The Goose Girl(Part4)

A strong wind began to blow, carrying the boy's hat so far away that he had to run after it for a while. When the boy returned, the girl had already brushed her hair for a long time and covered her head. The boy could not even get a single hair from her head. Thus, that day, they tended the geese until the sky began to darken. However, when they returned home, Konrad went to the king and said, “I am no longer willing to tend to geese with this girl.” The king asked, “Why?”  

— “She annoys me all day long.” 

The king ordered him to tell the story and said, “In the morning, when we pass under the dark gate with the flock of geese, one of the horses is nailed up high. The girl says to it:

  

“O Falada, nailed up high!”

And the head replies:

  

“O young queen, as you pass by here,

If your mother knew about this,

Her heart would be shattered into a thousand pieces.”

The boy recounted everything that had happened in the meadow, the strong wind, and how he had to run after his hat. The king commanded him to take the geese out the next day as well. He himself hid behind the dark gate at dawn and listened to the girl’s conversation with Falada’s head. Soon after, he followed them to the meadow and hid among the bushes.

Then it wasn’t long before he saw the girl and the boy tending the geese. A moment later, he saw her sit on the grass and let down her hair, which shone like pure gold. The girl repeated:

“O gentle breeze, breeze,  

Throw Konrad's hat away,  

So he can run after it  

And I can comb my hair  

And cover my head again.”

At this, a strong wind arose and took the boy’s hat away, so that he had to run after it for a while. The young girl calmly combed her hair, braided it, and the king saw all of this. Afterward, without anyone noticing, he returned to the palace. In the evening, when the goose girl came to the palace, he pulled her aside and asked her why she was behaving this way. The girl replied, “I have no right to tell you, and I cannot share my suffering with anyone, for I have sworn an oath before God, and otherwise, I would be killed.” 

The king insisted and did not leave her in peace, but she did not say a word before he heard it. Then the king said, “If you do not want to share your grief and sorrow with me, tell it to this hearth,” and left from there.