Today is part one of two where I am being interviewed by Charlotte Glass about my books. Over the next 2 weeks you will hear about how I got started writing, my journey through narrating and back to writing, how I collaborate with my beta readers, building a community, the things I had to Google for research for my book, who I’d cast in the HBO series of my series, and so much more.

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Freya Victoria is a Texas native that has always wanted to write her own books and has spent countless hours attempting to write, reading books from every genre, and has been reading aloud, with all the character voices, since she was a kid.

While she did not start narrating professionally until Fall 2021, she has been reading books aloud since she was a kid and always wanted to find some way to put the countless hours spent reading the books that she loved into a side gig that would grow her imagination and love for stories. Freya is passionate about all genres but has found a special love for narrating fantasy.

Growing up, Freya always struggled to come up with a storyline that she could develop into a full novel but, in early 2022 she finally found an idea that stuck and got about 30,000 words in before The Forgotten Beast, her debut novel took over her brain.

In April 2022, Freya launched her podcast Freya’s Fairy Tales where she talks to authors about their favorite fairy tales as kids, their journey to writing their novels, and the excitement of holding their very own fairy tale in their hands.

You can find her every day in the recording booth, working on someone’s audiobook, working on more podcast episodes, or sitting on the couch reading and writing. She resides in Texas with her husband and daughter and hopes to one day move into the country where she can not have to edit out the sound of her neighbors mowing their lawn or the trash truck as it drives by!

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Welcome to Freya's fairy tales.

We believe fairy tales are both stories we enjoyed as children and something that we can achieve ourselves.

Each week we will talk to authors about their favorite fairy tales when they were kids and their adventure to holding their very own fairy tale in their hands.

At the end of each episode, we will finish off with a fairy tale or short story right as close to the original author's version as possible.

I am your host, Freya Victoria.

I'm an audiobook narrator that loves reading fairy tales novels and bringing stories to life through narration.

I am also fascinated by talking to authors and learning about their why and how for creating their stories.

We've included all of the links for today's special guest host and our show in the show notes.

Be sure to check out our website and sign up for our newsletter for the latest on the podcast.

Today is part one of two where I am being interviewed by Charlote Glass about my books.

Over the next two weeks, you will hear about how I got started writing, my journey through narrating and back to writing, how I collaborate with my beta readers, building a community, the things I had to Google for research for my book, who I'd cast in the HBO series of my books, and so much more.

The Forgotten Beast the forgotten ones book one when Callie finds an old locked chest in her parents'attic, her mom tells her not to worry about it.

That's a dare to find the key and find out what's inside, right?

Full of old journals.

She digs into the chest's depths and pulls one out.

But when Callie starts to dream about the world in the journal, these dreams feel far too real.

The snow is cold.

The run from the wolf makes her heart pound, and she can feel the pain of the ropes digging into her wrists when she's taken to the castle under the mountain, Callie's life was predictable.

She went to college, got a job, dated occasionally.

Suddenly, she finds herself falling for two men, traveling back and forth between her world and the prison world, never knowing which world she'll wake up to.

Callie gets trapped in her own world after the beast is shot.

She doesn't know how to get back to the beast.

She doesn't know if he's okay.

She's terrified he didn't survive.

And where the h*** is Mason?

When she finally wakes up again in the prison world, war is on the horizon.

Callie is captured.

She knows the fairy tale story of the men holding her captive, but why are they working together?

Will she be able to do what it takes to save not only herself but the beast's kingdom.

The podcast is Freya's fairy tales, and that is fairy tales in two ways.

Fairy tales are something that we watched or we read or had read to us when we were kids.

It is also the journey to spend weeks, months, or years working on a novel.

To hold that in your hands is a fairy tale for us, as the authors today is a tiny bit different.

I am the author being interviewed by Charlote Glass, which is one of my beta readers, going to be an alpha reader, an arc reader, all the things for my book.

