The Goose-Girl

 
 
 The Goose-Girl
 
 
      There was once upon a time an old Queen whose husband had been dead for
 many years, and she had a beautiful daughter. When the princess grew up she
 was betrothed to a prince who lived at a great distance. When the time came
 for her to be married, and she had to journey forth into the distant kingdom,
 the aged Queen packed up for her many costly vessels of silver and gold, and
 trinkets also of gold and silver; and cups and jewels - in short, everything
 which appertained to a royal dowry, for she loved her child with all her
 heart. She likewise sent her maid-in-waiting, who was to ride with her,
 and hand her over to the bridegroom, and each had a horse for the journey, but
 the horse of the King's daughter was called Falada, and could speak. So when
 the hour of parting had come, the aged mother went into her bedroom, took a
 small knife and cut her finger with it until it bled, then she held a white
 handkerchief to it into which she let three drops of blood fall, gave it to
 her daughter and said, "Dear child, preserve this carefully, it will be of
 service to you on your way."
 
 
      So they took a sorrowful leave of each other; the princess put the piece
 of cloth in her bosom, mounted her horse, and then went away to her
 bridegroom. After she had ridden for a while she felt a burning thirst, and
 said to her waiting-maid. "Dismount, and take my cup which thou hast brought
 with thee for me, and get me some water from the stream, for I should like to
 drink." "If you are thirsty," said the waiting-maid, "get off your horse
 yourself, and lie down and drink out of the water, I don't choose to be your
 servant." So in her great thirst the princess alighted, bent down over the
 water in the stream and drank, and was not allowed to drink out of the golden
 cup. Then she said, "Ah, Heaven!" and the three drops of blood answered, "If
 thy mother knew this, her heart would break," But the King's daughter was
 humble, said nothing, and mounted her horse again. She rode some miles
 further, but the day was warm, the sun scorched her, and she was thirsty once
 more, and when they came to a stream of water, she again cried to her waiting
 - maid, "Dismount and give me some water in my golden cup," for she had long
 ago forgotten the girl's ill words. But the waiting-maid said still more
 haughtily, "If you wish to drink, drink as you can, I don't choose to be your
 maid." Then in her great thirst the King's daughter alighted, bent over the
 flowing stream, wept and said, "Ah, Heaven!" and the drops of blood again
 replied, "If thy mother knew this, her heart would break." And as she was thus
 drinking and leaning right over the stream, the handkerchief with the three
 drops of blood fell out of her bosom, and floated away with the water without
 her observing it, so great was her trouble. The waiting-maid, however, had
 seen it, and she rejoiced to think that she had now power over the bride, for
 since the princess had lost the drops of blood, she had become weak and
 powerless. So now when she wanted to mount her horse again, the one that was
 called Falada, the waiting-maid said, "Falada is more suitable for me, and
 my nag will do for thee," and the princess had to be content with that. Then
 the waiting-maid, with many hard words, bade the princess exchange her royal
 apparel for her own shabby clothes; and at length she was compelled to swear
 by the clear sky above her, that she would not say one word of this to anyone
 at the royal court, and if she had not taken this oath she would have been
 killed on the spot. But Falada saw all this, and observed it well.
 
 
      The waiting-maid now mounted Falada, and the true bride the bad horse,
 and thus they travelled onwards, until at length they entered the royal
 palace. There were great rejoicings over her arrival, and the prince sprang
 forward to meet her, lifted the waiting-maid from her horse, and thought she
 was his consort. She was conducted upstairs, but the real princess was left
 standing below. Then the old king looked out of the window and saw her
 standing in the courtyard, and saw how dainty and delicate and beautiful she
 was, and instantly went to the royal apartment, and asked the bride about the
 girl she had with her who was standing down below in the courtyard, and who
 she was? "I picked her up on my way for a companion; give the girl something
 to work at, that she may not stand idle." But the old King had no work for
 her, and knew of none, so he said, "I have a little boy who tends the geese,
 she may help him." The boy was called Conrad, and the true bride had to help
 him to tend the geese. Soon afterwards the false bride said to the young King,
 "Dearest husband, I beg you to do me a favour." He answered. "I will do so
 most willingly." "Then send for the knacker, and have the head of the horse on
 which I rode here cut off, for it vexed me on the way." In reality, she was
 afraid that the horse might tell how she had behaved to the King's daughter.
 Then she succeeded in making the King promise that it should be done, and the
 faithful Falada was to die; this came to the ears of the real princess, and
 she secretly promised to pay the knacker a piece of gold if he would perform a
 small service for her. There was a great dark-looking gateway in the town,
 through which morning and evening she had to pass with the geese: would he be
 so good as to nail up Falada's head on it, so that she might see him again,
 more than once. The knacker's man promised to do that, and cut off the head,
 and nailed it fast beneath the dark gateway.
 
 
      Early in the morning, when she and Conrad drove out their flock beneath
 this gateway, she said in passing,
 
 
 "Alas, Falada, hanging there!"
 
 
 Then the head answered,
 
 
 "Alas, young Queen, how ill you fare!
 If this your tender mother knew,
 Her heart would surely break in two."
 
