Once upon a time there lived a queen who had five children — four sons and a daughter. One day, the queen became gravely ill and only water from a spring in the forest would cure her. The oldest prince was the first to set out in search of the water, but shortly after his journey began, he stumbled and the water jug smashed into a thousand pieces.

One after the other, each of the princes attempted the journey, but unfortunately none of them succeeded in bringing the sacred healing water back to their mother.

The queen cried out in scorn, 'Spirit, turn these wicked children into geese!'

Hardly had she uttered this curse than her sons transformed into geese and flew away.

The princess often asked her mother about her brothers until one day the queen admitted her curse. The princess set out immediately on a quest to find her brothers.

Only after many years did she happen upon her geese brothers and began to wail, 'My darling brothers! I will do everything in my power to release you from this curse!'

'You must wander for four years and not utter a single word — then we will be free,' said the brothers.

While the princess roamed the forest she meet a prince who was out on a hunt. He was awed by the sight of the beautiful princess. And yet, regardless of the language in which he spoke to her, she would not respond. In spite of this, the prince took her as his wife. Although the princess never spoke, they lived happily together.

When the prince was called away to battle, the princess had to stay back with the prince's wicked old stepmother while she awaited the arrival of their first child.

On the night of the infant's birth, the wicked stepmother stole the little baby boy. She wrote to her stepson that his bride had given birth to a hairy dog.

The prince returned home in a rage and ordered the poor, weeping princess to be locked away in a little shack.

Her brothers came and called out to her, 'Just as you released us from our curse, we will release you from yours!'

The four years were over and the princess had kept her word. So, in tears, she was finally free to explain to her husband that she had given birth to his son and what his stepmother had done. The prince then ordered his wicked stepmother to be thrown into the darkest dungeon and rescued his son — from then on the family lived happily ever after together.