Joan Aiken

The Goose Girl

One day God and St Peter were out taking the air together in the green countryside. St Peter walked along silently for a long distance. Then he suddenly burst out:

“It must be a fine thing to be God! My goodness, if I could only be God for a short time – even for half a day! – then I’d be content to be St Peter for ever after!”

God smiled at that. “Very well, my dear Peter, if you are so set on it, your wish is granted. Be God until nightfall!”

They went on a little farther, and ahead of them they saw a village. A girl was coming in their direction, driving a flock of geese in front of her. She shooed all the geese into a meadow, left them, and started back towards the village again.

“Surely you aren’t going to leave those geese unguarded?” St Peter said.

“Well, what? You don’t expect me to stay with them today? It’s a feast day!”

“But who will look after the geese?”

“God Almighty!” And off she ran.

“Well, Peter, you heard what she said,” God told him. “I’m sorry you can’t come with me to the village feast; I should have been delighted to take you – but then the geese might come to harm. You are God until nightfall, I’m afraid it’s your job to protect them.”

So Peter had to stay and mind the geese.

Never again did he wish to be God.

~

The Reed Girl

There was once a king who decided that it was time for his son to marry. But the young man, when asked about it, said that if he must marry he would not take any poor skeleton of  a girl, but that his wife must be the most beautiful creature on the whole round of the earth.

“Well, my son, but where is she to be found?”

“Perhaps the wise woman will know.”

So they asked the wise woman.

“She lives far from here,” said the wise woman. “As far as from here to there, and from there back.”

“Where is that, then, mother?”

“You have heard of the Black Sea, perhaps? In the seventy-fourth island of the Black Sea, right in the middle, are hidden three reeds. It will be very hard to find them, for there is such darkness on the islands of the Black Sea that a spoon might stand up in it. Moreover those three reeds are guarded by a witch who life will end when they are cut down. But in one of those reeds is hidden a girl on whom the starry sky would gaze with a smile, for she is the most beautiful creature on the whole round of the earth.”

“Very well,” said the king’s son, when he had heard all this from root to branch, “I will go in search of that Reed Girl.”

And he saddled his horse and set off, over forty-nine kingdoms and beyond the Operentsia Sea, until he came to a hut where lived an old woman.

“Old mother, can you tell me where the Reed Girl is to be found?”

“No I cannot,” said the old woman. “But I will call my servant who will take you to my sister; maybe she can help you.” And she called, “Here Mitsi, Mitsi!”

The king’s son followed Mitsi, who was a small mouse with very long whiskers. So they came to a but where another old woman lived.

“Old mother, can you tell me where the Reed Girl is to be found?”

“No, my son, but I will call my servant Pitsi to take you to my sister; maybe she will know.”

Pitsi, who was a dove-white squirrel, took the king’s son to the hut of the third old woman.

“Good day, dear old mother.”

“It is a good thing you addressed me so politely, or I should have eaten you. What are you doing in this strange land, where even birds do not fly?”

“I am looking for the Reed Girl.”

“If you wore iron boots on your feet, you would wear out twelve pairs of them before you found her! You need a horse that has sucked dragon’s milk and eaten glowing coals.”

“Where can I find such a horse?”

“Happily for you,” said the old woman, “I see three golden hairs growing on your head. Some fairy must have been in love with your father. Climb the high mountain behind my hut and strike the three golden hairs with this latch-string.”

So the king’s son climbed the mountain, pulled out his three golden hairs, and struck them with the latch-string. A fiery cloud rushed towards him, and down from it leaped the horse that had sucked dragon’s milk and eaten glowing coals. The latch-string became a marvellous saddle, made of fur, with diamond buttons and silver embroidery.

“Climb on my back then, dear master,” said the horse. “Shall I go as fast as a whirlwind, as fast as thought, or as fast as a bird?”

“Go as you choose, dear horse.”

“Very well; but as we are going to the islands where there is such a darkness that a spoon might stand up in it, we must first go to the bright home of the sun and ask for one of his rays.”

So they flew across the sky until they came to the doors of the world where two bearded wolves mount guard. These would not let the travellers past without payment of two pounds of flesh, so the king’s son cut off his hand and threw it to them.

Then the horse carried the king’s son to the bright home of the Sun, the windswept isle of Bujan. Here they met Zora-djevojka, the Dawn Maiden, the Sun’s beloved daughter. She gave the king’s son honey to eat, and played to him on a golden zither, whose strings she brushed with a silver feather. Her music was so beautiful that his hand grew again from the stump. Then the Dawn Maiden gave him one of the Sun’s burning rays; she wound it up like a ribbon, and put it in a box which she hung round his neck. The king’s son mounted his horse again, and they rode on for seven days, until they came to the islands of the Black Sea, where there is such a darkness that a spoon might stand up in it. Now he opened his box and took out the sun’s ray. It gave light, but only to him; not a created soul in the world could see him. He found the spot where the three reeds were growing and at a single blow cut down all three with his sword. When he did so a bitter cry was heard, and black blood flowed from the reed-stumps; this was the death-cry of the witch who guarded the reeds, and the blood was hers.

Quickly the king’s son mounted his horse again and rode back over forty-nine kingdoms. But, as he rode, a terrible curiosity began to rise up in him and prick him like a gimlet. He longed to know if there really were girls inside the reeds. So at last, when he could not bear it any longer, he stopped and split one of the reeds with his dagger.

Out came a beautiful girl, fair as a pearl. But she sank on the ground calling out “Water! Water! Give me a drop of water, only a drop, or I shall surely die.”

One drop of water is not much to ask, but the king’s son had done at all. So the poor girl grew paler and paler, her head dropped to the ground, and she died.

Then the king’s son was so sorry for what he had done that he would willingly have died too, if it would have brought her back to life.

He dug a grave with his sword and buried the poor girl, planting the split reed above her; from it sprand a rose-bush with one black bloom. A bitter weeping was heard from the two reeds that remained, and the king’s son thought,

“I caused the death of that poor girl; I broke off the flower and planted it in the garden of death.” But if he had wept his soul away, it would have made no difference; so he mounted his horse and rode on.

But now again a wicked curiosity rose up in him, to know what was inside the second reed. At last he could resist the devil’s prompting no longer; he drew his dagger and split the reed. Another girl came out, white as a pearl, crying, “Water! Water! Give me a drop of water, only a drop, or I shall die.”

But the king’s son had no drop of water to give her, and she drooped and died. At that the king’s son was so sorry that he nearly died himself. But the harm was done. So he dug a grave with his sword, laid the poor girl in it, and planted the split reed above her head. From it sprang a beautiful rose-bush which blossomed with black flowers. And a grievous weeping came from the last of the three reeds.

The king’s son mounted his horse and rode on. Once more a terrible curiosity overcame him, to know what the third girl looked like. He took out the last reed – looked at it – was going to split it, but his horse reached back and snatched the reed from him. So they flew, until they reached the shores of a lake.

By the water’s edge the king’s son split the last reed, and a beautiful girl came out, so beautiful that her like has never been seen before or since. She cried “Water! Water! Give me a drop, only a drop, or I shall surely die!”

So he made haste, and gave her water to drink in his helmet. They embraced and kissed, saying, “I am yours, and you are mine.”

Then the king’s son took her home to his father’s palace, and they were married, and lived happily for many years