The Widow and Her Little Maidens

A widow who was particularly fond of cleanliness had two little maidens to assist her with her daily tasks. She had a habit of waking them early in the morning, right at the break of dawn, when the rooster crowed.

The maidens, feeling overwhelmed by the excessive labor imposed upon them, decided to take drastic action. They resolved to silence the rooster by killing him, believing this would grant them a few extra hours of sleep.

However, once they had carried out their plan, they quickly realized that they had only invited greater troubles upon themselves. Without the rooster's crow to signal the morning, their mistress, unaware of the time, began waking them up in the middle of the night to start their chores.

In their attempt to gain a little more rest, they had instead plunged themselves into even more exhausting work.