So I'm going to start off with what was your favorite fairy tale or short story when you were a kid, and did that change as you got older?

So my favorite fairy tale is the goose girl.

Not a lot of people have heard.

People are like, the what?

I think I did that one on here.

Yeah, I think you did not because.

Someone mentioned it because I needed something else.

Right.

It's one of those fairy tales that kind of gets overlooked.

And she's not helpless.

She's not, oh, I'm locked in a tower.

She kind of goes, hey, this sucks, but I'm going to make the best of it.

And then that's always been my strong core fairy tale.

And then as I got older, you know, beauty and the beast, because I'm a book nerd.

I mean, obviously I went from being a beta reader to, hey, what do you think about.

Yeah, you know, those things.

I think as you evolve, the stories have to evolve.

So fairy tales inform your life.

I mean, even Albert Einstein said, if you want to make someone smart, read them fairy tales.

I grew up in a book household.

Like, books were a thing.

I'm kind of sad that I'm a grown up and I don't get books for Christmas from my parents anymore because my biggest.

But I am so excited to be here to interview you today about this book.

I am lucky enough to have gotten a pr box, so I have it in my hot little hands, and it's probably one of the best retellings I have read.

And that's not, like, being biased, that's honest.

Retellings are hard.

So what are your favorite fairy tales, and did they evolve as you got older?

I think kind of the first ones that I remember watching, one of my cousins was obsessed with the little mermaid, and I remember thinking, like, it was so annoying because she would watch it on repeat all the time.

And so that one, and basically any of the ones that Disney would put into the vault, I was, like, obsessed with when I was an adult and had adult money.

One of the first things that I got when I had a kid and an excuse to be buying kid movies again was like, I bought the Lion King.

I bought Beauty and the Beast.

I bought all the things.

But beauty and the beast has always been my favorite.

Even though I was forced to watch little mermaid a million times, it was always beauty and the beast.

And I was always like, why?

As a kid, I was like, why can't you watch this one all the time?

And then as an adult, I found out, oh, because they lock it in the vault for some weird reason, right?

Well, now with this beauty and the beast, watch it whenever.

Yes.

Well, I have the blu ray, so I'm good, right?

I mean, you're good.

So did they change, or did anything else inform you?

Like, what versions of Beauty and the Beast?

Did you watch the 80s show?

Or was it always like, disney started it and then you went backward?

So Disney kind of started it.

At the time when I watched the cartoon one, which I don't even know when that came out, I didn't know that there were other versions.

And then the live action one with Emma Watson came out, and I loved that one, too.

And then I started the podcast.

And it wasn't until I started the podcast I went and read the original madame who's he whatty big, long french name person wrote.

And I did it for.

That was the first person I interviewed on the podcast.

That was her favorite fairy tale, too.

And so I did for the Patreon, I did the big, long, nine hour audiobook version of Beauty and the Beast, and that is where I shaped my book from.

Was that original?

Because I just thought it was, like, so much cooler than the Disney one.

There's a lot going on in the original that's just not in the Disney now.

You have to give them props for having a princess, non princess, with a brain, right, who isn't just swimming around chasing a man.

That's how you know you're a grown up.

When she goes, I'm 16, and you think you're.

Oh, God.

I had that moment.

I had that moment.

My son was watching it.

He's like, I'm 16.

I was like, honey, how did you get started writing?

Where'd you start?

So when I was, the first book I ever wrote was a children's book, and it was about our guinea pigs, and it had to have been, like, a school assignment or something.

I don't remember, but I took pictures of our guinea pigs.

We had this really big multi lit leveled Barbie house that my mom had custom built.

And so I took these pictures of these guinea pigs in the kitchen doing something, and then they'd be in the bedroom doing something.

I have it, and my mom is as extra as I am.

And so it is cloth bound cover with cardboard.

It is completely done up, but I had to have been, like, five or six when I did that.

And then I don't really remember writing until I was probably, like, 13 or 14.

And this movie came out on Disney Channel called read it and weep.

