by Nancy Madore
These brimming trunks were carefully loaded onto long carts, which were then furnished with guards that had been selected from among the most devoted servants throughout the kingdom. In addition to this extravagant cargo, the princess was given, for her personal maid and companion, the beautiful daughter of the king’s most trusted servant, a man who had himself descended from a long line of servants to the throne. This maid was a most agreeable selection to the princess, for she had been a cherished companion of hers since her childhood.
For her journey, the princess was given an enchanted horse that could speak, called Falada. Last of all, the princess was presented with a golden necklace from which hung a royal ring belonging to her betrothed prince. She was to return the ring to the prince upon their marriage.
When all was ready for departure, the entire castle turned out to wish the princess well and, at length, the journey was begun.
There was much excitement as the travelers set out, and the princess and her maid passed the first hours of their journey merrily. But soon they grew weary of the pace that was kept by the others, preferring to travel in a much more leisurely manner. In truth, the princess did not look forward to being married, and more particularly to marrying a prince whom she had never even met. That is not to say that she entertained hopes of somehow avoiding the marriage, for she was obedient and loyal, with that intractable conformity to duty that is characteristic of those with royal blood flowing through their veins. Still, it was her intention to enjoy her last moments of freedom for as long as possible.
Determined, therefore, not to be hurried into her inevitable destiny, she convinced her entourage to ride on ahead, allowing her and her maid to follow at their own pace. It was only a few days’ ride on the princess’s own royal lands, after all, and besides, no one in the procession was of the mind to deny the princess anything that she wished.
That first day of their journey was especially warm and, having taken many stops to rest, the princess and her companion soon fell far behind the rest of the group. Just as it was reaching late afternoon, the two came upon a clear stream and, delighting in the prospect of having a bath after such a long and tedious ride, agreed it was a perfect place to set up camp for the night.
Eagerly the ladies dismounted their horses, stripped off their dusty clothes and rushed headlong into the water. It felt wonderful to wash away the dust from the road.
But the princess was not used to attending to herself and in no time her hair was tangled in knots all around her. Seeing the princess’s difficulty, her maid rushed to her side to lend assistance.
The luxuriously cool water caressed their weary limbs, and as the maid tenderly washed the princess’s hair, the gentle rocking of the current brought their flesh repeatedly into contact. Before long, the subtle coercion of the waves had its effect, and the women were becoming increasingly enchanted by each other.
Once the princess’s hair was washed and rinsed, she immediately set out to return the favor, so that the same process was repeated with the princess washing the hair of her maid. Meanwhile, both women became bolder, allowing their bodies to linger when the water brought them together, as if by accident, but really growing more and more aroused by the exquisite touch of the other’s soft, womanly flesh. Their clean hair sparkled in the late afternoon sun.
But the princess was not yet willing to part with her charming maid and so, very leisurely, as if in a dream, she began to caress her, using the soap with her hands to give the appearance of washing the lady, but really only wanting to touch her more intimately. She was seized with a curiosity to know what the other woman felt like and how she compared with herself; but more than that she was aching with a need to please and be pleased by her.
It wasn’t long before the maid was consumed by the same desires as the princess, and she too began to gently touch and explore her friend’s body. They each marveled at the little peculiarities of their otherwise similar female charms.
Little by little they became more familiar with each other, discovering, as only women who indulge in this most extravagant form of self-love do, how exquisite it is to touch one so much like herself. Oh, how sweet to feel her lover’s nipple harden between her fingers as she strokes the plump mound lovingly. How it excites her to glide her hand alongside the other’s body and caress the enticing curves of waist and hip and round buttock. Her heart can hardly bear it when, searching below the small triangle of hair at the junction of two smooth legs, she finally discovers the tiny bud that causes the other to shudder—much in the same way that a touch there makes her shudder. She cannot resist slipping a finger into that womanly softness and feeling the warm, silky wetness within.
Covered in pearly suds, they eagerly caressed each other, discovering with delight that, despite their little distinctions, they were indeed very much alike.
With no more need to act under the ruse of bathing, the princess and her maid rinsed away the soap and waded to the shore. They leisurely dried each other’s bodies, giggling, and teasing each other brazenly. They decided that one pallet was all they required for the night and excitedly set to work. Like two fairies in an enchanted wood they scurried about, delighting in their nakedness. The bedding was at last arranged, and timidly the maid lay down upon it.
The princess nestled alongside her maid and softly kissed her lips. The maid returned her kiss ardently, pressing her body against the princess’s. They embraced like long-lost lovers, dropping one languorous kiss after another onto smooth, rosy lips. Between kisses they whispered endearments to each other, wholeheartedly declaring their affection, and it was exquisite for both when breasts touched breasts, legs glided over smooth legs, and shiny wet openings rubbed eagerly against the other. They were now terribly excited and longing for more.
The princess turned her body so that she was lying beside the maid, but facing the opposite direction. Both were new to the experience but each, as if by instinct, easily found her position before the other. With a quiver of anticipation, they first examined, then gently opened and tentatively licked the delicate flesh of the other. Soft moans escaped their lips as they discovered with delight the pleasure they could give each other in this way.
