Original painting - oil on canvas -  406x508mm - Framed

Based on a Bulgarian legend:

Once upon a time, long time ago, in a family with a small daughter the woman died. The father remarried a woman who also had a daughter. But the step-mother loved her child more and made the step-child do all the housework. And she was never satisfied. Once she baked a round piece of bread which magically started rolling on the road and she told the step daughter not to return until she catches it and brings it back. “Or else, don’t return home!”, said the step-mother. The small girl started running after the bread but it went into the woods and she got lost. Frozen all over, the child sat on the ground and cried.

Immediately an old woman appeared in front of her. “Why are you crying, child?”, asked the old woman gently. The girl told her everything and the woman said: “Get the bread, I will show you the way home and don’t be afraid.” Then suddenly she disappeared. The child went home, knocked on the closed door for a while and when the evil step-mother opened the door she was struck – in front of her a golden girl was standing and shining like the sun itself.

The step-mother became even more angry when she understood how the child turned golden and decided to send her own child as well, so she becomes golden too. She dressed her well, rolled another baked bread and sent her to the woods. The little girl reached the bread, threw it away and sat on the ground. She waited and waited but nobody came. She was all frozen and started crying. In a moment the woman appeared. “Why are you crying, child?”, the old woman asked. “I’m waiting for you, old woman,” the girl answered in a rude voice, “I want you to make me gold and go back home.” “All right, my girl I will show you the way back home,” the old woman said and disappeared. The girl quickly ran home. The step-mother, on hearing her steps, quickly opened the door but closed it on the moment, for in front of her was standing a girl all covered in nasty black mud and snakes and snails and frogs were coming out of her mouth. The old woman punished the evil step-mother and her child because they had evil hearts.

When the father came back home and learned the truth of how his wife was trying to get rid of his first-born daughter he decided to divorce. He later re-married to a loving and caring woman. The Golden girl lived happily ever after.