The Goose Girl

A Magic Beans Story

by Gillian Cross, Gillian Cross

A revived version of this well-known fairytale, which has been written especially for today's children. It is one of a number of stories within a series, that have been rewritten and re-illustrated by award-winning authors and illustrators to celebrate the 1998 National Year of Reading.

Genres: Picture Books, Fairy Tales, Fantasy, Classics, Childrens, Fiction, Short Stories

64 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1812

About the author

Gillian Cross was born Gillian Arnold in 1945. She was educated at North London Collegiate School, Somerville College, Oxford and the University of Sussex. Although now a full-time writer who often travels and gives talks in connection with her work, she has had a number of informal jobs including being an assistant to a Member of Parliament. For eight years she also sat on the committee which advises ministers about public libraries.

She is married to Martin Cross and they have four grown-up children, two sons and two daughters.

Reviews

[Unidentified · Rating 2 out of 5]

حس میکنم این داستان تو بیشتر فرهنگای دنیا وجود داره
یادمه بچه که بودم چندتا داستان با همین محتوا خوندم که فقط تو یه سری چیزای جزئی با این کتاب فرق داشت...
پ.ن: دارم سعی میکنم با خوندن کتابای کم حجم و کودکانه از ریدینگ اسلامپ بیام بیرون :)

[Shirley Revill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Published ages ago but still a brilliant read for children.

[Abigail · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Goose Girl, retold by Eric A. Kimmel, illustrated by Robert Sauber.

Prolific picture-book author Eric A. Kimmel retells the classic fairy-tale of the Goose Girl, originally from the Brothers Grimm, in this lovely title. Given a sheltered upbringing by her loving mother, a beautiful princess encounters envy and spite for the first time when she is sent out into the world in the care of the maid servant Margaret. Journeying to her intended bridegroom, the gentle princess is forced to trade places with Margaret, and she herself is made a goose girl, when they arrive at their destination. Only the prince's father suspects that there might be something more to this seeming servant...

Originally part of the Brothers Grimm collection from 1815, where it was known as Die Gänsemagd, this fairy-tale has been translated into English numerous times, although Kimmel does not specify the source for his own telling. Leaving that aside, the story here was engaging, with plenty of themes - the mother's protective love, the enchanted horse guardian - that I have encountered before in other tales. The artwork from Robert Sauber, who also illustrated Kimmel's Sirko and the Wolf: A Ukrainian Tale and I-Know-Not-What, I-Know-Not-Where: A Russian Tale , is lovely - sometimes dark, but also shot through with golden tones. Recommended to anyone who enjoys beautiful fairy-tale picture-books.

[Beverly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent retelling and lovely paintings.

[Michael Sorbello · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sometimes it is necessary to speak out against an abuser or else they will continue to take advantage of you. By acting too kind and timid, the princess is mistreated to the point of being kidnapped by an evil maid and forced to change places with her until the truth is revealed. Only by speaking out against the person that threatened her and mistreated her was she given justice and the happiness that rightfully belonged to her.

[Jessica · Rating 1 out of 5]

I hated the girl. She was such a coward, and allowed her maid to bully her. She did nothing to help herself. It was only by chance that the king found out, and then he did the rest. I much prefer Shannon Hales version, and it is much longer.

[Nohely · Rating 3 out of 5]

A story quite similar to Cinderella, yet I liked this one better. I repeat that I don't care about the illustrations, I only care about the story which I enjoyed. The part that I like the best was when the king asked the maid what would the perfect punishment be.

It's a good story.

[Lisa · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was really short!

[Sidharth Vardhan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not of a very good one. Except if Grimm bothers wanted to show how manipulable the good and gullible people are

[Marquise · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not a big fan of the tale, but I liked the artwork, so the rating is mostly for that.

[SBC · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a short book of 57 pages with very large font. The illustrations by Jason Cockcroft were beautiful but limited to the colour cover, black and white friezes (the same images, printed along the top and bottom of each double-page spread), and a handful of black and white egg-shaped images (a goose, a feather, a horse face). There are no chapters - pauses in the narration are divided by the egg-shaped images.

This seemed a fairly straightforward retelling of The Goose Girl. Originally published as part of the Magic Bean Anthology.