As their passion grew they clung more fervently to each other, and their hips undulated wildly against the tongues that worked at them with such eagerness. So fierce was their embrace that they appeared from a distance more like one creature than two, and their cries echoed through the forest while their horses silently looked on. All too soon it was over, but the princess and her maid continued to hold each other, trembling, and whispering sentiments of love to each other.
Later that night, the maid was awakened by a hard object that was lodged in the bedding beneath her. Feeling around in the tangled blankets she discovered the royal ring, which had fallen from the princess’s neck during their lovemaking. She quickly snatched up the ring and hid it within her garments. A terrible plot, meanwhile, was slowly taking shape in her mind.
The maid knew that she should be pleased with her position as companion to the princess, for a kinder mistress could not be found in any kingdom. In fact, the princess treated her more like a sister than a servant. Perhaps it was this very benevolence of the princess’s that caused the maid such discontent. Whatever the reason, the maid was intensely jealous of the princess, and coveted her many possessions and her lofty position. Most of all, she was envious that the princess was about to marry a prince. For the maid, marriage to a prince would once and for all give her the freedom and power she longed for. She would be a princess and have anything she desired.
Once the idea to betray her mistress had been conceived, it grew quickly, taking control of the maid’s mind and forbidding all other thoughts to interfere. She ignored any feelings of sympathy for the princess, and even when it occurred to her that she may have to threaten the princess’s life in order to realize her dream, she did not back down, though she shuddered at the thought. But she loved her own ambition far more th
an she loved the gentle princess. Still, she resolved to do all in her power not to harm the princess, as she once again went over the details of her plot in her mind, all the while clinging to the royal ring.
On the following day, the maid did not immediately reveal her intentions to the princess. Instead she brooded miserably throughout the morning as they resumed their travels.
About midday the pair passed by another stream. Quite thirsty, the princess said to her maid, “Please get down from your horse and fetch me some water.”
But the maid refused, saying, “You may get it for yourself.”
This shocked the princess, but she felt too kindly toward the girl to take the issue up with her as she should, and so, sliding down from her horse, she went to the stream to drink. But the princess’s horse, Falada, marked all that occurred.
A little farther down the road the princess once again felt thirsty and, forgetting the earlier incident, she once more entreated her maid, saying, “Please get down from your horse and fetch me some water.”
Again the maid refused the princess with a rude retort, and the princess was obliged to get the water for herself. But after drinking she stood up to find that her maid had dismounted also.
The look in her maid’s eyes caused the princess’s heart to grow cold with terror. It appeared as if the maid would kill her, but instead she ordered the princess to remove her royal robes and don her maid’s clothing. This seemed an odd request, but the princess obeyed silently, even as she watched her maid put on her royal robes. Next, the maid mounted Falada, leaving her own nag for the princess to ride. The princess wondered at all that occurred, but said nothing, thinking it safer to wait until they reached the safety of the kingdom before questioning the maid’s bizarre behavior. As for the maid, she kept postponing the moment when she would conclude her scheme, for she did not, in truth, take pleasure in the task ahead.
They traveled on for a time in this way, with the princess too frightened to speak and the maid solemnly pondering their fate. When at last they reached the fork in the road that marked the entrance of the betrothed prince’s kingdom, the maid knew that she could delay no longer. She stopped the princess’s horse and forced her to dismount.
Before the princess had time to speak the maid quickly produced a dagger. Pointing the dagger at the princess’s heart, she gave her an ultimatum: to vow never to reveal her true identity to a single soul or else be killed. The princess was too shocked to speak, but the maid pressed the dagger forward, saying, “I know you will not break a royal vow, so vow now or die!”
What could the princess do? To save her own life she did as the maid demanded.
And so it happened just as the maid had planned, and when the two women arrived at their destination, the maid was immediately mistaken for the princess and received into the castle of the prince with much joy and celebration. As for the true princess, she was obliged to act as the maid. She was locked in her former maid’s bedchamber, and forced to unpack her own possessions, which now belonged to the maid. The maid concluded this evil deed by sending out an order that all of the princess’s entourage immediately be sent back to their former kingdom.
With her plan so very well carried out, the impostor princess lost no time in marrying the unsuspecting prince. But the true princess refused to serve her treacherous maid and, having no training or abilities for employment, could find no better position than tending to the royal geese in the courtyard. And that is how she came to be known as the “goose girl.”
In this way, the prince and his bride lived happily together, but the goose girl, meanwhile, suffered a life of poverty and loneliness, where her only companions were the geese that she tended in the yard.
One day the prince wished to go out riding and, finding his own horse away to be shod, he mounted the princess’s horse, Falada.
Away they rode at a fair gallop, for Falada was a fine horse, until they came to the fork in the road where the maid had forced the princess to make the fateful vow or lose her life. As they passed this place, Falada slowed down to a trot, and murmured, “This is where the servant girl would have killed your true princess if she did not vow to keep her true identity a secret.”
