She counted the reeds by the sea, and cut off the eleventh, struck the
dragon therewith, whereupon the lion overcame it, and immediately both
of them regained their human shapes. But when the princess, who had
before been the dragon, was delivered from enchantment, she took the
youth by the arm, seated herself on the griffin, and carried him off
with her. There stood the poor maiden who had wandered so far and was
again forsaken. She sat down and cried, but at last she took courage
and said, “Still I will go as far as the wind blows and as long as the
cock crows, until I find him,” and she went forth by long, long roads,
until at last she came to the castle where both of them were living
together; there she heard that soon a feast was to be held, in which
they would celebrate their wedding, but she said, “God still helps me,”
and opened the casket that the sun had given her. A dress lay therein
as brilliant as the sun itself. So she took it out and put it on, and
went up into the castle, and everyone, even the bride herself, looked
at her with astonishment. The dress pleased the bride so well that she
thought it might do for her wedding-dress, and asked if it was for
sale? “Not for money or land,” answered she, “but for flesh and blood.”
The bride asked her what she meant by that, so she said, “Let me sleep
a night in the chamber where the bridegroom sleeps.” The bride would
not, yet wanted very much to have the dress; at last she consented, but
the page was to give the prince a sleeping-draught. When it was night,
therefore, and the youth was already asleep, she was led into the
chamber; she seated herself on the bed and said, “I have followed after
thee for seven years. I have been to the sun and the moon, and the four
winds, and have enquired for thee, and have helped thee against the
dragon; wilt thou, then quite forget me?” But the prince slept so
soundly that it only seemed to him as if the wind were whistling
outside in the fir-trees. When therefore day broke, she was led out
again, and had to give up the golden dress. And as that even had been
of no avail, she was sad, went out into a meadow, sat down there, and
wept. While she was sitting there, she thought of the egg which the
moon had given her; she opened it, and there came out a clucking hen
with twelve chickens all of gold, and they ran about chirping, and
crept again under the old hen’s wings; nothing more beautiful was ever
seen in the world! Then she arose, and drove them through the meadow
before her, until the bride looked out of the window. The little
chickens pleased her so much that she immediately came down and asked
if they were for sale. “Not for money or land, but for flesh and blood;
let me sleep another night in the chamber where the bridegroom sleeps.”
The bride said, “Yes,” intending to cheat her as on the former evening. But when the prince went to bed he asked the page what the murmuring
and rustling in the night had been? On this the page told all; that he
had been forced to give him a sleeping-draught, because a poor girl had
slept secretly in the chamber, and that he was to give him another that
night. The prince said, “Pour out the draught by the bed-side.” At
night, she was again led in, and when she began to relate how ill all
had fared with her, he immediately recognized his beloved wife by her
voice, sprang up and cried, “Now I really am released! I have been as
it were in a dream, for the strange princess has bewitched me so that I
have been compelled to forget thee, but God has delivered me from the
spell at the right time.” Then they both left the castle secretly in
the night, for they feared the father of the princess, who was a
sorcerer, and they seated themselves on the griffin which bore them
across the Red Sea, and when they were in the midst of it, she let fall
the nut. Immediately a tall nut-tree grew up, whereon the bird rested,
and then carried them home, where they found their child, who had grown
tall and beautiful, and they lived thenceforth happily until their
death. 89 The Goose-Girl

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
thou hast brought with thee 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 thy
mother knew, her heart would break.” 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,
drink as you can, 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 thy
mother knew this, her heart would break.” 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.