When my mother died, she gave me an apple that would enable a woman to have a child. I kept it for a long time.

Then, when the aging queen realized that she might never have an heir, I gave her the apple.

After, I returned to the convent where I live. It is located underground, in the hollow of a mountain.

Here our beds are made of solid rock, and all the nuns sleep around a single light. It is our job to spin by day and keep the light burning through the night. May it never go out. Whoever does not tend it will die.

The Spinning Nun in The Seven-Headed Serpent, Yellow Fairy Book. Painting by El Greco.