_No matter what misfortune overtakes us we should never forget the
teachings of our good parents._
The queen stopped crying after a while and made the king send for
the young man. She then sent everybody from the room and made the
young count tell the story of how he came in possession of the
emerald box. When he had finished the queen cried again.
“Why do you cry?” asked the young count.
The queen told him that she had a beautiful daughter years ago who
had been lost in the forest, and that they had never been able to
find her. She wore a large emerald around her neck and pearls on
her arms. Perhaps wild beasts had devoured her, or an old witch
had stolen her and changed her into some hideous form. The queen
said the emerald and the pearls belonged to her lost child and
begged the young count to lead her to the place where the old woman
lived, for there, perhaps, she might find her daughter.
The next day they all started out. The young count went on ahead
to show them the way. He went fast because he was strong, and soon
came near the old woman’s cottage. It was now dark and he climbed
a tree to keep wild beasts from reaching him. Late in the night
the moon came out and it was so bright that he could see anything.
Before long he could see the goose girl coming down to the well to
get water.
“Ah, here comes one witch! we shall soon have the other,” said the
young count to himself. But the young girl stopped by the brook and
took off her mask and let her hair fall down over her shoulders. He
then saw how beautiful she was, with skin white as milk, and hair
as golden as ripe wheat.
The young girl bathed her face and hands and put on her mask again,
and tied up her hair and looked old and brown and ugly. She then
went back toward the cottage and the young count climbed down from
the tree and followed her. When he reached the cottage, he saw the
old woman cleaning the floors and windows, and brushing down the
cobwebs. The geese were picking the grass from the walks, and he
could hear the goose girl in her room putting on her clothes, for
it was daylight again and soon the king and queen would come.
After the sun rose the king and queen came to the cottage. The old
woman asked them in and the young count with them. She called the
goose girl, and when she came in she no longer wore the mask and
the old dress, but was a beautiful young woman in a dress as fine
as the queen wore. The queen knew her to be her daughter, and threw
her arms around her and kissed her. The king kissed her, and the
young count kissed her, too. Then the old woman stamped her foot
and the cottage became a palace, and the geese became serving men,
and the goose girl and the young count were married at once, and
are living there to this day.