And it was about this girl, and she would write these journal entries or whatever, and she would write them as if she was, like, she was her.

But then there was, like, this supergirl in her books that would vanquish all the bullies at school and do all these things.

And during the course of the movie, it accidentally gets submitted as her assignment, and she becomes this big author and all this stuff.

So I would see that movie occasionally when it would show up on Disney Channel, and I'd be like, I can do that.

And I would try to write some stupid thing and get, like, a couple chapters in, and then that would be it.

And then I'd set it aside for a really long time until I started narrating.

And when did you start narrating?

How long have you been in this world?

Because you don't just do one thing.

You do very nearly all the things you narrate.

You edit.

You have two podcasts, three podcasts, three and a day job.

So I have always loved books, like, pretty much always.

And I was looking for many, many times over the last probably ten years, I've looked for ways to make money from home with books, thinking, like, reviewing books, like, getting paid to review them.

That's what I would always think.

It'd be awesome to get paid to read and review these books.

And so I was searching for ways to make money from home on TikTok in August of 21, and came across audiobook narrating.

It was a very clickbaity.

Make $1,000 an hour, which I don't know anyone that actually makes that.

So I'm like, that sounds fake.

Let's search for audiobook narrators.

Is that actually a thing?

It is actually a thing.

So post Covid world, people having home booths and narrating from home is completely the norm now?

Pretty much.

So I started September 2021.

It took me a couple of weeks to get my little closet booth set up, started auditioning, started landing gigs pretty early on and used.

I did everything they tell you not to do, take all the low paying jobs and everything they tell you not to do.

But you know what?

All those low paying jobs helped pay me to upgrade my equipment and all of that.

And so I don't take the low paying jobs now.

I take royalty share instead, which are potentially low paying but potentially not.

Yeah.

So I started September 2021.

So we're just over two years in.

I have narrated 115 titles that are live.

Well, some of them have been pulled since, but I've narrated over 115 so far.

For audible.

In mid September of 2021, I was like, I want to be able to practice my narrating.

So I started my first podcast, which is like classic novel audiobooks.

And then beginning of that next year, like January 22, I was like, I want to learn about the authors like Charles Dickens and all of these.

What were their lives like?

What were they doing?

They lived during wars and all of these things.

Were they involved in all of this stuff or not?

Or whatever.

So I started pulling up just the Wikipedia pages for them.

And so that's podcast number two.

And then a couple months later, I started actually landing fiction audiobooks because I'd done all nonfiction for four months and started talking to the authors that wrote the fiction books.

And then I was like, well, I want to learn about these authors, too.

Then this podcast started, and I have done almost exclusively fiction since about February of 22.

Up to now, I have like 70 titles under Freya Victoria.

So that's a lot of fiction.

Yeah.

Do you have a favorite genre of fiction?

Like, are you a cozy fiction girl?

Are you a romance girl?

Where is your current fiction?

Bread and butter?

If I am narrating it, it is fantasy romance all day long.

If I am reading it, it would typically be like, dark romance is right now what I've been in the cycle of, but it changes based on the mood.

My voice just lends itself very well to fantasy romance.

So when I'm, like, fun reading, I typically try to avoid that since I get so much of that in my narrating day.

Nice.

Well, as a newbie narrator, I'm currently just like, whatever you want to give me.

I'm still that way.

My little intro that I send people ahead of time says, I prefer that.

But I also do romance, and I've also done a couple of darker books.

I've done rom coms, I've done erotica.

I will do whatever is willing to hire me that I am genuinely going to enjoy the.

So I'm not picky.

I think that's what drew me to you.

So much was I was watching you narrate, and then I won the audio that you did for Stormy Lewis and was just like, wow.

And then you were like, oh, yeah, I'm a writer.

And I was like, okay, sign me.

Up, because you were, like, one of the first person people that signed up to beta read for me.

I was there.

I was there.

