The Goose Girl by Brothers Grimm [PDF]

Information: The Goose Girl

• Author: Brothers Grimm
• Publication Date: 1815
• Main Characters:
  • The Princess: The true bride, a gentle and obedient young woman who is stripped of her identity by her maid and forced to tend geese in silence
  • The Waiting-Maid: The ambitious servant who seizes the princess's identity, clothes, and horse, presenting herself as the royal bride
  • Falada: The princess's magical talking horse who continues to speak the truth even after being killed, serving as a witness to the injustice
  • The Old King: The wise father of the prince who observes the goose girl's strange behavior and cleverly uncovers her true identity
  • Conrad: The young goose-boy who works alongside the disguised princess and reports her unusual abilities to the king
• Brief Summary: A queen sends her daughter to marry a prince in a distant kingdom, giving her a magical talking horse named Falada and a handkerchief with three drops of her own blood for protection. During the journey, the waiting-maid forces the princess to swap identities and swear silence. The true princess is set to work tending geese alongside a boy named Conrad, while the impostor takes her place as the bride. The old king eventually uncovers the deception by tricking the princess into telling her story to an iron stove, and justice is served when the false bride unwittingly pronounces her own punishment.
• Thematic Analysis: The tale explores the tension between true identity and outward appearance, showing how power can be stolen but not sustained through deception. Justice in this story is not imposed from outside but emerges from the villain's own words, reinforcing the Grimm belief that wrongdoing contains the seeds of its own undoing. Loyalty, silence under duress, and the resilience of truth are woven throughout.
• Historical Context: The Brothers Grimm first published "The Goose Girl" in 1815 in the second volume of their Kinder- und Hausmarchen, drawing the story from the German oral tradition through their source Dorothea Viehmann. The tale reflects early nineteenth-century concerns with social order, rightful authority, and the consequences of betrayal. It became tale number 89 in later editions and has been widely translated and adapted across cultures.