Array The Brothers Grimm - Fairy Tales from the Brothers Grimm - A New English Version

Then they said a sad farewell. The princess put the handkerchief into her bodice, and they set off on the journey to her bridegroom.

When they had ridden for an hour the princess felt a burning thirst and said to her maidservant, ‘Could you get down and bring me some water from the brook in the golden goblet you’re carrying? I’m so thirsty I must have something to drink.’

The maid said, ‘Get it yourself. If you’re thirsty you can just lie over the stream and lap it up. I’m not going to wait on you.’

The princess was so thirsty that she did just that. The maid wouldn’t even let her use the goblet.

‘Dear Lord!’ thought the princess, and the three drops of blood replied: ‘If your mother knew of this, it would break her heart.’

But the princess was humble. She said nothing and remounted her horse. They rode on for a few more miles, but the day was warm, the sun was scorching and soon she grew thirsty again. When they came to another stream she said to the maidservant, ‘Could you bring me some water in the golden goblet?’

She had forgotten the maidservant’s harsh words. But the maid said even more haughtily: ‘I’ve told you, I’m not waiting on you. If you’re thirsty, get down and drink for yourself.’

The princess got down again and drank from the stream. She wept a little, and again she thought, ‘Dear Lord!’

Again the three drops of blood responded silently: ‘Oh, if your mother knew, her heart would break in two!’

And as the princess leaned over the stream and sipped the water, the handkerchief fell out of her bodice and floated away. She didn’t even notice it in her distress, but the maidservant had seen it, and she gloated. She knew that the princess was weak and powerless now.

So when the princess wanted to remount Falada, the maid said, ‘What d’you think you’re doing? That’s not your horse. I’m having him now. And in fact you can take off all your fancy clothes and give them to me. You can wear these dingy rags of mine. Go on, hurry up.’

The princess had to do as she said, and then the maidservant made her swear under the open heavens not to say one word about it in the royal court. If she hadn’t taken that oath, the maidservant would have killed her on the spot.

But Falada saw all of this, and took good note of it.

So with the chambermaid riding Falada and the true princess riding the nag, they went on their way till they came to the royal palace. There was great rejoicing when they arrived, and the king’s son ran ahead to meet them. Naturally he thought that the chambermaid was his bride, and he lifted her down from her horse and led her upstairs, while the real princess was left standing below.

The old king looked out of the window and noticed her waiting in the courtyard, and thought how beautiful she was, how fine and delicate her features; so he went at once to the royal apartments and asked the bride about the girl she had with her, the one who was standing below in the courtyard.

‘I picked her up on the way to keep me company,’ said the false bride. ‘Give her some work to do; she’ll only laze around otherwise.’

But the old king had no work to give her. ‘I suppose she could help the goose boy,’ he said.

So the true bride had to tend the geese along with the little goose boy, whose name was Conrad.

A little while later the false bride said to the king’s son, ‘Husband dearest, I’d like you to do something for me.’

‘Of course!’ he said. ‘I’ll do it gladly.’

‘Then send for the knacker, and have him cut off the head of the horse I rode here,’ she said. ‘The brute gave me a lot of trouble on the way.’

In fact, of course, she was afraid that Falada might tell the truth about how she had behaved with the princess. The longer he stayed alive, the greater the risk that the truth would come out.

So it was arranged, and the faithful Falada had to die. The real princess heard about it, and she secretly promised the knacker a gold coin if he would do her a small favour. In the city wall there was a large dark gateway through which she had to drive the geese every morning. She asked the knacker if he’d hang Falada’s head in there, where she could see it when she passed through. The knacker agreed, and nailed the head up on the wall by the gate.

Early next morning, when she and Conrad drove the flock of geese out through the gateway, she said as she passed:

And the head answered:

The princess said no more, and she and Conrad drove the geese out into the fields. When they came to the right spot, she sat down and loosened her hair, which was the purest gold. Conrad loved to watch her do this, and he reached up and tried to pull out a strand or two.

So she said:

And such a strong wind started blowing that it snatched Conrad’s hat and blew it right across the meadow, and then led him a chase up and down, this way and that, until he managed to catch up with it. By that time the princess had combed and braided her hair and tied it up in a bun, and there were no loose strands for Conrad to tug; so he sulked, and didn’t say another word that day. When evening came they drove their flock home again.

Next morning as they went through the gateway in the city wall, the girl said:

And the head answered:

When they reached the meadow, once again the princess sat down to braid her hair, and once again Conrad tried to pluck a strand of it, and once again she said:

The wind blew up suddenly and snatched little Conrad’s hat again, and gave him such a chase up and down the meadow that by the time he’d caught the hat, the princess had done up her hair, and again there were no strands to pluck at. And so they tended their geese until the evening.

When they returned to the palace, Conrad went to the old king and said, ‘I don’t want to tend the geese with that girl any more.’

‘Why not?’ said the old king.

‘Oh, she annoys me all day long!’

‘Well, what does she do?’

‘In the morning, when we go through the gate in the city wall, she talks to the head of the old nag that’s nailed up there. She says, “Oh, poor Falada, hanging there!” And the head says, “Oh, princess with the golden hair, if your dear mother knew, her heart would break in two.”’

Then Conrad went on to tell the king what happened in the goose meadow, and how she made the wind blow his hat about.

‘Well, you just go out with her tomorrow as normal,’ said the old king. ‘And I’ll be watching.’

So in the morning the old king wrapped himself in a cloak and sat inside the gateway and heard the princess talking to Falada’s head. Then he followed them discreetly out to the meadow and hid himself among the bushes to watch what happened. Just as Conrad had told him, the goose girl summoned the wind, and it blew Conrad’s hat all over the meadow, and she unpinned her beautiful long golden hair and braided it up again.

The king saw it all, and then he went back to the palace. When the goose girl came back in the evening, he called her to him, and asked why she did those things.