The Goose Girl

by Jacob Grimm (Illustrator), Wilhelm Grimm, Anthea Bell

On her way to marry a distant Prince, a young Princess is forced to trade places with her evil waiting-maid and becomes a goose girl instead of a bride when she reaches her destination.

Genres: Classics, Short Stories, Fiction, Fairy Tales, Childrens, Audiobook, Fantasy

28 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1988

About the author

German philologist and folklorist Jakob Ludwig Karl Grimm in 1822 formulated Grimm's Law, the basis for much of modern comparative linguistics. With his brother Wilhelm Karl Grimm (1786-1859), he collected Germanic folk tales and published them as Grimm's Fairy Tales (1812-1815).

Indo-European stop consonants, represented in Germanic, underwent the regular changes that Grimm's Law describes; this law essentially states that Indo-European p shifted to Germanic f, t shifted to th, and k shifted to h. Indo-European b shifted to Germanic p, d shifted to t, and g shifted to k. Indo-European bh shifted to Germanic b, dh shifted to d, and gh shifted to g.

This jurist and mythologist also authored the monumental German Dictionary and his Deutsche Mythologie .

Adapted from Wikipedia.

Reviews

[Lör K. · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Goose Girl has always been one of my favourite stories. A Princess, shunned and forced to hide who she is so someone can take her place, heartbroken and alone, too meek to say a word of the betrayal and treason that has gone about her. My heart bleeds for the main character in this, and I honestly just want to give her a hug and let her know everything's going to be okay. In true faerie tale style, she gets a happy ending... even if it is really dark. From what I remember in tales from my childhood, the hand-maiden was banished from the kingdom... a much preferable ending to this original tale for a faerie tale, but I thoroughly enjoyed this one.

[❆ Crystal ❆ · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars... Okay, this one was a bit gruesome.... This is what I thought all Grimm fairy tales would be like. I enjoyed it.... especially the ending.

[Marzieh Torabi · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit too dark for children!

[ياس مين · Rating 3 out of 5]

This classic fairy tale offers a timeless lesson about the importance of honesty, loyalty, and the triumph of good over evil.

[Maria · Rating 4 out of 5]

There was a book that I was thinking about reading, which was described as being based on this Grimm fairytale... and now I can't remember what is was. Oh well, sometimes a short story is just nice to read anyway. Even if it is a morbid German one.

[Jinx:The:Poet {the LiteraryWanderer & WordRoamer} · Rating 4 out of 5]

THE GOOSE GIRL: A traveling bride is betrayed by her haughty waiting maid, and they end up swapping places and it soon turns into a violent tale. There are some dark themes in this one, such as the brutal death of a horse. Definitely not child friendly. MORAL: Don’t trust others. Things will be made right in the end. Karma. [RATING: 2 STARS]

[Emily Conn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book via podcast “Myths and Legends.” I had never heard this fairy tail before and loved it! The moral of the truth being free and to be cautious of others and stand your ground is a really good concept. The “goose” girl learns from her mistakes and grows to make her mother proud and justice comes to her. This was such a fun read!

[مروة الجزائري · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found a lot of adaptation of this fiary tale and i am now eager to know about them.
this fairy-tale is gruesome and i think let your child read it over 8 years. or if you want to read it as bed time story, try to skip the last part and add your own version.

[Mazie Lu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Traditional. I love The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale so I was curious about the original Grimm's fairy tale. It seemed to be changed to have a happy ending. I was surprised how many similarities there were between this and the novel. It was a good story but the illustrations were a little strange.

[Jenelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Practically the condensed version of Shannon Hale's Goose Girl.

Illustrations are richly detailed but faces and hair are a little weird.

[Mary Catelli · Rating 4 out of 5]

A princess, travelling to her wedding, is brought down by an evil servant and ends up tending geese, until a clever king works it out.

[Susan Molloy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Talking drops of blood and a horse’s head made this a curiously entertaining short fairy tale.

[Gian Zaleta · Rating 5 out of 5]

The good always wins!

[Alia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Seriously, not for kids.

[The Other Silas · Rating 4 out of 5]

While I may have heard the title of this story at some point in my life, my only recognition of it comes from Shannon Hale's retelling by the same name. I had high hopes for that book and since I had read somewhere that it was a VERY close retelling of the original, I waited until after finishing that book to read the original. And yeah, that book really is a super close retelling, down to the names of very background characters but I don't mind. It took a fairytale and expanded it, gave it a complex character journey, and emotional depth. And I loved it. But I AM glad I didn't read it beforehand. 😅 It was good, of course. A very neat little fairytale, something I would definitely tell my nieces until they're grown enough to read Hale's version.

[Divia · Rating 2 out of 5]

To be honest, until the maid-servant swapped places with the princess I did not actually see her as villainous. The swap was dishonest and in the end she paid for it with her life.

The middle with the poetry and hair-combing was boring, in my opinion. Honestly, if the Goose Boy, Curdken did not complain to the king about her there would be no resolution. The princess is rather dull. She just reacts to the people around her. Then again, this story was written a long time ago so I am not surprised by the portrayal of the princess.

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like with Kipling last year and Dickens the year before, one of the joys of specialising in a specific author each year is that you can get to pick up in time recurring themes and trends. Once again you pick up subtleties in Grimm’s Stories. The reference to a handkerchief with three drops of blood and a barrel with nails as form of punishment.

[Mike Lisanke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Talk about grading your own essay in English class. Ouch!
So we've all heard that the guilty are often asked what should happen/what-debt-paid for their crime without them realizing they are pronouncing their own sentence... but we all know this never happens to the guilty and the media make it happen to the criminals targets. That's real live... and this is a fairy tale. Although a Grimm one!

[Lotus Protea · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mama got a bit uncomfortable with the violence in this book so she didn't allow daddy to finish reading it to me... Maybe I am too young to hear of mothers cutting their fingers and horses who's heads are being cut off...

[Karim Elmenshawy · Rating 1 out of 5]

she should be thrown
into a cask stuck round with sharp nails, and that two white
horses should be put to it, and should drag it from street to
street till she was dead.

[Caroline · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good, but not very unique. I don't really get why that handkerchief with blood made her powerful, and a pushover without.

[Rain · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 Stars

The ending surprised me, and I'm hesitant to describe this as "Children's Lit."

[Morcys · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yikes! a little too dark maybe?

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

WOW! Read this to prepare to read Little Thieves by Margaret Owen, not sure I'm ready for her take on that Godfather moment.

[Jelka]

Die Wunderhaus Geschenkausgabe... <3!

[Satur♄o · Rating 3 out of 5]

A veces los cuentos clásicos encierran un final demasiado duro para una mala acción. La historia está bien sin más.

[Lauren Ray · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story was quite unhinged…and not in a good way…in the what the fuck is going on way

[Katerina]

At least it was a somewhat fair “happy" ending ..

[Jill · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of those fairy tales that is just screaming to be retold, and that's what I love about it! (I read it in Lang's Blue Fairy Book.)

[Dina Márcia Servolo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Esse livro me remete à infância e ao início da minha vida como leitora. Que nostalgia