{"collection":"Northern European Mythology","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/neu/grimm/ht30.htm","path":"neu/grimm/ht30.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/neu/grimm/ht30.htm","text":"The Goose-Girl\nThere was once upon a time an old Queen whose husband had been dead for\nmany years, and she had a beautiful daughter. When the princess grew up she\nwas betrothed to a prince who lived at a great distance. When the time came\nfor her to be married, and she had to journey forth into the distant kingdom,\nthe aged Queen packed up for her many costly vessels of silver and gold, and\ntrinkets also of gold and silver; and cups and jewels - in short, everything\nwhich appertained to a royal dowry, for she loved her child with all her\nheart. She likewise sent her maid-in-waiting, who was to ride with her,\nand hand her over to the bridegroom, and each had a horse for the journey, but\nthe horse of the King's daughter was called Falada, and could speak. So when\nthe hour of parting had come, the aged mother went into her bedroom, took a\nsmall knife and cut her finger with it until it bled, then she held a white\nhandkerchief to it into which she let three drops of blood fall, gave it to\nher daughter and said, \"Dear child, preserve this carefully, it will be of\nservice to you on your way.\"\nSo they took a sorrowful leave of each other; the princess put the piece\nof cloth in her bosom, mounted her horse, and then went away to her\nbridegroom. After she had ridden for a while she felt a burning thirst, and\nsaid to her waiting-maid. \"Dismount, and take my cup which thou hast brought\nwith thee for me, and get me some water from the stream, for I should like to\ndrink.\" \"If you are thirsty,\" said the waiting-maid, \"get off your horse\nyourself, and lie down and drink out of the water, I don't choose to be your\nservant.\" So in her great thirst the princess alighted, bent down over the\nwater in the stream and drank, and was not allowed to drink out of the golden\ncup. Then she said, \"Ah, Heaven!\" and the three drops of blood answered, \"If\nthy mother knew this, her heart would break,\" But the King's daughter was\nhumble, said nothing, and mounted her horse again. She rode some miles\nfurther, but the day was warm, the sun scorched her, and she was thirsty once\nmore, and when they came to a stream of water, she again cried to her waiting\n- maid, \"Dismount and give me some water in my golden cup,\" for she had long\nago forgotten the girl's ill words. But the waiting-maid said still more\nhaughtily, \"If you wish to drink, drink as you can, I don't choose to be your\nmaid.\" Then in her great thirst the King's daughter alighted, bent over the\nflowing stream, wept and said, \"Ah, Heaven!\" and the drops of blood again\nreplied, \"If thy mother knew this, her heart would break.\" And as she was thus\ndrinking and leaning right over the stream, the handkerchief with the three\ndrops of blood fell out of her bosom, and floated away with the water without\nher observing it, so great was her trouble. The waiting-maid, however, had\nseen it, and she rejoiced to think that she had now power over the bride, for\nsince the princess had lost the drops of blood, she had become weak and\npowerless. So now when she wanted to mount her horse again, the one that was\ncalled Falada, the waiting-maid said, \"Falada is more suitable for me, and\nmy nag will do for thee,\" and the princess had to be content with that. Then\nthe waiting-maid, with many hard words, bade the princess exchange her royal\napparel for her own shabby clothes; and at length she was compelled to swear\nby the clear sky above her, that she would not say one word of this to anyone\nat the royal court, and if she had not taken this oath she would have been\nkilled on the spot. But Falada saw all this, and observed it well.\nThe waiting-maid now mounted Falada, and the true bride the bad horse,\nand thus they travelled onwards, until at length they entered the royal\npalace. There were great rejoicings over her arrival, and the prince sprang\nforward to meet her, lifted the waiting-maid from her horse, and thought she\nwas his consort. She was conducted upstairs, but the real princess was left\nstanding below. Then the old king looked out of the window and saw her\nstanding in the courtyard, and saw how dainty and delicate and beautiful she\nwas, and instantly went to the royal apartment, and asked the bride about the\ngirl she had with her who was standing down below in the courtyard, and who\nshe was? \"I picked her up on my way for a companion; give the girl something\nto work at, that she may not stand idle.\" But the old King had no work for\nher, and knew of none, so he said, \"I have a little boy who tends the geese,\nshe may help him.\" The boy was called Conrad, and the true bride had to help\nhim to tend the geese. Soon afterwards the false bride said to the young King,\n\"Dearest husband, I beg you to do me a favour.\" He answered. \"I will do so\nmost willingly.\" \"Then send for the knacker, and have the head of the horse on\nwhich I rode here cut off, for it vexed me on the way.\" In reality, she was\nafraid that the horse might tell how she had behaved to the King's daughter.\nThen she succeeded in making the King promise that it should be done, and the\nfaithful Falada was to die; this came to the ears of the real princess, and\nshe secretly promised to pay the knacker a piece of gold if he would perform a\nsmall service for her. There was a great dark-looking gateway in the town,\nthrough which morning and evening she had to pass with the geese: would he be\nso good as to nail up Falada's head on it, so that she might see him again,\nmore than once. The knacker's man promised to do that, and cut off the head,\nand nailed it fast beneath the dark gateway.\nEarly in the morning, when she and Conrad drove out their flock beneath\nthis gateway, she said in passing,\n\"Alas, Falada, hanging there!\"\nThen the head answered,\n\"Alas, young Queen, how ill you fare!