The Goose-Girl at the Well (Grimm)
Short summary
An old woman lived in the mountains with her geese and was feared as a witch. One day, a young count met her gathering grass and offered to help carry her heavy load. She tricked him into carrying an increasingly heavy burden to her house, where he met an ugly goose-girl. The old woman gave him an emerald book containing a pearl as payment.
The count brought the book to the royal palace, where the Queen recognized the pearl and fainted. She revealed that her youngest daughter, who cried pearls instead of tears, had been banished by the King for saying she loved him like salt. The King and Queen went to find the old woman.
Meanwhile, the goose-girl removed her ugly skin at night, revealing herself as a beautiful princess. When the royal couple arrived at the cottage, the old woman called forth their daughter in her true form.
She went up to her father and mother, fell on their necks and kissed them; there was no help for it, they all had to weep for joy.
The old woman revealed she was a wise woman who had protected the princess. The cottage transformed into a palace, and the princess married the count.
Detailed summary
Division into chapters is editorial.
The encounter in the forest: old woman meets the young count
In a waste place among the mountains lived a very old woman with her flock of geese in a little house. Every morning she hobbled into the surrounding forest with her crutch, collecting grass for her geese and wild fruit, carrying everything home on her back despite her apparent frailty. People avoided meeting her when possible, whispering that she was a witch with claws beneath her gloves.
One bright morning, a handsome young man was walking through the forest when he encountered the old woman kneeling on the ground, cutting grass with a sickle. She had already gathered a large load and filled two baskets with wild apples and pears.
The magical journey: carrying the burden to the old womans house
The count offered to help carry her load, boasting that he was no peasant but the son of a rich count. The old woman accepted his offer, warning him it would be an hour's walk and he must carry the apples and pears as well. Once the bundle was packed on his back and the baskets hung on his arms, the count discovered the load was impossibly heavy, as if filled with cobblestones and lead.
When he tried to remove the burden, he found it stuck fast to his back as if it had grown there. The old woman mocked his complaints, telling him to step out and carry on. As they climbed the hill, the burden grew even heavier, and suddenly the old woman sprang onto the bundle and seated herself on top, adding her weight to his load. She struck him with switches and stinging-nettles when he slowed, forcing him to continue groaning up the mountain.
At last they reached the old woman's house, where geese flapped their wings and ran to meet her. An old servant woman, strong and big but ugly as night, greeted them.
The emerald book: the counts reward and return to the royal court
The old woman finally released the count from his burden and told him to rest on the bench. She sent her daughter inside, saying it would be improper for her to be alone with a young gentleman. The count rested under a wild apple tree in the beautiful meadow, exhausted from his ordeal. When he awoke, the old woman gave him a small book cut from a single emerald as payment, telling him to take great care of it as it would bring him good fortune.
After three days wandering in the wilderness, the count reached a large town and was led to the royal palace. He presented the emerald book to the Queen, who immediately fell as if dead upon opening it. When she recovered, she ordered everyone to leave so she could speak with the count privately.
The queens tale: the story of three daughters and the lost princess
The Queen wept bitterly and told the count about her three daughters. The youngest was extraordinarily beautiful, white as snow, rosy as apple-blossom, with hair as radiant as sunbeams.
When she cried, not tears fell from her eyes, but pearls and jewels only... The whole road was strewn with the pearls which flowed from her eyes.
When the King asked his daughters to express their love for him, the eldest compared hers to the sweetest sugar, the second to her prettiest dress, but the youngest said:
The best food does not please me without salt, therefore I love my father like salt.
Enraged by this answer, the King banished his youngest daughter to the wild forest with a sack of salt bound to her back. The Queen explained that the emerald book contained a pearl exactly like those that fell from her lost daughter's eyes, and she begged the count to tell her how he had obtained it.
The search and discovery: finding the old woman and witnessing the transformation
The King and Queen resolved to seek out the old woman. Meanwhile, the count had become separated from them in the forest and climbed a tree to spend the night. By moonlight, he saw a figure approaching the well - it was the goose-girl from the old woman's house. To his amazement, she removed a skin covering her face and began to wash herself.
When the gray mask fell off, her golden hair broke forth like sunbeams, and spread about like a mantle over her whole form. Her eyes shone out as brightly as the stars.
The beautiful maiden sat weeping, her tears rolling through her golden hair to the ground. When a branch cracked under the count's weight, she quickly put on the old skin and vanished like a light blown out by the wind. The count descended and soon met the King and Queen, telling them what he had witnessed.
The reunion and revelation: true identities revealed and happy ending
They found the old woman's house, where she was expecting them. She reproached the King for unjustly driving away his good and lovable child three years ago, then called for her daughter to come out. The princess emerged in silken garments with golden hair and shining eyes, like an angel from heaven. She embraced her parents, and all wept for joy.
The old woman revealed her true nature, saying:
I give her the tears that she has wept on your account; they are precious pearls, finer than those that are found in the sea, and worth more than your whole kingdom.
With these words, the old woman disappeared, and her little house transformed into a splendid palace. The beautiful princess married the count, and they lived together in happiness. The old woman was revealed to be not a witch, but a wise woman who had given the princess the gift of weeping pearls at her birth and had protected her during her exile.