There once was a princess who needed to marrya prince from a distant land.My dear, we're delighted you're here," said the king."I hope you've had a pleasant journey?" The king and prince were surprised by this, but theypromised to do as she asked. asked the king. And so as soon as the real princess had struggled upthe Never-ending Hill on her old nag, people spoke toher as if she was her own maid! And no matter howhard she cried and claimed to be the real princess,no one believed her. She was taken to the palaceyard, where she was told that she would bethe grubby little Goose Boy's assistant! Every day she had to feed the geese. Then she hadto help the Goose Boy lead the geese throughthe higgledy-piggledy streets of the town to a meadowwhere they could peck about and roam freely.They had to make sure that the geese didn't stray tothe wrong side of the Never-ending Hill, where the landjust fell away into nothing. Then every day atdusk they led themback to the palaceyard again. The people of the town complained because the geese lefttheir droppings wherever they went. The streets and alleysof Faraway were all coated with a greenish slime. The realprincess apologised of course, but she didn't see how shecould stop the geese from making a mess. There wasn't much that the Goose Boy didn't know aboutgoose droppings. He talked about them a lot. The realprincess tried not to mind too much. She felt sorry for himbecause he'd never known any other kind of life, whereasat least she'd once been a princess. But one thing he did made her angry. When she sat by the stream in the meadow, the realprincess would often take off her maid's cap and let downher hair. Then the Goose Boy would reach out his grubbyhand and try to pull out one or two of the shining strands. The real princess would whisk her hair back underher cap. she'd cry. And the GooseBoy would hang his head and shuffle off. But the nexttime she shook out her shining hair, he was there again,trying to tweak some of it out. One day the real princess got so annoyed that shestamped her foot and shouted, "Blow breezes, blowMake his hat go!"So she asked the maid, "Won't you fetch mesome water in one of the golden goblets we've brought?" The princess was so shocked that she meekly got off herhorse and fetched her own water from the river.No one had ever spoken to her like that before. Comforted by this, she climbedback onto him and strokedhis mane. But later she forgot how rude her maid had been,and asked her again for water. Once more the maidrefused and said, "Get it yourself!You've got legs,haven't you?" The princess realised that her maid wasn't going to behelpful at all. So she got down from her horse, took offher crown and cloak and her silver shoes and paddledinto the river
Cupping her hands to drink she murmured,"Falada, Falada, what shall I do?"Now you can help me to rulewisely and well!" As for the maid, after a short time of shovellingthe droppings, she went to the princess and beggedher forgiveness. The princess didn't think this was much of an apology.And she wasn't prepared to let the maid avoid herpunishment so easily
You must take all the goose droppings you've clearedfrom the streets and spread them on the gardens ofFaraway," she said.People cheered andshouted, "Hooray for the princess!" Falada started to protest, but the maid leaned over andwhispered into his ear, "You'd better keep quiet, or I'll puta bag over your head!"The false princess stood up.

"I think," she said, "that such a person should be putin a barrel, and rolled down the wrong side ofthe Never-ending Hill, and never seen again!"So a prince wasfound who ruled over the land of Faraway, at the topof the Never-ending Hill.She rode around in a circlewaving, and everyone was happy that she was settingoff so joyfully.But she got on it anyway and followed the princessupstream, which was the way Falada had told them to go.
They hadn't gone far before the princess began tofeel thirsty.And when the princess lookedup, she was horrified to see her maid was sitting on him.She was even wearing the princess's cloak and crownand silver shoes!said the princess."And that's my cloak, and my crown and those are mysilver shoes! Tell her, Falada!"The maid laughed, thentugged Falada's reinsroughly and rode off."They should scoop up the droppings and put them ontheir gardens," the Goose Boy said.As he stood blinking in the sunlight, the realprincess ran to him and put her arms around his neck."Dear Falada!" she cried."The maid told the Goose Boy he had to help her, of course.Soon the gardens of Faraway bloomed more beautifullythan any gardens in the world.Then the Goose Girl andthe Goose Boy settled down together to grow their ownflowers and vegetables and look after their geese.And so it can truly be said that everyonein Faraway lived happily ever after, thanksto the power of the goose droppingsand the wisdom of a talking horse.This was because thereweren't any princes who lived nearby."That doesn't sound niceat all," she wept."You must followhis advice. He'll be your best and wisest friend."And herhorse replied,

"Drink now then ride,Soon you'll be a bride."Because Falada was so fast, the maid reached the kingdomof Faraway first.Before long she came to the Kingof Faraway who sat next tohis handsome son, the prince."Oh- and my maid'll be along in a while," addedthe false princess.And the land of Faraway wasvery beautiful.saidthe false princess.