Falada and The Goose Girl — Obscure Fairy Tales

Once upon a time, an old queen whose husband had long passed away was looking to get her daughter married to ensure her future. Thus, she concluded an agreement with a faraway king and sent her daughter to a foreign land to marry a prince.

Along with her dowry of gold and silver jewels, cups and adornments, the queen sent along Falada, the palace’s talking horse, as a ride as well as company. In order to ease her travels and transition, the queen also sent along a waiting-woman.

Before leaving, the queen took her daughter, Bertrada, apart from the others and gave her a napkin stained with three drops of her blood as protection for the princess.

“Keep it on you at all times, it will protect you when you’e in need,” said the queen to her daughter.

Bertrada hid the napkin in her bosom and went on her way.

Ready to depart, princess Bertrada, Falada the horse, Ingrid the waiting-woman and the dowry were sent on their lengthy journey. After a few hours of riding, the princess asked her waiting-woman to fetch her cup and get her some water from a nearby stream as she was thirsty.

“Go and fetch your own water, I am not your slave,” said the female attendant.

Bertrada was taken aback, but got off her horse and fetched water from the stream with her hands, as Ingrid would not let her use her cup. As she kneeled by the soft current, the drops of blood on the napkin in her bosom lamented “Oh, dear princess, if your mother could see you what you do, it would break her heart in two.”

Once her thirst was quenched, the princess jumped back on Falada’s saddle and continued her journey towards the prince’s castle.

Later on, as the group had been riding for hours under the hot summer sun, the princess got thirsty again and asked her waiting-woman to fetch her cup and get her some water from a brook. Ingrid lamented “Go and fetch your own water, I am not your slave.”

The princess, who had already forgotten the earlier scene, was taken aback once again. Still, she went to the brook and kneeled down beside it to drink with her hands, as the waiting-woman would not let Bertrada drink with her own cup.

As she was leaning over the brook, the napkin with the three drops of blood fell from her bosom and was soon gone with the water current. The princess hadn’t noticed the event in her urgency, but Ingrid certainly had.

She thus waited for the princess to come back, defenceless, and threatened her with a small knife to switch clothes and rides with her. She also terrorized her enough to make her give her word and ensure she wouldn’t reveal the trickery once they got to their destination.

So on they went, with princess Bertrada in servant clothing riding the small mare, and waiting-woman Ingrid wearing the royal dress and jewels while mounting Falada.

Once they neared the castle gates, a bell rang and, suddenly, the two women could see the prince and king waiting for them close to the guards in the courtyard. As the ladies got closer, the prince walked forward and picked the fake bride off her horse, thinking she was the princess he was set to marry.

The king and the prince welcomed the waiting-woman in royal dress and brought her to her chambers in the castle. As they were making her visit the upstair levels of the castle, the king looked out the window and noticed the princess in servant clothing still standing beside her horse in the courtyard, looking a little out of place. He questioned the fake bride as to who she was.

“Oh, she is simply a servant. I only brought her here so she’d have something to do, but I have no use for her anymore, you can send her away,” she responded.

The king thought for a brief moment.

“Then I will send her to help the goose boy, Conrad, with the geese,” he finally said.

The waiting-woman could not care less about what would happen to the princess, because she knew she would never betray her word, but she thought otherwise of the talking horse. Fearing Falada might spill the beans, Ingrid ordered Falada to be beheaded immediately.

Catching a glimpse of what was to happen to her horse when the butcher came to get her from the princess, Bertrada made a deal with the butcher to nail Falada’s head over a doorway she would pass every morning with her geese.

The next morning, as she passed beside her doorway with Conrad on the way to the coop, she lamented “Falada, Falada, now that you are dead, all the joy from my life has fled.”

And Falada’s head would respond with “Alas, alas, if your mother knew, it would break her heart in two.”

Once they reached the meadow and the geese were running around, the princess unbraided her hair and let it fly freely in the wind.

Watching the golden licks glisten beautifully in the sun, Conrad wanted to take a few pieces for himself. Noticing this, Bertrada soon whispered a chant to herself.

“Blow wind, blow Conrad’s hat away. Do not let him touch my hair today.”

Following the chant, Conrad’s hat flew away and he had to run after it. Where he returned to the princess, her hair was already up and pinned tightly to her head.

As the same scenes went on the next day, the exchange of words with Falada’s head, the loose hair and the hat flying away, Conrad grew wary of the goose girl he was sent. The boy went to the king and stated he did not want to work with her any more, sharing his doubts about her nature.

Thus, the king, already suspicious of the disguised princess, followed her the following morning. He heard her talk to Falada’s head and the horse’s response, watched her undo her hair and saw Conrad’s hat fly away before he could steal a strand.

When Conrad and the princess came back at night, the king ambushed her and asked her to tell him her story.

Bertrada initially refused, stating she had given her word not to tell a soul. The king then asked her if she might tell it to the iron stove. The princess agreed and climbed onto the iron stove and cried it out while sharing her sorrows. The king, listening from outside, learned of the waiting-woman’s trickery. As he helped the young princess get out of the iron stove, he devised a plan.

He got the princess dressed in royal clothes, as per her status, and invited her to the banquet happening the next day for her engagement. At the event, the king asked the false bride publicly: “If you were tricked into switching place with your servant, how would you punish her?”

None the wiser, Ingrid stated her response quickly.

“Oh, I would drag her through town naked in a barrel with internal spikes until she died from it.”

The king then revealed the treachery, got the false bride arrested and punished her the way she had devised. Meanwhile, princess Bertrada married the prince in a beautiful royal wedding. The couple reigned over their kingdom for many years.

The serie Obscure Fairy Tales encompasses an array of tales, myths and legends from around the world. To read more, visit this page dedicated to fiction writing.