say, "O Falada, hang you there?"
and he heard the head make answer:

"'Tis Falada, Princess fair.
If she knew this, for thy sake
Thy queen-mother's heart would break."

Then the King followed on to the field, where he hid behind a bush
and watched them herd the geese. After a time the goose-girl undid
her glittering hair; and as Curdken snatched at it, the King heard her
say:

"Wind, blow gently here, I pray,
And take Curdken's hat away.
Keep him chasing o'er the wold,
While I bind my hair of gold."

The wind came at her bidding, and carried the herd-boy's hat across
the fields; while she combed the shining hair and made it fast.

The King quietly returned to the palace, and that night he sent for
the goose-girl. He told her he had watched her at the gate and in the
field, and asked her the meaning of her strange actions.

"O King! I may not tell; for I have sworn, if my life were spared, to
speak to no one of my woes," she replied.

The King pleaded with her, but she was firm; and at last he told her
to tell her troubles to the iron stove, since she would not confide
in him. When he had left her, she fell upon her knees before the stove
and poured forth her sorrows:

"Here am I, the daughter of a Queen, doomed to the lowly service of
a goose-girl, while the false waiting-maid steals my treasures and my
bridegroom."

She sobbed and wept, until the King, who had stood outside and heard
all, came in and bade her dry her eyes. He ordered her arrayed in
royal robes; and then she appeared as lovely as the sun. The Prince
was summoned; and the old King told him the story, and showed him the
true bride. She was so beautiful that the Prince knelt at her feet in
admiration, and knew her to be the real Princess.

A great banquet was given, to which many guests were invited. On one
side of the Prince sat the false bride, and on the other the real
Princess, who was so radiantly lovely that the maid did not know her.
The King at last asked the waiting-maid what punishment should be
dealt to a traitor.

Not knowing that she was passing sentence on herself, the
waiting-maid's answer was as cruel as she was wicked. Said she:

"Let her be put into a barrel, and drawn by two white horses, up hill
and down, till she is dead."

When the wicked maid had been punished according to her own decree,
the Princess was wedded to the young Prince, and reigned with him
for many happy years over the kingdom where she