You put so much love and effort and time into what you narrate that there was no way that this book was not going to be the same way.

And I was hook, line, and sinker for this book within the first five sentences.

And then I figured out all the chapters are named for pentatonic songs, and I was like, where has she been?

Why isn't this book already selling a million copies?

Why did you wait so long to write this?

Or was this something that just had to kind of marinate in your brain?

So I actually started writing a book the beginning of 22, because I hadn't landed a fiction book yet.

All I had done fiction wise was the podcast.

And so it started because I hadn't written for years at that point.

It started probably since me and my husband had been together.

So almost 1011 years I hadn't written in all that time.

And so I really wanted to do a fiction book.

So it started in January of 22 with, I really want to narrate a fiction book.

I'll just write it myself.

Very selfish.

You won't hire me.

I'll hire myself.

So that book is not the one that just, that will be out by the time this airs.

That book is like superheroes, and it's like dystopian, but it's adult.

Like, it's not ya dystopian.

It's like grown ups dystopian.

So they magic mysteriously get superpowers and trying to figure out why and all this stuff.

And so I got, like, 30,000 words into that and then narrating kind of.

At that point, I was landing a bunch of fiction books, and just, I had to completely learn how to prep audiobooks and do all this stuff, keep track of characters, which you don't have to do in nonfiction.

So it was a whole new learning process of, how the h*** do I do this?

And then I started landing so many, so fast, and I was just like, accept, accept, accept that I didn't take into account how long it was going to take me to narrate each of these books.

At the point that I was like, we should figure that out.

I was having to work seven days a week, like four to 5 hours narrating a day just to get done what I committed to, I learned from that experience.

I think we all have an experience like that.

I did that with beta reads.

I was like, sure.

I got really excited.

I got on the master list for books and beer, and I was like, yes.

And all of a sudden, I was like, and then you're like, hey, here's my book.

And I was like, don't tell anybody.

Well, I mean, up to that point with nonfiction, I wasn't pre reading them at all.

I was just jumping into it.

There was no prep work at all.

I was literally just jumping into the nonfiction.

That was my entire strategy up to that point.

Narrating for several hours a day, terrible on my vocal cords.

And so when I landed this first fiction, and I knew that I needed to prep it ahead of time so that I knew what voices to give these characters, I knew prior to that, I could pump out 3 hours of audio in a day with a nonfiction that I wasn't having to do character voices.

I wasn't having to prep anything ahead of time.

So I was just narrating for.

It would take me four to 5 hours to get that 3 hours of audio, and then I would edit that in the evening and be done.

Fiction is a whole beast, keeping track of the character voices.

And at the beginning, I wasn't great at it, but I learned, so it was just a whole different beast.

So when I was used to, oh, it's fine.

I can get 3 hours of audio done in a day, and suddenly I can only get two or one and a half done in a day with all these character voices and fantasy words.

I went, oh, no.

And I made it work.

I got it done.

I got all the books done on their scheduled timelines.

Like, I somehow managed to do all of that, and I learned how to use a new recording software in there, too.

With all of that got piled on top, my book at the time got put on pause for, like, six months while I figured s*** out because I didn't know what I was doing anymore.

And so at the point, it was like, December 6 months of not writing on this book at all.

I'm like, okay, for New Year's resolution, this is for this year, 2023.

When we're recording this.

I was like, I'm going to commit to ten minutes a day of working on this book.

And because it had somewhere in there, too, I had an idea of, wouldn't it be cool if there was a book that had, like, christmas songs for all the chapters.

I'm like, yeah, that would be cool.

So, January, I have to go back to the beginning and start reading this book over again.

Then I'm like, wouldn't it be cool if I did a beauty and the beast retelling?

But it was part of a series of interconnected da da da da da.

And then I'm trying to edit this first book, and I'm like, I don't want to work on this anymore.

I want to work on beauty and the Beast.

And then it turned into beauty and the beast mixed with the Christmas songs, and it took me six months to get the first draft done, and then everything else went very quickly after that.