 
 Then they went still further out of the town, and drove their geese into the
 country. And when they had come to the meadow, she sat down and unbound her
 hair which was like pure gold, and Conrad saw it and delighted in its
 brightness, and wanted to pluck out a few hairs. Then she said,
 
 
 "Blow, blow, thou gentle wind, I say,
 Blow Conrad's little hat away,
 And make him chase it here and there,
 Until I have braided all my hair,
 And bound it up again."
 
 
 And there came such a violent wind that it blew Conrad's hat far away across
 country, and he was forced to run after it. When he came back she had finished
 combing her hair and was putting it up again, and he could not get any of it.
 Then Conrad was angry, and would not speak to her, and thus they watched the
 geese until the evening, and then they went home.
 
 
      Next day when they were driving the geese out through the dark gateway,
 the maiden said,
 
 
 "Alas, Falada, hanging there!"
 
 
 Falada answered,
 
 
 "Alas, young Queen, how ill you fare!
 If this your tender mother knew,
 Her heart would surely break in two."
 
 
 And she sat down again in the field and began to comb out her hair, and Conrad
 ran and tried to clutch it, so she said in haste,
 
 
 "Blow, blow, though gentle wind, I say,
 Blow Conrad's little hat away,
 And make him chase it here and there,
 Until I have braided all my hair,
 And bound it up again."
 
 
 Then the wind blew, and blew his little hat off his head and far away, and
 Conrad was forced to run after it, and when he came back, her hair had been
 put up a long time, and he could get none of it, and so they looked after
 their geese till evening came.
 
 
      But in the evening after they had got home, Conrad went to the old King,
 and said, "I won't tend the geese with that girl any longer!" "Why not?"
 inquired the aged King. "Oh, because she vexes me the whole day long." Then
 the aged King commanded him to relate what it was that she did to him. And
 Conrad said, "In the morning when we pass beneath the dark gateway with the
 flock, there is a sorry horse's head on the wall, and she says to it,
 
 
 "Alas, Falada, hanging there!"
 
 
 And the head replies,
 
 
 "Alas, young Queen, how ill you fare!
 If this your tender mother knew,
 Her heart would surely break in two."
 
 
 And Conrad went on to relate what happened on the goose pasture, and how when
 there he had to chase his hat.
 
 
      The aged King commanded him to drive his flock out again next day, and as
 soon as morning came, he placed himself behind the dark gateway, and heard how
 the maiden spoke to the head of Falada, and then he too went into the country,
 and hid himself in the thicket in the meadow. There he soon saw with his own
 eyes the goose-girl and the goose-boy bringing their flock, and how after
 a while she sat down and unplaited her hair, which shone with radiance. And
 soon she said,
 
 
 "Blow, blow, thou gentle wind, I say,
 Blow Conrad's little hat away,
 And make him chase it here and there,
 Until I have braided all my hair,
 And bound it up again."
 
 
 Then came a blast of wind and carried off Conrad's hat, so that he had to run
 far away, while the maiden quietly went on combing and plaiting her hair, all
 of which the King observed. Then, quite unseen, he went away, and when the
 goose-girl came home in the evening, he called her aside, and asked why she
 did all these things. "I may not tell you that, and I dare not lament my
 sorrows to any human being, for I have sworn not to do so by the heaven which
 is above me; if I had not done that, I should have lost my life." He urged her
 and left her no peace, but he could draw nothing from her. Then said he, "If
 thou wilt not tell me anything, tell thy sorrows to the iron-stove there,"
 and he went away. Then she crept into the iron-stove, and began to weep and
 lament, and emptied her whole heart, and said, "Here am I deserted by the
 whole world, and yet I am a King's daughter, and a false waiting-maid has by
 force brought me to such a pass that I have been compelled to put off my royal
 apparel, and she has taken my place with my bridegroom, and I have to perform
 menial service as a goose-girl. If my mother did but know that, her heart
 would break."
 
 
      The aged King, however, was standing outside by the pipe of the stove,
 and was listening to what she said, and heard it. Then he came back again, and
 bade her come out of the stove. And royal garments were placed on her, and it
 was marvellous how beautiful she was! The aged King summoned his son, and
 revealed to him that he had got the false bride who was only a waiting-maid,
 but that the true one was standing there, as the sometime goose-girl. The
 young King rejoiced with all his heart when he saw her beauty and youth, and a
 great feast was made ready to which all the people and all good friends were
 invited. At the head of the table sat the bridegroom with the King's daughter
 at one side of him, and the waiting-maid on the other, but the waiting -
 maid was blinded, and did not recognize the princess in her dazzling array.
 When they had eaten and drunk, and were merry, the aged King asked the waiting
 - maid as a riddle, what a person deserved who had behaved in such and such a
 way to her master, and at the same time related the whole story, and asked
 what sentence such an one merited? Then the false bride said: "She deserves no
 better fate than to be stripped entirely naked, and put in a barrel which is
 studded inside with pointed nails, and two white horses should be harnessed to
 it, which will drag her along through one street after another, till she is
 dead." "It is thou," said the aged King, "and thou hast pronounced thine own
 sentence, and thus shall it be done unto thee." And when the sentence had been
 carried out, the young King married his true bride, and both of them reigned
 over their kingdom in peace and happiness.