There are good people in the world and there some who are not so good. There are also people who are not even ashamed of their brothers. Kroshechka (it means "little one") lived with the kind who are not ashamed of their brothers. She was an orphan. She spun, wove, cleaned the house and never heard a kind word from her masters who, nevertheless, forbade her to cry.
One day Kroshechka complained to her brindled cow that she was to have five poods (about 80 kilos) of flax spun, woven, bleached and rolled by the following day. The cow pitied the girl and said: "Pretty girl, climb into one of my ears and come out through other, and everything will be done." The girl did as she was told and saw that everything had indeed been done.
Kroshechka brought the linen to her mistress who was surprised to see that the task had been so quickly and well carried out. She put it in a trunk and set the maid more work to do. The girl turned again to the cow, and the cow helped her.
The mistress had three daughters: Odnoglazka (One-eyed), Dvuglazka (Two-eyed) and Triglazka (Three-eyed). They did nothing all day but sit at the gate and watch what was going on the street. One day Odnoglazka was summoned by her mother. Who said: "My dear daughter, my good daughter, go and see who is helping the orphan with her spinning and weaving."
Odnoglazka went with Kroshechka into the field. She lay down on the grass and basked in the sun. The little girl sat down beside her and started murmuring: "Sleep. Little eye, sleep!" Odnoglazka fell asleep, and while she was sleeping all the work was done. The mistress learned nothing, so the next day Dvuglazka went with Kroshechka.
"Sleep little eye! Sleep other one!" Kroshechka murmured this time, and soon Dvuglazka shut her eyes and dozed off. All the work was completed as before and nothing was learned either of how it was done. The mistress was very angry and on the third day she gave the little girl more work to do than ever before and sent her third daughter to watch.
Triglazka played and skipped about the sun, and then lay down on the grass. "Sleep, little eye! Sleep other one!" Kroshechka sad. She forgot about third eye, which remained alert and saw everything. It saw the little girl climbing in the cow's ear and come out through the other. It also saw the cow spin, weave, bleach and roll the linen. Of cause, the mistress learnt everything. "Go and kill the brindled cow," she said to her husband that very day. The old man tried to reason with her as the cow was a good milker. But who could have dissuaded the old women?"
Having overheard everything, Kroshechka ran to the field, threw her arms round the brindled cow and told her all she knew.
"Do not grieve, my dear, and do not what I tell you. Do not eat my flesh. Take my bones, tie them up in a kerchief, bury them in the garden and water them every day."
The girl did as she was told. After a wonderful apple-tree grew up in the place where the bones were buried. The apples were so beautiful that whoever drove by would stop and look at them. One day the three sisters were walking in the garden. A young and handsome man happened to ride by. He saw the juicy apples and said to the girls teasingly: "I will marry the one who present me with an apple from the tree. " The sisters rushed to the apple-tree each wished to be the first. But the branches suddenly swung high up into the air above the sister's heads. They tried to knock the apples down, but the leaves hit them. All their efforts were in vain. Them Kroshechka came to the tree and at once the branches bent down and apples touched her hands. She gave an apple to the young man.
It will be no surprise that this story is crowned by a wedding.

(Based on Russian folk tale. English language retelling was done by Vadim Shchanitsyn).