So, what is your favorite part of the book process?

From the idea to, holy cow, it's in my hand.

What is your favorite part?

I think, honestly, the first, because there was like, you write the book and you think that it's good because you wrote the book, and you see authors all the time that think that the book is like, everybody thinks that their book is great writer.

You wouldn't attempt to put it out there.

So I think the book's good.

And then I have my best friend read it, and I know she's partial to me because she's known me my entire life, and so she likes it.

And her prompt was literally, like, does this flow like a book?

Does it have a bookish storyline to it?

That was the prompt and developmental editing.

Does this story float?

Does this story have legs?

Does it seem like a book?

Does it have a climax?

And all of this that a book should have?

That was the thing that I wanted her to answer for me, because to me, I thought I had done a good job of lining all these Christmas songs into a logical plotline.

But sometimes you're delusional.

So I had her read it, and she, of course, loved it.

She's my best friend.

I knew she wasn't going to hate it.

But then, favorite part, getting to that.

When I sent it to.

When I convinced myself to have beta readers and you guys started giving me your feedback, and it was all that.

You guys all loved it.

I mean, there was things, obviously, that needed to be fixed, but none of you hated the book.

All of you.

Now, my brother in law, who was one of my beta readers, was like, I don't think this.

I'm not the audience for this book, but I like it.

I'm glad you used somebody who was outside the target audience.

Yeah.

Authors are not that brave.

Yeah, well, I didn't even think he's a writer.

Himself.

He's just never published a book.

And so I knew he likes war books and Sci-Fi books, and so I knew that there were parts of my novel that he was going to have a better perspective on than most of you guys that read romance and fantasy.

There's me, and then there's you.

But I changed a whole lot of the scenes where they're in the war room.

I changed a lot of those based on his feedback.

So originally.

And you read this version, but originally, Kenna didn't stand up and defend her being there.

Originally, Callie just talked, and they all just kind of accepted her as truth.

There was no, like, who the f*** are, like, there was none of that.

Hello, weird person who's wandered into our war room, who's not wearing a uniform of any kind.

His feedback was, they need to question her a little bit.

No general of any kind is going to be like, sure, we don't know who you are, but let's take what you say and run with it.

So then we added Kenna coming in, and that kind of killed.

And I talked to him as I was writing these scenes.

I was like, we killed two birds with 1 st.

We made it known that Kenna is more important to the story than just this little servant on the side.

And also, they threw a little bit of a, why are you here?

And then she defends her and know.

Shut up and listen to her.

Okay.

Until that point, I was pretty sure that Kenna was, like, team bad guy and was just, like, hanging out and being a spy, and she was, like, team bad guy.

I always kept waiting for her to do something terrible to Callie.

No, she's not team bad guy.

Yeah.

So that was my favorite part, though, was people that hadn't known me for large portions of my life reading my book and genuinely liking my book.

That was my favorite part so far.

And now we're with arc.

Readers have the book right now, and same thing.

They're all giving great feedback of liking.

I mean, there's the occasional person.

You're never going to please everybody.

So there's the occasional person that's like, hey, I don't like this part, but for the most part, everybody likes it.

Okay, so we're going to address the giant coffee cup in the room.

What is with all the food and eating in the book?

That has been the overall, there's so much food, and then there's me.

That's like you said, they ate what they eat.

So for me, okay.

And someone said in my discord this last week, how does she afford all of this?

No kids.

That's how she affords, right?

I'm like, well, one, credit cards are a thing, okay?

So just, like, it takes place in our world, okay?

She doesn't need to talk about how deep in debt she is.

Like, she just orders the food, okay?

Loving parents.

I'm sure her daddy sends her money all the time.

So, for me, most of the book takes place between Thanksgiving and Christmas, and for me, every single year.

Granted, I am not a size two, okay?

I am an overweight, large person, and I've always been my entire life, and I'm okay with that.

