This fic is based on the fairy tale "The Goose Girl" by, I believe, the Brothers Grimm. It was also inspired heavily by "Your Mommy Murdered You" by Oberon of Shadows. I recommend it; it's such an amazing short fic.I do not own The Goose Girl and I'm not sure who does.
If Your Mother Only Knew
You were young when you had to leave home. Your mommy kissed you goodbye and cut her fingers so that she bled onto a small handkerchief. She told you to take care of it, because it would protect you. You didn't understand why you needed protecting. Your best friend Falada would be with you. Falada was your white horse. He talked to you and listened when no one else did. Your waiting-maid was going with you, too. You thought you liked her, but she scared you. When you were both little, she told you that you were her best friend. You told her that Falada was your best friend. She got jealous and you saw her hitting Falada with a whip. You cried and told your mommy. Your mommy had her locked in a stall in the barn for three days. When she came out, she apologized and hugged you, Falada, and your mommy. Since then, though, you thought she was scary. You knew your mommy chose her to go with you because she would protect you and remain loyal, but you were just glad that you wouldn't be going alone to see your new husband.
After you and your waiting-maid had been riding for a while, you got thirsty. You asked her to get you some water out of a nearby stream for you. You were used to people doing as you asked, since you were a princess. She told you that she wasn't going serve you anymore, and told you to do it on your own. As you bent down to get a drink of cold cold water with your hands, you sobbed softly and asked "Oh, what am I to do?"
Your mommy's blood on the white silk cloth talked to you softly. "If your mother only knew, her heart would surely break in two." You knew that you were scared of your waiting-maid now, but you still didn't want to make the trip to the new palace by yourself. And your mommy would protect you with her blood. Falada turned and kissed your knee when you got back on him and started to ride. "Princess," he told you gently.
After another day, you forgot about your waiting-maid's cruel words and asked her to get you a cup of water from the cold cold stream. She told you again to get it for yourself, and that she didn't want to be your servant anymore. You got down on your knees to drink the cold cold water, and asked in despair "Oh, what am I to do?"
"If your mother only knew, her heart would surely break in two." This time the words didn't comfort you, so you didn't notice the handkerchief drop into the cold cold water and float away. You went over to Falada, your best friend, but your waiting-maid called to you. "Don't mount Falada, I mean to ride him. You may ride my beast."
Your mommy's blood couldn't protect you anymore, so you had to do as she said. She made you put on her rough peasant clothes, so foreign to you. She put on your expensive dress and rode on, making you swear by pain of death not to speak a word of this to a living soul.
You were powerless to disagree.
Once you reached your new husband's palace, your waiting-maid introduced herself as the princess and you as a servant to keep her company on the journey. She asked the king to give you a task to do. The king looked at you, in your ragged dress and sweaty face, and told you to go help the goose-boy. Although you didn't know it, your waiting-maid asked the prince to have Falada slaughtered and his head hung above a gate you had to pass through every day with the goose-boy and his flock of geese.
The first time you saw it, you cried and cried until you fainted. When you woke up, you felt just like the cold cold water that had taken your mommy's handkerchief.
Every day after that, you looked up to him, into his eyes that still looked alive, and whispered to him, "Oh, Falada. 'Tis you hang there." And although you knew he was dead and your mommy's handkerchief was gone, you could swear you heard him reply. "'Tis you pass under, Princess fair. If your mother only knew, her heart would surely break in two."
And then you went to the field with the goose-boy and his geese. When you took your hair down, it glinted in the sun like gold. The goose-boy always tried to sneak up behind you and pull some of it out, but the wind always blew his hat away and he had to run away and try to catch it. You knew he thought that you made the wind blow, but you didn't care.
You didn't know that he went to the king and told him everything. He told the king, your new husband's father that you talked to the horse's head and that it called you "princess."
You didn't know that the day after, the king watched you and listened to you. The goose-boy didn't realize that he was revealing your waiting-maid's farce to the king; he only wanted you to go away. That night you were called to the king's kitchen. He asked you to tell him your story. You remembered your mommy, and your cruel waiting-maid, and dear Falada.
You also remembered your promise not to tell a living soul. It was hard for you to not cry and sob and tell this kind old man your woes, but the waiting-maid had the power over you. You were still scared of her. She killed Falada, your best friend. The king quickly suggested that you confide in the cold cold stove. You looked at him, but he only said that a troubled goose-girl wouldn't do her task well.
You believed that he didn't realize you were a princess. You agreed and he hastily left. You sobbed out the whole tale to the cold cold iron. You didn't know that the king stood listening at the chimney outside.
Your last words to the stove were "If my mother only knew, her heart would surely break in two," before you broke down in sobs. The king came into the kitchen again and hugged you and kissed you. He told you that he knew you were the princess, the woman his son would wed. He gave you dresses to choose from to wear that night to dinner with him, and the prince, and your waiting-maid. You chose a green dress, because green was your mommy's favorite color.
You met the prince before dinner, and you talked to him. He told you how happy he was to finally meet you, since he didn't like your waiting-maid at all. He was so nice to you that you were finally happy to have made this journey. At dinner, your waiting-maid sat across the table from you, but was too preoccupied with the prince – your new husband – to notice you at all.
After dinner, the king asked your waiting-maid what the punishment would be in her country if a peasant had taken the place of a princess and lied to the king. She didn't recognize this as a trap, and lied freely. She told your father-in-law that she would be placed naked in a barrel lined with sharp nails and dragged up and down the street by two white horses until dead. You gasped, and the king said "This person is you. We have found the true princess, and you have passed this sentence on yourself."
You watched the next day as your waiting-maid was killed. You cried.