[April Helms · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can see this updated and adapted. An elderly queen has sent off her daughter with a lady in waiting to another kingdom, where the princess is betrothed to a prince. However, the lady in waiting takes advantage of the kind and naive (even daft) nature of the princess and winds up convincing the prince that she is the bride and the princess a serving girl. The real princess winds up taking care of the geese in the kingdom. The truth does wind up coming out in the end.

[Rusty · Rating 4 out of 5]

As I gather books for family and friends for Christmas I try to read what I find to be sure they are what I expected. This one was especially appropriate. The little girl for whom it was chosen is just learning to read and she loves fantasy and fairy tales. She may well be able to read this one. It's a great little story for her age and I really think she will like it.

[emyrose8 · Rating 4 out of 5]

GORGEOUS illustrations. I love the princess’s red hair. This version is very true to the original tale. I am annoyed with the prince who just goes along with switching brides, people who can tell she’s a princess because she’s so lovely, and a princess who can’t stand up for herself/just cries all the time. But that’s the way these fairytales go. I still like the story.

[Carfig · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice retelling of the Grimm story, beautiful illustrations by Robert Sauber. A princess and her maid set off to a far away land for her betrothed, and the maid bullies the princess and takes her place. Fortunately, the prince's father recognizes the princess and finds a way for the maid to pay for her betrayal, Grimm fashion.

[Keten · Rating 3 out of 5]

Simple but cathartic. The talking horse and good luck charm are pretty silly but gave it some added whimsy. It felt like the princess had to actually suffer to achieve her happiness as opposed to the maid who had been suffering up to that point. The ending is grim but makes sense.

[Jesse · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yikes! Not for the faint-hearted. There's a beheaded horse that talks and a truly wretched punishment for the pretender.

[Ashlyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

I listened to the audiobook of this so maybe I didn’t get the full effect but I just found it to be pretty boring unfortunately.

[Gwynn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read as a character within the game The Longing, who is meant to pass their time reading.

[Cheryl]

OKC
Grimm's fairy tales
Collection Book on CD includes this story.

[Linus · Rating 3 out of 5]

Its dark but good ending

[Diana Long · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the tales in The Blue Fairy book collected by Andrew Lang.

[Eduarda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read it in preparation for "A sorceress comes to call".

[Paige · Rating 4 out of 5]

Deceiving and trickery. A classic tale of deception and lies. I enjoyed this small tale. One that is not so known to others.

[Joseph Knecht · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the end, everyone gets their rightful place.

[Child960801 · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lovely retelling of a classic story about identity theft.

[Suhasa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful illustrations with a nice and simple story!

Edition I read (not present on GR):
Retold by Sue Erengo
Illustrated by Elena Selivanova

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Week 5: Grimm version of Goose Girl

The newly betrothed princess and her maid in waiting, Margaret, are traveling to distant kingdom to meet the prince. Margaret over throws the princess, forcing her to trade identities, clothes, and horses, and making her take an oath of secrecy. When the two finally arrive at the new kingdom Margaret continues to act as the princess, leaving the true princess to work in the stables with the kings flock of geese. Sensing something wrong, the king finds the truth and condemns Margaret the impostor to death.

"The Goose Girl: A Story from the Brothers Grimm" is appropriate for ages 4+ (Grades PreK+).

This version of "The Goose Girl" is very similar to the version we were required to read for LIBS-406, however, it is considerably shorter. I like the reference between good vs. evil within this story. The two sides are neither overstated nor underplayed. I think young children will like the repetition found in Falada's text: "If your mother were to see, Her heart would burst with grief for thee." The illustrations in the book are very well done and show the emotion of all the characters well. Most often when you read stories like this, royalty is cruel or unforgiving. The king in this story is nice, and jovial.

[Elle]

I have a pile of old Grimm stories sitting around so I figured I'd finally get around to reading them. I read a lot when I was younger, but I had never heard of this one.

Honestly, it was pretty rubbish. The Princess is a total walk over and I kept waiting for a magical twist in which the maid was all powerful, and that is why the Princess did what she said, but no, she was just a wimp who done what she was told.

The end was done in true Grimm style - bit of torture but an essentially happy ending.

[Brennan Wieland · Rating 4 out of 5]

As you can normally expect from a Grimm Brothers story, this story has a darkness to it. It seemed like a classic tale where the evil chambermaid forces the princess to switch with her, so that she can marry the king. In the end the maid is found out, and suffers a gruesome death which she herself created unknowingly.

I always enjoy the Brothers Grimm stories, they're original and keep you guessing. I look forward to reading more of theirs.