blue fairy tale book

Chapter 38

Once upon a time there was an old queen whose husband had died many years ago, and who had a beautiful daughter.When she was grown up, she was betrothed to a prince who lived far away.Now, as her wedding day drew closer, and she was about to leave to live in another kingdom, her old mother gave her a lot of valuable luggage, with many ornaments, gold and silver treasures, and knick-knacks— In fact, the dowry of any royal family member is everything, because the mother loves her daughter deeply.She also gave her daughter a handmaiden, who was to ride with her and deliver her to the groom.The queen gave them each a horse for the trip.The princess's horse is called Ferrada, and it can talk.

It was almost time for them to leave. The old mother came to the dormitory, picked up a knife and cut the blood out of her fingers.Then she put a white handkerchief under it, dripped three drops of blood on it, and handed it to her daughter, saying: "Dear child, you must take good care of this handkerchief—it will be kept safe during your journey." It will be useful."

So the mother and daughter said their farewell sadly, and the princess put her handkerchief into her bosom, mounted her horse, and set off for the groom's kingdom.After riding for about an hour, the princess felt very thirsty, so she said to the maid, "Get off your horse and go to the stream over there and fetch some water from my golden cup. I want to drink." "If you are thirsty, " said the maid, "dismount by yourself and climb by the river to drink. I don't want to be your servant any more." The princess was so thirsty that she dismounted and bent down by the stream to drink water. Because the maid forbade her to drink from that golden cup.She drank the water and murmured, "Oh, my God, what should I do?" The three drops of blood replied:
"As long as your mother finds out, her heart will be broken in two."

The princess was very obedient, and said nothing about the maid's rude behavior, but silently mounted her horse again.They rode on for a few miles, but it was very hot, and the sun was shining so brightly on them that the princess was soon very thirsty again.As they passed a small river, she once again said to the maid, "Get off your horse and fetch some water from my golden cup." For she had long forgotten the maid's foul words.The maid replied even more arrogantly than before: "If you want to drink water, you can get off your horse and drink it yourself. I don't want to be your servant." Bending down and crying, "Oh, my God, what shall I do?" The three drops of blood replied:
"As long as your mother finds out, her heart will be broken in two."

When she bent down to drink water like this by the river, the handkerchief with three drops of blood fell from her arms and floated away in the water, but she was so worried that she didn't even notice that she had lost something.But the Maid noticed it with joy, for she knew that she could overcome the Bride—without the three drops of blood, the Princess was powerless.When she wanted to ride her horse - Ferrada again, the maid shouted: "I want to ride Ferrada, you have to ride my horse." The princess had to obey.Then the maid roughly ordered her to take off her imperial robes, and put on her own ordinary clothes, and finally made the princess swear to God that she would not say a word about it when they reached the palace; if she did not swear, she would be punished Put to death on the spot.But Ferrada saw all this and kept it all to herself.

Now the maid rode Ferrada, and the real bride rode the inferior horse, and so they continued on their way, and at last they came to the courtyard of the palace.Everyone rejoiced at their arrival, and the prince ran up to meet them, and took the maid for his bride.He took her off the horse and led her upstairs to the bedroom.Meanwhile, the real princess was left standing in the courtyard below.The old King, who was looking out of the window, could not help being surprised to see her standing like that: how sweet and gentle she looked, and even how beautiful she looked.

He went at once to the chamber, and asked the bride who was the girl who had come with her, and who had been left standing in the courtyard below.

"Oh!" answered the False Bride, "she's been with me all the way, give that girl something to do, so she won't be idle." But the old King had no work for her, and could think of no work Come, and he said, "I have a little manservant looking after a flock of geese, and she'd better help him." The boy's name was Coken, and the real bride was sent to help him with the geese.

After a while the false bride said to the prince: "Dearest husband, I ask you to grant me a request." "I will," he replied. "Then let the butcher cut down the horse on which I came. head, because it behaved so badly on the trip." In fact, she was afraid that the horse would talk, and tell about how she had treated the princess.She achieved her goal, and the faithful Ferrada was doomed to be killed.When the news reached the true princess, she came to the butcher and secretly promised him a gold coin if he would help her.There was a dark gate in the city through which she drove the geese every morning and evening.She asked him if he would "be kind to her and hang Ferrada's head there so she could see it again?" The butcher said he would do what she wished, and chop off the horse's head, Then firmly nailed to the city gate.

Early the next morning, she and Coken were driving the geese through the gate, and as they passed under the gate she said:

"Oh! Ferrada, is that where you were hung?"

