Goldenrod

Once, there was a beautiful baby girl born to a kind couple. They adored her and she grew up knowing she was loved. She was named Goldenrod for the color of her hair. Around the age of ten, the girl's mother died of a mysterious and unknown disease. Her father traveled much and quickly remarried so the girl would not be alone. He specifically chose a woman with children so his daughter would have someone to play with. After one trip, her father never came home. The stepmother was furious that he had run off and left her to care for his child. Goldenrod knew something awful must have happened to him, but no one else would listen. The stepmother and her children were very cruel to Goldenrod. She grew into a young woman in this way. One day, the stepmother complained that she was very hungry and ordered her stepdaughter to kill a deer for their supper. The girl did not know how to hunt, but took a small dagger and went into the woods anyways. She knew there was no reasoning with her stepmother.

While in the woods, Goldenrod encountered a handsome man. She explained her situation to him, and he was kind enough to assist her. He killed a small deer for her and carried it most of the way to her home. She did not want her stepmother to see him, so she thanked him and bade him goodbye. When her stepmother saw the deer, she was pleased but also suspicious.

She ordered Goldenrod to go back into the forest to retrieve some special roots for the stew she would make from the deer meat. The young woman had no idea what these roots looked like and her stepmother refused to provide a description. She went to the place she'd last seen the man and called out for him. He helped her again, but this time asked for her name and they talked for a while before she returned home. The stepmother was even more suspicious at this point.

She told Goldenrod to bring her one final thing. She wanted her to collect some herbs. Goldenrod actually knew how to find these on her own, but asked her friend to join her for the company. This time, the stepmother followed her, hiding behind the trunks of trees along the way. From her hiding place, the woman saw Goldenrod's dashing fellow. She was ready to drag the girl away so she might substitute in one of her own daughters, when the man confessed to the girl that he was actually a prince. He was so charmed by her beauty and kindness that he asked her to marry him. The stepmother knew she could not step in at this point, but conjured up a plan for later.

Goldenrod married the prince and went with him to live in his castle. She was very happy there and soon became pregnant with their first child. Her stepmother was a midwife and the prince thought it was perfect that she would deliver the baby. Goldenrod did not want this, but agreed since it seemed to make her husband happy. On the day of the delivery, her stepmother told the prince that it was not right for him to be in the delivery room. She took a stillborn infant from another woman and hid it in a basket. When Goldenrod gave birth to a perfect little boy, the stepmother handed the stillborn to her and hid the other child. Goldenrod and the prince were devastated. The stepmother took the baby boy home with her and no one else knew the true events that took place.

The prince suggested Goldenrod's stepmother tend her when she became pregnant again a couple years later. She was hesitant but agreed this time as well. Her stepmother had been very helpful and kind when she lost her first child. She thought maybe the old woman had had a change of heart since her childhood, but again, the stepmother switched the real infant with a stillborn one. However, this time a concerned handmaid peeked into the room during delivery and saw what the midwife did. The stepmother did not know about this and continued on with her plan. She went to the prince and told him that there must be something wrong with Goldenrod if she could only have stillborn children. She told him that if he wanted an heir, he would have to have children by another woman. Both of her daughters were still unmarried and they would be happy to be a surrogate for Goldenrod. She thought that this would be the perfect opportunity for one of her daughters to seduce her way to the throne.

The prince was torn and Goldenrod was still overcome with grief for the loss of another child. Once the stepmother left, the handmaid came forward and told the couple what she had seen. The prince rushed to Goldenrod's childhood home, where they had first met, and found the infant and toddler. He brought the children to their real home and ordered the stepmother to be imprisoned. She was hanged the next morning. The prince begged his wife to forgive him for his foolishness, and of course she did because he had only ever wanted the best for her. The kingdom celebrated the return of the children for days and Goldenrod lived happily with her husband and children for many years.

Author's Note:

The original story, “The True Bride,” was a Native American story of the Nlakapamuk people. In that one, there was a lot more going on. A girl's stepmother orders her to complete some impossible task and four men help her get what she needs and also give her the ability to spit gold nuggets. The son of the chief sees the girl and marries her because she spits gold. Her stepmother is her midwife when she gives birth on two different occasions. She convinces her that she gave birth to a cat and a snake before dropping the infants into a hole in the floor. She convinces the son of the chief to kill the girl since she doesn't give birth to human babies. He drops her into the ocean and marries one of her stepsisters. The four men who helped her earlier rescue her from the water and turn her into a goose. Meanwhile, a dog raises the infants under the house. The son of the chief eventually finds them and the dog explains what happened. The goose is returned to her womanly form. The son of the chief has the step mother and step sister hanged. And they all lived happily ever after.

I decided to cut most of this out to focus on the parts I enjoyed most. My prince didn't remarry because I wanted him to be loyal and loving. I left out the bit about the four men because I wanted Goldenrod to meet her prince directly and I hoped he'd like her for more than her ability to spit gold. I retained the idea of gold in Goldenrod's name. The stepmother kept the children in her home because the idea of a dog raising the children under the castle seemed a little far-fetched.


Bibliography: "The True Bride" from Tales of the North American Indians by Stith Thompson (1929), link to the reading online.


Image Information: