nd she came to the
knacker's man secretly, and promised him a piece of gold if he would do
her a service. There was in the town a great dark gate-way through which
she had to pass morning and evening with her geese, and she asked the
man to take Falada's head and to nail it on the gate, that she might
always see it as she passed by. And the man promised, and he took
Falada's head and nailed it fast in the dark gate-way.

Early next morning as she and Conrad drove their geese through the gate,
she said as she went by,

"O Falada, dost thou hang there?"

And the head answered,

"Princess, dost thou so meanly fare?
But if thy mother knew thy pain,
Her heart would surely break in twain."

But she went on through the town, driving her geese to the field. And
when they came into the meadows, she sat down and undid her hair, which
was all of gold, and when Conrad saw how it glistened, he wanted to pull
out a few hairs for himself. And she said,

"O wind, blow Conrad's hat away,
Make him run after as it flies,
While I with my gold hair will play,
And twist it up in seemly wise."

Then there came a wind strong enough to blow Conrad's hat far away over
the fields, and he had to run after it; and by the time he came back she
had put up her hair with combs and pins, and he could not get at any to
pull it out; and he was sulky and would not speak to her; so they looked
after the geese until the evening came, and then they went home.

The next morning, as they passed under the dark gate-way, the Princess
said,

"O Falada, dost thou hang there?"

And Falada answered,

"Princess, dost thou so meanly fare?
But if thy mother knew thy pain,
Her heart would surely break in twain."

And when they reached the fields she sat down and began to comb out her
hair; then Conrad came up and wanted to seize upon some of it, and she
cried,

"O wind, blow Conrad's hat away,
Make him run after as it flies,
While I with my gold hair will play,
And do it up in seemly wise."

Then the wind came and blew Conrad's hat very far away, so that he had
to run after it, and when he came back again her hair was put up again,
so that he could pull none of it out; and they tended the geese until
the evening.

And after they had got home, Conrad went to the old King and said, "I
will tend the geese no longer with that girl!"

"Why not?" asked the old King.

"Because she vexes