The Grimm Brothers
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.