The Goose Girl

The Goose girl the subject of a well-known statue at the University of Göttingen which the students kiss upon receiving their degree. Mike, who was recently invited to Göttingen to give a talk, provided this photo.




This story has the most brutal ending of any Grimm's I have read thus far.

The false bride said, "She deserves no better fate than to be stripped stark naked, and put in a barrel that is studded inside with sharp nails. Two white horses should be hitched to it, and they should drag her along through one street after another, until she is dead."

"You are the one," said the old king, "and you have pronounced your own sentence. Thus shall it be done to you." After the sentence had been carried out, the young king married his true bride, and both of them ruled over their kingdom in peace and happiness.