'Alas! Queen's daughter, there thou gangest.
If thy mother knew thy fate,
Her heart would break with grief so great.'
Again, when they reached the meadows, the Princess undid her hair and
began combing it. Conrad ran to pluck some out; but she said quickly--
'Blow, blow, little breeze,
And Conrad's hat seize.
Let him join in the chase
While away it is whirled,
Till my tresses are curled
And I rest in my place.'
The wind sprang up and blew Conrad's hat far away over the fields, and
he had to run after it. When he came back the hair was all put up
again, and he could not pull a single hair out. And they tended the
geese till the evening. When they got home Conrad went to the old
King, and said, 'I won't tend the geese with that maiden again.'
'Why not?' asked the King.
'Oh, she vexes me every day.'
The old King then ordered him to say what she did to vex him.
Conrad said, 'In the morning, when we pass under the dark gateway with
the geese, she talks to a horse's head which is hung up on the wall.
She says--
'Alas! Falada, there thou hangest,'
and the Head answers--
'Alas! Queen's daughter, there thou gangest.
If thy mother knew thy fate,
Her heart would break with grief so great.'
Then Conrad went on to tell the King all that happened in the meadow,
and how he had to run after his hat in the wind.
The old King ordered Conrad to go out next day as usual. Then he
placed himself behind the dark gateway, and heard the Princess
speaking to Falada's head. He also followed her into the field, and
hid himself behind a bush, and with his own eyes he saw the Goosegirl
and the lad come driving the geese into the field. Then, after a
time, he saw the girl let down her hair, which glittered in the sun.
Directly after this, she said--
'Blow, blow, little breeze,
And Conrad's hat seize.
Let him join in the chase
While away it is whirled,
Till my tresses are curled
And I rest in my place.'
Then came a puff of wind, which carried off Conrad's hat and he had to
run after it. While he was away, the maiden combed and did up her
hair; and all this the old King observed. Thereupon he went away
unnoticed; and in the evening, when the Goosegirl came home, he called
her aside and asked why she did all these things.
'That I may not tell you, nor may I tell any human creature; for I
have sworn it under the open sky, because if I had not done so I
should have lost my life.'
He pressed her sorely, and gave her no peace, but he could get nothing
out of her. Then he said, 'If you won't tell me, then tell your
sorrows to the iron stove there'; and he went away.
She crept up to the stove, and, beginning to weep and lament,
unburdened her heart to it, and said: 'Here I am, forsaken by all the
world, and yet I am a Princess. A false Waiting-woman brought me to
such a pass that I had to take off my royal robes. Then she took my
place with my bridegroom, while I have to do mean service as a
Goosegirl. If my mother knew it she would break her heart.'
The old King stood outside by the pipes of the stove, and heard all
that she said. Then he came back, and told her to go away from the
stove. He caused royal robes to be put upon her, and her beauty was a
marvel. The old King called his son, and told him that he had a false
bride--she was only a Waiting-woman; but the true bride was here, the
so-called Goosegirl.
The young Prince was charmed with her youth and beauty. A great
banquet was prepared, to which all the courtiers and good friends were
bidden. The bridegroom sat at the head of the table, with the Princess
on one side and the Waiting-woman at the other; but she was dazzled,
and did not recognise the Princess in her brilliant apparel.
When they had eaten and drunk and were all very merry, the old King
put a riddle to the Waiting-woman. 'What does a person deserve who
deceives his master?' telling the whole story, and ending by asking,
'What doom does he deserve?'
The false bride answered, 'No better than this. He must be put stark
naked into a barrel stuck with nails, and be dragged along by two
white horses from street to street till he is dead.'
'That is your own doom,' said the King, 'and the judgment shall be
carried out.'
When the sentence was fulfilled, the young Prince married his true
bride, and they ruled their kingdom together in peace and happiness.
[Illustration: {Blow, blow, little breeze,
And Conrad's hat seize.}]
[Illustration: {A goose.}]