The Goose-Girl at the Well
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The Goose-Girl at the Well is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm, tale number 179.
It is Aarne-Thompson type 923, love like salt.
[edit] Synopsis
An old woman raised geese in the mountains. One day, speaking of her heavy burden, she persuaded a count to carry it. He found it burdensome, but she would not let him even rest. At the hut, there was an ugly woman tending the old woman's geese, and the old woman would not let them stay together. The old woman gave him a book cut out of an emerald.
He wandered the woods for three days before he escaped, to a town where a king and queen reigned. He showed them the book. The queen collapsed as if dead, but before they led the count to a dungeon, roused and insisted on speaking with him. She told him that her youngest daughter had been a marvel, beautiful, with pearls and jewels falling from her eyes when she wept, but the king had asked his three daughters how well they loved him, and when the youngest said that she loved him like salt, he divided his kingdom between the two older and drove the youngest out with a sack of salt. When the queen had opened the book, a pearl just like her daughter's tears had fallen from it. The count told him where he had gotten the book, and the king and queen resolved to speak with the old woman.
Meanwhile, in the mountains, the ugly woman washed in a well by night, and became beautiful, though sad. When she returned to the hut, the old woman set about cleaning the hut though it was late. She told the woman that it had been three years, they could stay no longer together.
The count had gone with the king and queen but become separated. He saw the ugly woman make herself beautiful. He followed her, and arrived with the king and queen at the hut. The old woman said that they could have spared themselves a walk if they had not been so unjust.
The hut became a castle, the count married the youngest princess, and they lived there ever afterward.