But from your absolutely beautiful.

And if I were closer, I would make you say amazing things about yourself, because you are amazing.

Period.

The end.

But the point of the food is, from Thanksgiving to New Year's has kind of always been my.

Like, if I was on if, and I have very rarely ever done diets in my life, but if I was ever on a diet, from Thanksgiving to New Year's, diet was gone.

So that was kind of the time for me.

And I'm like, in the book she runs, she joins a gym.

At one point, she's shooting bow and arrows.

She rides horses, so she's getting exercise with all of those things.

She has a retail job.

I'm like, she can let herself go for the holidays.

So I personally, we kind of do.

In our house, the weekends are our time where we don't stick to any kind of, like, we eat normal food during the week, and the weekends, we do something, like, special for food.

And so it's usually we cycle through.

Either we'll get something from the grocery store, or we cycle through where we eat out.

So that kind of comes from my family and what we do, as far as I made sure to change, she doesn't always order pizza.

Every single time Callie orders food, it's always something different.

In fact, a couple.

I had to ask my husband finally, I'm like, she's eaten this and this and this and this.

What else can she eat?

Well, I will fess up.

That part of that is my fault, because halfway, like, half the book, you're very detailed about what she eats, and then you're like, and Mason and I.

Mason orders food, and then we move on.

Like, nope.

One way or the other, we can't have it both ways.

Yep.

So, in all the feedback you got when all the stuff that came back from your alpha readers and your beta readers, is there something that sticks out in your mind as your favorite?

You have to change this.

Not that it was bad, or just something that someone said, hey, this didn't resonate, or, hey, this would happen, or.

Hey, listen, at this point, you're just leading me because, you know, it's the d*** horse.

Actually, I thought you were going to say it was the thing, one of the climaxy events in the story, but, yeah, no, I did fight for that horse.

Climaxy.

The only things, like, the biggest changes that I remember is the war room, the horse and the torture.

We had to change the torture.

Yeah.

I'm trying not to give away the book.

I've said it before.

She gets tortured, the end.

She does.

But there were some rewrites so that it's not catastrophic damage.

Well, that was part of.

In writing the book, I wanted there to be this element of, yes, she's in a fantasy prison world for half the novel.

Yeah, but I wanted there to be this because I like dystopian books.

Okay.

If there was way more, like grown up dystopian, I would be super happy, which is one of the reasons that I liked.

We were talking about Margaret Atwood, so I liked Margaret Atwood's books because it was like grown up dystopian, and I hadn't really seen that up to that point, like, in any of the reading I had done.

So what I like about dystopian is it feels, if it's done well, it feels like this could be our world if you change these little things, this could be our world in 30, 40, 50 years if technology advances continue to advance.

And so that's something that I kind of kept in mind while I was writing that I wanted it to feel real with also these fantastical elements involved.

It absolutely 100% feels like Kelly can just show up.

So this is your first full length novel.

Like, this is the first one you finished from COVID to cover.

This is the first one I have ever made it 100% of the way through.

Besides the kids guinea pig book.

I'm going to invoke Huxley privilege and say, I need to see this thing, the guinea pig book.

I need to see the guinea pig book.

I get some new pictures later.

I need to see the skinny pig book.

I think your discord needs to see the skinny pig book.

Just talk a little bit about what it feels like to go from I work alone in a booth to how many members are in your discord now?

Like, 75 of us?

80.

I don't know.

I'm still in that disbelief because I've never been.

I have my quirks, right, that my brain doesn't work normal, whatever the h*** that means.

And so I've never been the person with a ton of friends.

I would always tag along with my sister with all of her friends because she's this big, bubbly personality.

And so I'm just still in a state of disbelief that all these people like me and I started when everybody joined.

I mean, that was like, my intro to people starting to join the discord was like, hey, I may not always have all the words that I need to have and say all the right things, but call me out if you need to.

I remember that I was very saying, hey, look, I could be really blunt.

