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 you have brought
with you 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 this your mother knew,
her heart would break in two."
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, get it yourself, 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 this your mother knew,
her heart would break in two."
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 you," 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 traveled
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 noticed 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
favor."
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 goood 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 mother knew
Her heart would 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 mother knew
Her heart would 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, 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 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 block, there is a
horse's head on the wall, and she says to it
"'Alas, Falada, hanging there.'
"And the head answers,
"'Alas, young queen, how ill you fare.
If this your mother knew
Her heart would 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 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 you
will not tell me anything, tell your 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 this my
mother knew, her heart would break in two."
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 former 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 punishment 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 a person 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 you," said the aged king, "and you have
pronounced your own sentence, and thus shall it be
done unto you." 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.
