A poor woodcutter had four daughters. One day, he went to the forest to get some wood and asked his eldest daughter to bring him his lunch. He told her that he would strew bread-crumbs on the way so that she might follow them and find him.
However, when she set out for the forest, there were no breadcrumbs anywhere! The birds had eaten them and the girl got lost in the forest. While she was wandering about, she came upon a hut in which an old man and his pets used to live. He took pity on her and gave her shelter and asked her to cook a meal for him. But the girl was very rude and ate up all the food that she had cooked. At night the old man asked her to make the bed for the others, but she only made her own bed and went off to sleep. The old man was furious and locked her in a dark room.
Soon, two of the woodcutter’s other daughters went to the forest to look for their sister. They also came upon the same hut and met the old man. When he asked them to cook food and make the beds, they disobeyed his orders. In anger, he locked them up as well.
Finally, the youngest daughter began to worry and went to the forest to look for her elder sisters. When she came to the old man’s hut and was told to cook food and make the beds, she obediently did as she was told.
The next morning, she woke up to find a handsome prince instead of the old man and married him and they lived happily ever after.