The Goose Girl by Eric A. Kimmel

Genre: Folk Tale/Picture Book
Age range: 4-8
Summary: The Goose Girl is not your ordinary fairytale, I found it to be a bit depressing and graphic. This story begins with a princess and a loving queen. As soon as the princess was born she was cared for and watched over every step of the way. Later on in life when it was time for marriage, her mother explained to her of her prince in a land far away where she was to ride by horse to him. On her travel she brought her horse Falada and her maid Margaret. Soon into the journey Margaret became very angry and lashed out at the princess. She pushed her off of her horse changed her clothes and imposed as the princess. Once Margaret and the real princess entered into the kingdom the prince ran to Margaret thinking she was the true princess. Because the real princess had sworn to the heavens she would tell no one about the situation, she had to keep her lips shut. The real princess was then put to work with Conrad, the little goose boy and help feed the geese. During their time in the castle the King began to notice there was something fishy occurring. He decided to check on the situation himself. After he saw what was going on and heard her story, he immediately went to Margaret and told of the deception that was going on in the castle. Without explaining who was being deceitful, he asked what the punishment should be for that who was lying. She quickly announced that the person should be cast into a barrel of spikes and dragged through the town by horses until they were dead. The King then appointed that her death be done as she said, and off was Margaret to her death. Finally after all of the confusion came to a conclusion, the true princess and the true prince lived happily ever after.