The head answered:

"It was you who passed below, fair princess:

As long as your mother knows, her heart will be broken into two pieces. "

Then she left the gate tower and drove the geese into a field.When they came to the common where the geese grazed, she sat down and let loose her pure golden hair.Coken loved seeing that hair glistening in the sun, and wanted to pluck some of it.So she said:
"Wind, wind, shake softly, blow off Coken's hat; let him chase over fields and moors, till my red-gold hair--it's loose and untidy now--is combed and braided A crown."

So a gust of wind blew off Coken's hat, and he had to chase it across hilltop valleys.By the time he came back to the hat she had combed and coiled her hair, and he hadn't been able to get her fair hair.Coken was very upset and didn't want to talk to her anymore.And so they kept the geese until they came home in the evening.

The next morning, as they passed under the city gate, the girl said:

"Oh! Ferrada, is that where you were hung?"

The head answered:

"It was you who passed below, fair princess:

As long as your mother knows, her heart will be broken into two pieces. "

Then she walked on until she came to the common lawn, where she sat down and began to comb her hair.Then Coken came running to pluck a bit of hair from her head, but she cried out hastily:

"Wind, wind, shake softly, blow off Coken's hat; let him chase over fields and moors, till my red-gold hair--it's loose and untidy now--is combed and braided A crown."

Then a gust of wind came and blew Coken's hat so far away that he had to run after it.When he came back, she had arranged her blonde hair so he couldn't get it.Thus they tended the geese until dark.

But when they went back that night, Coken went to the old king and said, "I don't want to goose with that girl any more." "Have you any reason?" asked the old king. "Because she just annoys me all day," Coken replied, and then began to tell all the wrongs about her, and said: "When we drove the geese through that dark gate every morning, she had to say something to a geese." The horse's head hanging on the wall said:
"Oh! Ferrada, is that where you were hung?"

The head answered:

"It was you who passed below, fair princess:

As long as your mother knows, her heart will be broken into two pieces. "

Coken went on to tell the King what had happened on the common where the geese were grazing, and how he was always chasing his hat.

The old king told him to drive the geese out the next day as usual.Next morning the king, hiding behind the dark gate, heard how the goose girl greeted Ferrada.Then he followed her across the field, hiding behind a clump of bushes on the common.Before long he saw with his own eyes how the goose boy and goose girl tended the geese, and how the maiden sat down a moment later, untied her golden hair, and said:

"Wind, wind, shake softly, blow off Coken's hat; let him chase over fields and moors, till my red-gold hair--it's loose and untidy now--is combed and braided A crown."

Then a gust of wind came and blew off Coken's hat, and he had to chase it over hills and valleys, while the girl quietly combed her coiled hair.All this the old king observed.He quietly returned to the palace, no one noticed him.In the evening, when the goose girl came back, he took her aside and asked her why she did what she did. "I won't tell you why, how dare I reveal my sorrow to others? Because I swore to God that I would never tell it, or I would die." The old king asked her to tell everything, so that she would not There was a moment of peace, but she kept her mouth shut.At last he said, "Well, if you won't tell me, pour your troubles over there on the iron stove," and walked away.Then she came quietly to the fire, and began to sob and cry, and pour out the sorrows of her poor heart.She said: "I sit here all alone, completely abandoned by the world, and I am a king's daughter. A hypocritical maid forced me to undress and replaced me and my daughter." The groom is together, but I can only act as a humble goose girl. As long as my mother finds out, her heart will be broken in two."

And the old King, who stood outside the chimney of the stove, heard what she said.Then he went back into the house, took her off the stove, and had her dressed in royal dress, so that she was astonishingly beautiful.Then he called his son, and said he had got a false bride, only a handmaid, while the real bride—the girl in the goose-girl form—was standing beside him.The young king was very glad when he saw how beautiful she was, and when he heard how good she was.A big banquet is ready and everyone is invited to it.The bridegroom sat at the head of the table, the princess on one side of him, and the maid on the other; but she was so dazzled now that she did not recognize the princess in the jeweled coat.Now, when they had finished eating and drinking, and were a little drunk and very happy, the old king asked the maid to help him with a difficult question.He said, "What if someone cheated everyone?" He told the story from beginning to end, and at the end asked, "What is the verdict now?" The false bride replied, "She should be stripped naked." Clothes, put into a vat full of spikes, and drawn by two white horses, galloped up and down the street until she died."

"You are the fellow," said the king, "and you have passed judgment upon yourself, and therefore we have dealt with you in this way." When the judgment was carried out, the young king married the true bride, and they both Reign that kingdom in peace and happiness.

(End of this chapter)