A proclamation declared that whoever brought such thread to the castle would receive a large sum, and the woman, who had seen the garment, told Catherine that her skein was the right color.
A wise lady at court said that it was clear that her happy days were to begin, and that the scales were not balanced until the crown was added, was proof that she would be a queen.
The choice of destiny features in the fairy tale The Slave Mother and also such chivalric romances as Sir Isumbras.
The woman trapped by a fortune who must be persuaded to treat her better features in such tales as Misfortune and The Ill-Fated Princess -- even to the means of receiving something that is needed to sew a royal garment.
They are separated soon after, with the husband ending up as a day laborer, while his wife changes a large number of jobs before finding one as a servant in the house of an old childless nobleman.