“Why do you cry?” asked the young count.
The queen told him that she had a beautiful daughter years ago who had been lost in the forest, and that they had never been able to find her. She wore a large emerald around her neck and pearls on her arms. Perhaps wild beasts had devoured her, or an old witch had stolen her and changed her into some hideous form. The queen said the emerald and the pearls belonged to her lost child and begged the young count to lead her to the place where the old woman lived, for there, perhaps, she might find her daughter.
The next day they all started out. The young count went on ahead to show them the way. He went fast because he was strong, and soon came near the old woman’s cottage. It was now dark and he climbed a tree to keep wild beasts from reaching him. Late in the night the moon came out and it was so bright that he could see anything. Before long he could see the goose girl coming down to the well to get water.
“Ah, here comes one witch! we shall soon have the other,” said the young count to himself. But the young girl stopped by the brook and took off her mask and let her hair fall down over her shoulders. He then saw how beautiful she was, with skin white as milk, and hair as golden as ripe wheat.
The young girl bathed her face and hands and put on her mask again, and tied up her hair and looked old and brown and ugly. She then went back toward the cottage and the young count climbed down from the tree and followed her. When he reached the cottage, he saw the old woman cleaning the floors and windows, and brushing down the cobwebs. The geese were picking the grass from the walks, and he could hear the goose girl in her room putting on her clothes, for it was daylight again and soon the king and queen would come.
After the sun rose the king and queen came to the cottage. The old woman asked them in and the young count with them. She called the goose girl, and when she came in she no longer wore the mask and the old dress, but was a beautiful young woman in a dress as fine as the queen wore. The queen knew her to be her daughter, and threw her arms around her and kissed her. The king kissed her, and the young count kissed her, too. Then the old woman stamped her foot and the cottage became a palace, and the geese became serving men, and the goose girl and the young count were married at once, and are living there to this day.
FOOLISH FRED
One must think for himself after all, for no instructions can be completely definite.