Catherine and Her Destiny facts for kids

Catherine and her Destiny is a classic fairy tale from Italy. It was collected by Thomas Frederick Crane in his book Italian Popular Tales. Later, Andrew Lang included it in The Pink Fairy Book. This story is known in the Aarne–Thompson–Uther Index as ATU 938, which is a type of tale called "Placidas" or "Eustacius." It's a story about a young woman's journey through hardship to a happy future.

The Story of Catherine

This fairy tale follows the life of a young woman named Catherine. She faces many challenges before finding her true happiness.

Catherine's Early Life

Catherine was the beautiful daughter of a very rich merchant. One day, a mysterious woman appeared to her. This woman asked Catherine a very important question: would she rather be happy when she was young, or when she was old? Catherine thought about it carefully. She decided that she would prefer to be happy in her old age. After Catherine made her choice, the mysterious woman disappeared. This woman was actually Catherine's own Destiny.

Soon after this meeting, Catherine's life took a difficult turn. Her father lost all his money and sadly passed away. Catherine, who was once rich, now had nothing. She tried to find work as a servant to support herself.

Catherine's Hardships

However, whenever Catherine found a job, her Destiny would appear. If Catherine was left alone in the house, her Destiny would cause chaos. It would tear the home apart, making it look like a disaster. Catherine was terrified that people would blame her for the damage. Because of this fear, she would always run away from her new jobs. This pattern continued for seven long years, making Catherine's life very hard.

A Turning Point

After seven years, Catherine's Destiny finally stopped causing trouble. She found a job working for a kind woman. This woman had a special task for Catherine: every day, Catherine had to bring loaves of bread to the woman's own Destiny.

One day, the woman noticed that Catherine often looked sad and was crying. She asked Catherine why she was so unhappy. Catherine then shared her whole story, explaining all the difficulties she had faced because of her Destiny. The kind woman listened carefully. She told Catherine that the next time she brought bread to the woman's Destiny, she should ask her to speak to Catherine's Destiny. Catherine was to ask her Destiny to stop all the persecutions and troubles.

A Skein of Silk

The very next day, Catherine followed the woman's advice. She asked the woman's Destiny to help her. The woman's Destiny agreed and took Catherine to meet her own Destiny. There, Catherine received a special gift: a beautiful skein of silk. This silk would play a very important role in her future.

The Royal Wedding

Around that time, the young king of the land was preparing to get married. A special wedding garment was being made for him. It was very rich and grand. However, as the tailor was almost finished, he ran out of the specific silk needed. No more silk of that exact color could be found anywhere in the kingdom.

The king sent out a proclamation. It declared that anyone who could bring silk of that special color to the castle would receive a large sum of money. The kind woman Catherine worked for had seen the king's garment. She immediately recognized that Catherine's skein of silk was the perfect match.

Catherine took her silk to the castle. The court was amazed that she had the exact color needed. They decided that she should receive a reward equal to the weight of her silk in gold.

A Queen's Destiny

When the silk was placed on one side of the scale, something extraordinary happened. No matter how much gold was added to the other side, the scales would not balance. Even all the royal treasure was not enough to outweigh the silk. Finally, the king himself threw his crown onto the scale. Only then did the scales balance perfectly.

The king was very curious. He demanded to know where Catherine had gotten such a magical skein of silk. Catherine then told him her entire life story, from her choice of happiness in old age to her struggles and the gift of the silk.

A wise lady at the court listened to Catherine's story. She declared that it was clear Catherine's happy days were about to begin. The fact that the scales only balanced when the king's crown was added was proof. It meant that Catherine was destined to become a queen.

The king, deeply impressed by Catherine's story and the wise lady's words, made a grand decision. He declared that Catherine would be his queen. He married her instead of the bride he had originally intended. And so, Catherine lived happily ever after, just as her Destiny had promised.