folklore, she is known as a goddess. A goddess who rode a wagon and just like many other stories, lived in the bottom of a well. By now, I think you’ve noticed that the word “mother” is used in her name quite often. One of the reasons for that is because the early Germans believed that Holle was the goddess whom babies and children would come to when they die. She also was the first to teach people how to make linen from flax. 

Frau Holle is mostly associated with winter time. When people say that Frau Holle is making her bed, it means it’s snowing. There are other figures like her, Frau Gauden, Perchta, and Spillaholle. Each figure bears striking similarities, such as a disdain for laziness, a knack for spinning and weaving, and being a part of the wild hunt.

The tale of Frau Holle was first published in 1812 by the Grimm brothers. Some details were then added in 1857.

This is how the 1857 edition goes: 

Once upon a time, a rich widow had two daughters: her lazy biological daughter, and her hardworking stepdaughter. Like in Cinderella, the stepdaughter is the one doing all of the housework. One day the girl pricks her finger on the spindle. When she tries to clean the blood off, she accidently drops it down the well. Her stepmother then orders her to fetch the spindle, to which the poor girl jumps into the well. 

She is surprised to find herself in a beautiful meadow. She wanders around, whilst inanimate objects ask her for favors which she happily does for them. Then she meets an old woman with large teeth by the name of Frau Holle.

At first the girl is frightened, but Frau Holle offers her some food and shelter in exchange for the girl to make her bed and shake the feathers off. Those feathers would become snow for the girl’s world. The girl agrees, and she works until after a time she grows homesick and wants to go home. Frau Holle lets her go, but not without giving her a gift. The spindle that falls down the well, as well as a shower of gold. She comes back home and the rooster announces her arrival.

The stepmother, wanting the same for her own lazy daughter, makes her spin for the first time. Instead the lazy girl pokes herself with a thorn, smears her blood on the spindle, and tosses it down the well and jumps after it. Like her stepsister, she goes through the same welcome, but doesn’t help with the inanimate objects’ needs. She works hard for Frau Holle the first day, but soon becomes lazy. Frau Holle gets sick of her and sends her back to her own world, not without pouring a kettle of pitch on her and giving her the spindle. That pitch never comes off.

Frau Holle is one of many interesting mythological figures. She is also a good example that ancient myths could survive throughout time in some shape or form. She is also a good reminder that good things often come from hard work.