The prince was shocked by this announcement, but he remained silent and allowed the horse to continue on in the same direction to see what else he could learn. They traveled on a bit farther and, at another place in the road, the horse once again slowed down, saying, “This is where the servant girl forced your true princess to exchange clothing with her.”
Again the prince held his tongue and gently urged the horse onward. When they came to the large stream where the ladies had bathed, Falada came to a stop, saying, “This is where the servant girl and your true princess bathed and caressed each other, causing your royal ring to slip from the princess’s neck and into the hands of her maid.”
At this the prince abruptly turned Falada around and led her in a full gallop all the way back to his castle. Upon arriving there, he immediately sent for his wife, who he now perceived to be the maid. Though the penalty for such an act of treachery would usually have been severe, the prince had grown to deeply love his wife, servant or no. He did not wish to have her harmed, and he paced about thinking, trying to devise a proper punishment for her actions.
Suddenly he heard her footsteps behind him. She smiled at him innocently. “What is it you wish, husband?” she asked.
“I wish you to bring forth my true bride,” he said quietly. At the unexpected request she turned deathly pale, but he touched her face gently, saying, “Do as I say.”
Terrified of her fate, the lady rushed out to do his bidding. She quickly found the goose girl and told her of the prince’s request. Upon seeing the terrified expression of her former maid, the true princess guessed that the prince had discovered their secret. To the amazement of her errant maid, the goose girl squeezed her hand and reassured her, saying, “I will not let harm come to you!” Though, in truth, she did not know how she would keep this promise. Indeed, there is no force on earth powerful enough to save a woman who does such harm to one of her own kind; and there is no force in heaven that will.
The maid was astonished by her former mistress’s kindness. But alas! She could not undo what had already been done.
Trembling, and clinging to each other, the women approached the prince in his chamber. Seeing them so frightened, his heart was touched. But he had devised a retribution for his wife and was determined to see it through to the end.
“I wish to have what your deception has cheated me out of, wife,” he stated. But looking at the goose girl, he nearly changed his mind, for her appearance was severely altered from the filth of the yard and the poor girl’s lack of accommodations.
“But first she will have a bath,” he decided. His wife started to ring for the servants, but he stopped her. “You will bathe her as you did in the stream,” he instructed.
The prince’s wife slowly undressed the goose girl. As she looked into the sympathetic eyes of the goose girl’s dirty face she blushed with shame. She remembered suddenly how kind the princess had always been to her. She had regretted her treatment of the princess even before her secret had been discovered but, oh, how she had loved being a princess!
When the goose girl was completely undressed, the maid led her to an oversize tub filled with soapy water. The goose girl lowered herself into the water as the prince’s wife bent over the tub to wash her.
“It will be easier if you bathe with her,” interrupted her husband. “Is that not how you did it in the stream?”
Reluctantly, and with trembling fingers, his wife removed her own clothing and climbed into the tub. Despite her fears about her uncertain future, she could feel the familiar tingling welling up within her. Yet, in her present circumstance, it was as disturbing as it was pleasurable. Straddling the goose girl so that one knee was on either side of her hips, she began to carefully wash her snarled hair. Tears of regret ran down her lovely cheeks as she met
the gentle eyes of the goose girl, who merely stared back at her former maid without a trace of anger. The prince watched silently as the goose girl boldly began to wash the hair of her former maid, just as she had in the stream on that night long ago.
Once their hair fell in clean, shining streaks around their slick bodies, the women took up the soap and slowly began to spread silky white suds over each other’s bodies. The prince watched in amazement as the women bathed as intimately as they had done in the woods. Using only the soap and their hands, they washed each other thoroughly, leaving no part of the other untouched. The goose girl was so moved by the loveliness of her former maid that, forgetting the prince entirely, she brushed her lips across hers in a swift kiss. Oh, how she had agonized over what her maid had done to her while she was the goose girl! But mostly she was heartbroken, for she had meant every word of love that she had uttered that night in the woods.
Her former maid was tormented by too many conflicting feelings to respond to the kiss, and she abruptly stood up and stepped out of the tub.
The prince handed his wife a soft towel and instructed her to dry the body of the goose girl. She obeyed, and once again the goose girl returned the favor by doing the same for her.
Now the prince led the two women to his bed, saying in a matter-of-fact voice (though he was trembling in his absolute arousal), “Please, ladies, show me how you caressed each other beside the stream.” The women hesitated, embarrassed. Their skin, which was flushed pink from their bath, tingled and burned with a mixture of self-consciousness and anticipation.
The prince, however, was impatient to know all that had passed between his wife and the princess. Their reluctance was like torture for him, and so he addressed the ladies who stood so enticingly before him impatiently, saying, “You have both betrayed me—one with her unfaithfulness and the other with her trickery. Under the law I may punish you however I wish. So you may both pay your debt to me, in full, here and now, or suffer the full penalty under the law.” He spoke thus to the ladies, but only because he was in a highly agitated state and wished to spur them into action by whatever means necessary. In truth, the prince had completely forgiven both women when he beheld them together in the bath.
