Page:Lange - The Blue Fairy Book.djvu/312





Then a gust of wind came and blew Curdken’s hat away, so that he had to fly over hill and dale after it, and the girl in the meantime quietly combed and plaited her hair: all this the old King observed, and returned to the palace without any one having noticed him. In the evening when the goose-girl came home he called her aside: and asked her why she behaved as she did. ‘I mayn’t tell you why; how dare I confide my woes to anyone? for I swore not to by heaven, otherwise I should have lost my life.’ The old King begged her to tell him all, and left her no peace, but he could get nothing out of her. At last he said: ‘Well, if you won’t tell me, confide your trouble to the iron stove there;’ and he went away. Then she crept to the stove, and began to sob and ery and to pour out her poor little heart, and said: ‘Here I sit, deserted by all the world, I who am a king’s daughter, and a false waiting-maid has forced me to take off my own clothes, and has taken my place with my bridegroom, while I have to fulfil the lowly office of goose-girl.