The Goose Girl by Brothers Grimm

1. The princess starts her journey with two lucky charms. A handkerchief with her mother's blood is able to talk and so is the horse named Falada, but both lucky charms are more or less useless. When she gets into trouble (this happened right after the start of the journey, the charms don't give her any additional strength or determinations. They serve only as the reminder of the loss of her mother's protection, what is shown by repetitive lines:

"If your mother only knew,
Her heart would surely break in two."

This is practical all both charms can say. The additional line is said by Falada's head (when the horse is already dead), serving as a hint for the king (see his shadow in one of the pictures by Rackham below), who eventually helps her regaining her royal position.

2. The princess / the goose girl has some magic powers on her own as seen in the scenes with her hair being combed in the wind while Conrad (Curdken) is running after his hat. Her magic was never used against her nemesis.

4. Mother of the princess is obviously capable to rule the kingdom without a husband, yet she sends her daughter to another kingdom where a groom is waiting for her. While it's not explicitly explained why she decided that (her age, danger from outside, her illness, daughter's age) it's a common pattern in fairy tales. The character who leaves the safety and predictability is the character who can expect the best results at the end of the story.

7. Costly baggage, given by princess' mother represents the earthly goods. They don't do any good for her and she is unable to preserve them even long enough to get to her husband. The message is clear - parents should focus on giving their kids wisdom, courage and life skills, not money. Money is useless without knowledge to handle with.

8. Blood (three drops on the handkerchief) is the power of life. Mother has to lose some blood to give birth (think about Snow White and Seven Dwarfs) and in this fairy tale, she gives her daughter a handkerchief with three drops of blood as a lucky charm with magical properties. Yet the princess loses the handkerchief and mother's protection what forces her to find her own powers.

9. Geese represent loyalty, faithfulness, and truth, but also innocence, silliness, and cowardice. The princess must spend some time with them to choose which of all these characteristics shared with them should prevail in her personal future.

10. The iron stove is a symbol of rebirth. We can find an iron stove with an important role in Hansel and Gretel, where Gretel needs to kill the witch before she saves her brother and herself. The princess from The Goose Girl must lose everything before she can start with her new life and we find a similar situation in many different tales.

The rebirth is represented in another popular way - by being eaten (fairy tales Red Cap or Wolf and Seven Goats or biblical story about the prophet Jonah).

We can go on and on (we didn't even touch the meanings behind girl's golden hair, for instance), but that's for now. Read the story and find a few interesting points on your own!