“Falada, Falada, there thou art hanging!”

and it answered—­

      “Bride, bride, there thou art ganging! 
      Alas! alas! if thy mother knew it,
      Sadly, sadly her heart would rue it.”

Then she drove on the geese and sat down again in the meadow, and began to comb out her hair as before, and Curdken ran up to her, and wanted to take hold of it; but she cried out quickly—­

      “Blow, breezes, blow! 
      Let Curdken’s hat go,
      Blow, breezes, blow! 
      Let him after it go! 
      O’er hills, dales, and rocks,
      Away be it whirl’d,
      Till the golden locks
      Are all comb’d and curl’d!”

Then the wind came and blew his hat, and off it flew a great way, over the hills and far away, so that he had to run after it; and when he came back, she had done up her hair again, and all was safe.  So they watched the geese till it grew dark.

In the evening, after they came home, Curdken went to the old king, and said, “I cannot have that strange girl to help me to keep the geese any longer.”

“Why?” said the king.

“Because she does nothing but tease me all day long.”

Then the king made him tell all that had passed.

And Curdken said, “When we go in the morning through the dark gate with our flock of geese, she weeps, and talks with the head of a horse that hangs upon the wall, and says—­

      “‘Falada, Falada, there thou art hanging!’”

and the head answers—­

      “’Bride, bride, there thou art ganging! 
      Alas! alas! if thy mother knew it,
      Sadly, sadly her heart would rue it.’”

And Curdken went on telling the king what had happened upon the meadow where the geese fed; and how his hat was blown away, and he was forced to run after it, and leave his flock.  But the old king told him to go out again as usual the next day, and when morning came, the king placed himself behind the gate, and heard how she spoke to Falada, and how Falada answered; and then he went into the field and hid himself in a bush by the meadow’s side, and soon saw with his own eyes how they drove the flock of geese, and how, after a little time, she let down her hair that glittered in the sun; and then he heard her say—­

      “Blow, breezes, blow! 
      Let Curdken’s hat go! 
      Blow, breezes, blow! 
      Let him after it go! 
      O’er hills, dales, and rocks,
      Away be it whirl’d,
      Till the golden locks,
      Are all comb’d and curl’d!”

[Illustration:  “Then there came A wind so strong that it blew off Curdken’s hat.”]

And soon came a gale of wind, and carried away Curdken’s hat, while the girl went on combing and curling her hair.

All this the old king saw:  so he went home without being seen; and when the little goose girl came back in the evening, he called her aside, and asked her why she did so:  but she burst into tears, and said, “That I must not tell you or any man, or I shall lose my life.”