\nIf this your tender mother knew,\nHer heart would surely break in two.\"\nThen they went still further out of the town, and drove their geese into the\ncountry. And when they had come to the meadow, she sat down and unbound her\nhair which was like pure gold, and Conrad saw it and delighted in its\nbrightness, and wanted to pluck out a few hairs. Then she said,\n\"Blow, blow, thou gentle wind, I say,\nBlow Conrad's little hat away,\nAnd make him chase it here and there,\nUntil I have braided all my hair,\nAnd bound it up again.\"\nAnd there came such a violent wind that it blew Conrad's hat far away across\ncountry, and he was forced to run after it. When he came back she had finished\ncombing her hair and was putting it up again, and he could not get any of it.\nThen Conrad was angry, and would not speak to her, and thus they watched the\ngeese until the evening, and then they went home.\nNext day when they were driving the geese out through the dark gateway,\nthe maiden said,\n\"Alas, Falada, hanging there!\"\nFalada answered,\n\"Alas, young Queen, how ill you fare!\nIf this your tender mother knew,\nHer heart would surely break in two.\"\nAnd she sat down again in the field and began to comb out her hair, and Conrad\nran and tried to clutch it, so she said in haste,\n\"Blow, blow, though gentle wind, I say,\nBlow Conrad's little hat away,\nAnd make him chase it here and there,\nUntil I have braided all my hair,\nAnd bound it up again.\"\nThen the wind blew, and blew his little hat off his head and far away, and\nConrad was forced to run after it, and when he came back, her hair had been\nput up a long time, and he could get none of it, and so they looked after\ntheir geese till evening came.\nBut in the evening after they had got home, Conrad went to the old King,\nand said, \"I won't tend the geese with that girl any longer!\" \"Why not?\"\ninquired the aged King. \"Oh, because she vexes me the whole day long.\" Then\nthe aged King commanded him to relate what it was that she did to him. And\nConrad said, \"In the morning when we pass beneath the dark gateway with the\nflock, there is a sorry horse's head on the wall, and she says to it,\n\"Alas, Falada, hanging there!\"\nAnd the head replies,\n\"Alas, young Queen, how ill you fare!\nIf this your tender mother knew,\nHer heart would surely break in two.\"\nAnd Conrad went on to relate what happened on the goose pasture, and how when\nthere he had to chase his hat.\nThe aged King commanded him to drive his flock out again next day, and as\nsoon as morning came, he placed himself behind the dark gateway, and heard how\nthe maiden spoke to the head of Falada, and then he too went into the country,\nand hid himself in the thicket in the meadow. There he soon saw with his own\neyes the goose-girl and the goose-boy bringing their flock, and how after\na while she sat down and unplaited her hair, which shone with radiance. And\nsoon she said,\n\"Blow, blow, thou gentle wind, I say,\nBlow Conrad's little hat away,\nAnd make him chase it here and there,\nUntil I have braided all my hair,\nAnd bound it up again.\"\nThen came a blast of wind and carried off Conrad's hat, so that he had to run\nfar away, while the maiden quietly went on combing and plaiting her hair, all\nof which the King observed. Then, quite unseen, he went away, and when the\ngoose-girl came home in the evening, he called her aside, and asked why she\ndid all these things. \"I may not tell you that, and I dare not lament my\nsorrows to any human being, for I have sworn not to do so by the heaven which\nis above me; if I had not done that, I should have lost my life.\" He urged her\nand left her no peace, but he could draw nothing from her. Then said he, \"If\nthou wilt not tell me anything, tell thy sorrows to the iron-stove there,\"\nand he went away. Then she crept into the iron-stove, and began to weep and\nlament, and emptied her whole heart, and said, \"Here am I deserted by the\nwhole world, and yet I am a King's daughter, and a false waiting-maid has by\nforce brought me to such a pass that I have been compelled to put off my royal\napparel, and she has taken my place with my bridegroom, and I have to perform\nmenial service as a goose-girl. If my mother did but know that, her heart\nwould break.\"\nThe aged King, however, was standing outside by the pipe of the stove,\nand was listening to what she said, and heard it. Then he came back again, and\nbade her come out of the stove. And royal garments were placed on her, and it\nwas marvellous how beautiful she was! The aged King summoned his son, and\nrevealed to him that he had got the false bride who was only a waiting-maid,\nbut that the true one was standing there, as the sometime goose-girl. The\nyoung King rejoiced with all his heart when he saw her beauty and youth, and a\ngreat feast was made ready to which all the people and all good friends were\ninvited. At the head of the table sat the bridegroom with the King's daughter\nat one side of him, and the waiting-maid on the other, but the waiting -\nmaid was blinded, and did not recognize the princess in her dazzling array.\nWhen they had eaten and drunk, and were merry, the aged King asked the waiting\n- maid as a riddle, what a person deserved who had behaved in such and such a\nway to her master, and at the same time related the whole story, and asked\nwhat sentence such an one merited? Then the false bride said: \"She deserves no\nbetter fate than to be stripped entirely naked, and put in a barrel which is\nstudded inside with pointed nails, and two white horses should be harnessed to\nit, which will drag her along through one street after another, till she is\ndead.\" \"It is thou,\" said the aged King, \"and thou hast pronounced thine own\nsentence, and thus shall it be done unto thee.\" And when the sentence had been\ncarried out, the young King married his true bride, and both of them reigned\nover their kingdom in peace and happiness.","title":"The Goose-Girl","type":"page"}