THE GOOSE GIRL—Germany—1917
Source:Fifty Famous Fairy Tales, adapted by Rosemary Kingston, illustrated by Ella Dolbear Lee.
Published by Whitman Publishing Co., Racine–Chicago
(added Sunday, April 9, 2006)

"She braided her hair which was of pure gold"

An old queen, who ruled over a very rich country, had a beautiful daughter. When she grew up she was betrothed to a prince who lived in a far country. As the time drew near for her to be married, her mother packed up a great many costly things—jewels, fine dresses and gold and silver trinkets. She gave her a waiting-maid to ride with her to the prince's kingdom.

Just before the time came for them to set out, the old queen went into her bed-chamber and cut off a little lock of her own hair. This she gave to the princess, saying: "Take care of this, my dear, for it is a charm that may be of use to you on the road." The princess and her maid then mounted their horses and started off. Now the princess' horse was named Falada and, strange to say, he could speak.

They rode on and on and when they came to a brook the princess said to her maid: "Pray get down and get me some water in my golden cup from yonder brook."

"Nay," said the maid, "if you are thirsty, get down yourself. I will not be your waiting-maid any longer."

Now the princess was very gentle, so she said nothing, but got down from her horse and drank from the brook. But as she leaned over she wept and said: "Alas, what will become of me?" And the lock of hair answered:

"Alas! alas! if thy mother knew it,
Sadly, sadly her heart would rue it."

Then the princess mounted her horse again, and they rode on. Several hours later they came to a river, and the princess, forgetting her maid's rude speech, said: "Pray get down and fetch me a drink from the river."

"Drink if you will," replied the maid, haughtily, "but I will not be your servant."

The princess was so thirsty that she dismounted and leaned over the water to drink. In doing so the lock of hair fell from her bosom and floated away with the stream, without her seeing it. But the waiting-maid had seen it disappear and was very glad, for she knew it possessed a charm. "I shall have the princess in my power," said she to herself, "now that she has lost the lock of hair that the queen gave her."

So when the bride came to mount her horse again, the maid said: "I shall ride upon Falada, and you may have my horse instead." The poor princess was forced to give up her horse, and soon afterwards to take off her royal clothes, and put on the maid's shabby ones.

At last, as they drew near the end of their journey, this wicked servant threatened to kill her mistress if she ever told anyone what had happened. But Falada—the horse—had noticed everything.

When they came to the royal court there was great rejoicing. The young prince lifted the servant off her horse, supposing that she was the true bride; and she was led up the steps in state, while the real princess had to stay below.

Just then the old king chanced to look out of his window, and saw her standing in the court, and he remarked how delicate and beautiful she was; and, going to the royal apartments, he inquired there of the bride who it was she had brought with her and left below in the courtyard.

"Only a girl whom I brought with me for company," said the bride. "Give the wench some work to do, that she may not grow idle."

The old king, however, had no work for her, and knew of nothing, until at last he said, "Ah1 there is a boy who keeps the geese; she can help him." This youth was called Conrad, and the true bride was set to keep geese with him.

Soon after this, the false bride said to her betrothed, "Dearest, will you grant me a favor?" "Yes," said he, "with the greatest pleasure." "Then cut off the head of the horse on which I rode hither, for it angered me on the way." In reality she feared lest the horse might tell how she had used the rightful princess, and she was glad when it was decided that Falada should die.

This came to the ears of the real princess, and she promised to give the man who was to kill the horse a piece of gold if he would nail the head of Falada over a certain large and gloomy arch, through which she had to pass daily with the geese, so that she still might see her old steed. The man promised, and, after killing the horse, nailed the head in the place which was pointed out, over the door of the arch.

Early in the morning, when she and Conrad drove the geese through the arch, she said in passing,—

"Ah, Falada, that you should hang there!"

and the head replied,—

"Ah, princess, that you should pass here!
If they mother knew thy fate,
Then her heart would surely break!"

Then she drove on through the town to a field; and when they arrived on the meadow, she sat down and unloosened her hair, which was of pure gold; and its shining appearance so charmed Conrad that he endeavored to pull out a couple of locks. So she sang,—

"Blow, blow, thou wind,
Bow Conrad's hat away;
Its rolling do not stay
Till I have combed my hair,
And tied it up behind."

Immediately there came a strong wind, which took Conrad's hat quite off his head, and led him a rare dance all over the meadows. When he returned the princess had rearranged her hair, so that he could not catch a loose lock. This made Conrad very angry, and he would not speak to her all day.

As soon as they returned home Conrad went to the old king and told him all that had happened during the day. The king was greatly surprised. Next day he stationed himself behind the archway and heard the goose-girl talk to the head of Falada. Then he followed them into the fields and hid behind a bush. The maiden again let down her beautiful hair, and when Conrad tried to touch it the king heard her sing the very rhyme that Conrad had told him about, and later saw his hat blow away.

The king went back to his palace and that night he called the maiden to him and asked her what it all meant. But she burst into tears and said: "I dare not tell you or any living being or I shall lose my life." But the old king begged so hard and was so kind to her that she finally told him everything. When he had heard the story he ordered royal clothes to be put upon her and called the prince to look upon his true bride. The prince rejoiced when he saw how beautiful she was, and when he heard how meek and patient she had been.

Without saying anything to the false bride a great feast was ordered for all the court. On a raised platform sat the bridegroom, with the real princess on one side and the servant-girl on the other. But the latter was dazzled, and recognized her mistress no longer in her shining dress. When they had finished their feasting, and were beginning to be gay, the old king set a riddle to the servant-girl: "What should be done to a person who deceived her masters?" He then related all that had happened to the true bride. The servant-girl replied, "Such a one deserves nothing better than to be put in a cask, stuck all round with sharp nails, and then by two horses to be dragged through street after street till the wretch be killed."

"You are the woman, then!" explained the king. "You have proclaimed your own punishment, and it shall be strictly fulfilled." The sentence was immediately carried into effect, and afterwards the young king married his rightful bride, and together they ruled their kingdom long in peace and happiness.
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Contemporary books of this story:
• The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale
• The Goose Girl: A Story from the Brothers Grimm by Eric A. Kimmel
• The Goose Girl and Other Stories by Eric Linklater
• The goose girl by Harold McGrath
• Goose Girl by Marguerite De Angeli

Various online versions:
http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/grimm089.html (from D.L. Ashliman's website)
http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/goosegirl/index.html (from SurLaLune website)
http://www.paralumun.com/grimmgirl.htm
http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/grimm/ht30.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Goose_Girl

Original Story Source: Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, Die Gänsemagd, Kinder- und Hausmärchen (Children's and Household Tales -- Grimms' Fairy Tales), no. 89. The Grimms' source: Dorothea Viehmann, from the village of Niederzwehren near Kassel.

The Grimms first published this tale was first published in 1815 as no. 3 in vol. 2 of the first edition of their Kinder- und Hausmärchen (1815). The story has been numbered 89 since the second edition (1819). With the exception of a few very minor stylistic changes, the story remained essentially unaltered in the seven editions that appeared during the Grimms' lifetime.
Aarne-Thompson type 533.

(This web page created 4/9/06)