` Give me the money , and take the ugly little box off to the outhouse , ' cried the woman , beside herself with rage , and the girl , quite frightened at her violence , hastened away , with her precious box clasped to her bosom . The outhouse was in a very dirty state , as no one had been near it since the girl had fallen down the well ; but she scrubbed and swept till everything was clean again , and then she placed the little casket on a small shelf in the corner . ` Now I may open it , ' she said to herself ; and unlocking it with the key which hung to its handle , she raised the lid , but started back as she did so , almost blinded by the light that burst upon her . No one would ever have guessed that that little black box could have held such a quantity of beautiful things ! Rings , crowns , girdles , necklaces -- all made of wonderful stones ; and they shone with such brilliance that not only the stepmother and her daughter but all the people round came running to see if the house was on fire . Of course the woman felt quite ill with greed and envy , and she would have certainly taken all the jewels for herself had she not feared the wrath of the neighbours , who loved her stepdaughter as much as they hated her . But if she could not steal the casket and its contents for herself , at least she could get another like it , and perhaps a still richer one . So she bade her own daughter sit on the edge of the well , and threw her into the water , exactly as she had done to the other girl ; and , exactly as before , the flowery meadow lay at the bottom . Every inch of the way she trod the path which her stepsister had trodden , and saw the things which she had seen ; but there the likeness ended . When the fence prayed her to do it no harm , she laughed rudely , and tore up some of the stakes so that she might get over the more easily ; when the oven offered her bread , she scattered the loaves onto the ground and stamped on them ; and after she had milked the cow , and drunk as much as she wanted , she threw the rest on the grass , and kicked the pail to bits , and never heard them say , as they looked after her : ` You shall not have done this to me for nothing ! ' Towards evening she reached the spot where the old woman was leaning against the gate-post , but she passed her by without a word . ` Have you no manners in your country ? ' asked the crone . ' I ca n't stop and talk ; I am in a hurry , ' answered the girl . ` It is getting late , and I have to find a place . ' ` Stop and comb my hair for a little , ' said the old woman , ` and I will help you to get a place . ' ` Comb your hair , indeed ! I have something better to do than that ! ' And slamming the gate in the crone 's face she went her way . And she never heard the words that followed her : ` You shall not have done this to me for nothing ! '
By-and-by the girl arrived XXXXX the farm , and she was engaged to look after the cows and sift the corn as her stepsister had been .
So Towards at by in near on since than upon