The Original Tale vs The Retelling: The Goose Girl

In the miscellaneous section of the blog, I am doing my very first Original Tale vs The Retelling. There are so many fairytales, myths, legends and classic stories out there. They’ve also been retold time and time again. In recent decades, so many authors have had their retellings of these classic stories. Theres many hits, misses and in between. In this review I will compare The Goose Girl by The Brothers Grimm to The Goose Girl retold by Shannon Hale. If you haven’t read either fairytale or the retelling by Shannon Hale, beware there are spoilers! You’ve been warned!

Similarities

In both versions The Princess is on her way to another kingdom to meet her betrothal and marry him. The princess gets a handkerchief from her mother with three drops of blood like both versions. The evil maid servant takes the princess’ identity, and the real princess becomes the Goose Girl for her own safety & there is a character named Conrad. In both versions, Conrad sees her beautiful golden hair and how the geese love her and her power over the wind. There is a horse named Falada that unfortunately meets a violent end for fear that Falada would reveal the false princess’s identity. Falada’s head is also mounted on a wall. The king overhears that it is true that the goose girl was the princess all along. The king tricked the false princess into pronouncing her own punishment. Which is being stripped naked and put into a barrel with pointed nails and horses dragging her along the street until she is dead. The prince and princess will be married and live happily ever after.

Slight Differences & Additions

Here is where the differences come in. In the original version of The Goose Girl by The Brothers Grimm, neither of the key players in the story, except for the horse Falada & The Goose Boy Conrad. In Shannon Hale’s version Falada & The Goose Boy, Conrad also exists. The Princess/Goose Girl, Celia & The Prince character all have names. The Princess’s name is Princess Anidori-Kiladra Talianna Isilee who is named Ani for short. Ani’s kingdom is named Kildenree. The evil maidservant’s name is Selia. The prince’s name is Geric. For a while we think Geric is the guard to the prince, & while Ani and Geric are disguised they fall in love. It is revealed toward the end that Geric is the prince that Ani is supposed to marry.

In The Brothers Grimm version of the tale, the maidservant/Selia does not have a lover on the side. In Shannon Hale’s version, Selia has a lover who’s a brutish warrior and mercenary named Ungolad. Ungolad reminds me almost of a Viking with the two braids.

When it comes to how Ani becomes the Goose Girl both versions are slightly different. Selia, in both the fairytale and Shannon Hale’s story, tires of being the maidservant to Ani. In The Brothers Grimm story, Selia forces Anidori to change out of her outfit and forces her to swear an oath that she would not tell a soul of what they have done, or she’d be killed. If Ani didn’t make the oath in the original story, Ani would have been killed right there.

In Shannon Hale’s version, half of Ani’s guards turn against her and fight the guards protecting her and she must quickly get on another horse and flee for her life. She meets characters that are also not in the book such as Finn, his mother Gilsa, and when she becomes the Goose Girl makes friends with Enna, Conrad (who is in both versions), Razo.  Her friends also help her face Selia, Ungolad and their men. Ani falls in love with Geric who we won’t find out towards the end Geric is the prince.

In The Brothers Grimm fairytale The King has Ani tell her story to the stove and the King overhears. Ani and Geric in the original story meet. Though it doesn’t say outright that they fell in love, we fill the blanks in our heads.

In Shannon Hale’s version The King and Geric overhear Selia, Ungolad & Terne threaten her and when that doesn’t work, Ungolad is about to kill her but thankfully the King and Geric overhear what they were about to do. A battle breaks out and many lives are lost including Ungolad. Selia is dragged away & we all know her gruesome punishment will come and that’s the last we see of her.

Princess Ani develops from an insecure girl unsure of herself to a confident assertive woman who still has her kindness. She speaks up for herself, even surprising herself. In the Brothers Grimm story, we don’t know the personalities of any of the characters, only the black and white good and evil.

Which Version Is Better?

I love the fact that Shannon Hale sticks to the spirit of the original story while also expanding on what we don’t know & what we filled in the gaps in our minds. I especially love how Princess Ani develops as a character and the fact that we know for sure that Ani and Geric fall in love and its not like “Oh we’re getting together because its arrange and we’re supposed to assume the readers knows we’re also in love.” I also love how Shannon Hale also adds in new characters too who also get their own books. The middle does get a little slow but I enjoy the story still. The Brothers Grimm is just quick to the point & during their time, there wasn’t much about backstory. That doesn’t mean it still wasn’t good, but times change and we love backstories. While both versions are great in their own way, in this edition of The Goose Girl Shannon Hale wins!