Original title "Die Gänsemagd" Publication date 1815 Published in Grimms' Fairy Tales | Country Germany Publication type Fairy tale collection Originally published 1815 Genre Fairy tale | |
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Grimm s fairy tales 14 the goose girl
"The Goose Girl" is a German fairy tale from the collection of the Brothers Grimm. (German: Die Gänsemagd) It was first published in 1815 as no. 3 in vol. 2 of the first edition of their Kinder- und Hausmärchen (Children's and Household Tales — Grimms' Fairy Tales). Since the second edition, published in 1819, The Goose Girl has been recorded as tale no. 89.
Contents
- Grimm s fairy tales 14 the goose girl
- Mrs p reads the goose girl
- Synopsis
- Variants
- Adaptations
- References
The story was first translated into English by Edgar Taylor in 1826, then by many others, e.g. by an anonymous community of translators in 1865, by Lucy Crane in 1881, by LucMargaret Hunt in 1884, etc. Andrew Lang included it in The Blue Fairy Book in 1889.
Mrs p reads the goose girl
Synopsis
A widowed queen sends her daughter to her bridegroom in a faraway land. She sends her with a waiting maid. The princess's horse is named Falada, and he is magical for he can speak. The princess is given a special charm by her mother that will protect her as long as she wears it.
The princess and her servant travel for a time, then the princess grows thirsty. She asks the maid to go and fetch her some water, but the maid simply says: "If you want water, get it for yourself. I do not want to be your servant any longer." So the princess has to fetch herself water from the nearby stream. She wails softly: "What will become of me?" The charm answers: "Alas, alas, if your mother knew, her loving heart would break in two." After a while, the princess gets thirsty again. So she asks her maid once more to get her some water. But again the evil servant says, "I will not serve you any longer, no matter what you or your mother say." The servant leaves the poor princess to drink from the river by her dainty little hands. When she bows to the water her charm falls out of her bosom and floats away.
The maid takes advantage of that. She orders the princess to change clothes with her and the horses as well. She threatens to kill the princess if she doesn't swear never to say a word about this reversal of roles to any living being. Sadly, the princess takes the oath. The maid servant then rides off on Falada, while the princess has to mount the maid's nag. At the palace, the maid poses as princess and the "princess servant" is ordered to guard the geese with a little boy called Conrad. The false bride orders Falada to be killed, as she fears he might talk. The real princess hears of this and begs the slaughterer to nail Falada's head under the doorway where she passes with her geese every morning.
The next morning the goose girl addresses Falada's head under the doorway: "Falada, Falada, thou art dead, and all the joy in my life has fled", and Falada answers " Alas, Alas, if your mother knew, her loving heart would break in two." On the goose meadow, Conrad watches the princess comb her beautiful hair and he becomes greedy to pluck one or two of her golden locks. But the goose girl sees this and says a charm: "Blow wind, blow, I say, take Conrad's hat away. Do not let him come back today until my hair is combed today." And so the wind takes his hat away, and he cannot return before the goose girl has finished brushing and plaiting her hair.
Conrad angrily goes to the king and declares he will not herd geese with this girl any longer because of the strange things that happen. The king tells him to do it one more time, and the next morning hides and watches. He finds everything as Conrad has told. That evening, he asks the princess to tell him her story. But she refuses to say anything because of her oath. The king suggests that she might tell everything to the iron stove. She agrees, climbs into the stove and tells her story while the king listens from outside.
As the king is convinced she has told the truth he then has her clad in royal clothes, he tricks the false princess into "choosing her own punishment". While each choice is different in each version of the story, in the classic version, she tells the king that a false servant should be dragged through town naked in a barrel with internal spikes. As a result, she is punished as so until she dies.
After that, the prince and the true princess are married and then reign over their kingdom for many years.
Variants
The story uses the false bride plot with a good-hearted princess being seized by her maid and turned into a common goose girl. It is Aarne–Thompson type 533. Another tale of this type is The Golden Bracelet. These motifs are also found, centered on a male character, in Child ballad 271, The Lord of Lorn and the False Steward and the chivalric romance Roswall and Lillian.
In the 13th century, the tale became attached to Bertrada of Laon, the mother of Charlemagne.
Adaptations
Despite the story being viewed as obscure there have been many film versions from countries ranging Germany to even America. Falada is often restored to life in film versions, or even spared entirely. While the Queen is implied to have died in the original story, many versions also have her survive to expose the false bride at the wedding. The false bride's motive for suggesting such a cruel punishment vary by retelling; in some, she is simply too ignorant to recognize herself, others have her play along to keep the charade, and others imply she has believed the king is talking about the true bride. Such film versions include:
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