I could be really blunt.

And we're finally like, yeah, we know, it's fine.

Well, and then new people came in, too, and then they were like, great.

It's nice to have people like me, right?

It does feel like a community.

Are you going to leave it open for new people to join after the book releases or are you going to just limit it to the people who are currently alphas, betas, whatever the heck some of us are?

And then, like, new alphas and betas and arcs as the books come out.

My discord was actually a thing before the book was ever a thing, I started the discord.

It started as a narrating discord that didn't really have a whole lot of people in it.

So I will leave it open.

We have separate channels and stuff for alpha beta, not alpha.

There's not an alpha channel that would be like two people, but we have separate beta channel, Arc channel and street team channels for those people.

I'm also very like, I just, in the last couple of weeks, had to ban somebody because I knew they were just in there for promotional for themselves purposes, and so I banned them.

I have no problem banning anybody if I need to, but I don't want to limit it either or have to start another one because I don't have time for that either.

That says so much about you because I know other authors who are like, okay, now that I have my core group of people, I'm not letting anyone in to burst this bubble.

I love that you are so open to.

Realistically, I haven't limited anything up.

Our original beta team for beast, there were five people, my brother in law and then you and then three other people.

There was actually seven total.

Actually, there were nine total people that applied to beta read.

Two of them joined on the last day, and I wasn't comfortable with them enough in a day to let them do it.

And then two people, life happened and they couldn't get it done.

So we ended up with five people that beta read.

And so I know as people were applying to arc read, they were also applying to beta read.

So now my beta team is technically 30 something people, but I know that not all 30 people are going to be available for every book that I need beta read.

I know that all 30 people, I vetted all of them.

I have since veted everybody.

And so some of them were vetted as they arc read for someone, but they didn't actually beta read for them.

And so I have flags on their accounts of proceed with caution, and I'm only going to take so many of those on at a time.

I'm not going to have a set of five proceed with caution, people that I don't know if they can beta read or not.

I'm very inclusive, but also I know at some point I will cap like the beta team.

Arc team probably never, because why would you cap free promotion?

I don't know.

Right.

Charlote liked the goose girl growing up.

Today we'll be reading that story, the goose girl.

The king of a great land, died and left his queen to take care of their only child.

The child was a daughter who was very beautiful, and her mother loved her dearly and was very kind to her.

And there was a good fairy, too, who was fond of the princess and helped her mother to watch over her when she grew up.

She was betrothed to a prince who lived a great way off.

And as the time drew near for her to be married, she got ready to set off on her journey to his country.

In the queen, her mother packed up a great many costly things, jewels and gold and silver, trinkets, fine dresses, and in short, everything that became a royal bride.

And she gave her a waiting maid to ride with her and give her into the bridegroom's hands.

And each had a horse for the journey.

Now, the princess's horse was a fairy's gift, and it was called Flada, and could speak.

When the time came for them to set out.

The fairy went into her bedchamber and took a little knife and cut off a lock of her hair and gave it to the princess and said, take care of it, dear child, for it is a charm that may be of use to you on the road.

Then they all took a sorrowful leave of the princess, and she put the lock of hair into her bosom, got upon her horse, and set off on her journey to her bridegroom's kingdom.

One day, as they were riding along by a brook, the princess began to feel very thirsty, and she said to her maid, pray get down and fetch me some water in my golden cup out of yonder brook, for I want to drink.

Nay, said the maid, if you are thirsty, get off yourself and stoop down by the water and drink.

I shall not be Your waiting maid any longer.

And she was so thirsty that she got down and knelt over the little brook and drank, for she was frightened and dared not bring out her golden cup.

And she wept and said, alas, what will become of me?

And the lock answered her and said, alas, alas, if thy mother knew it.

Sadly, sadly would she ru it.

But the princess was very gentle and meek, so she said nothing to her maid's ill behavior, but got upon her horse again.

Then all rode farther on their journey, till the day grew so warm and the sun so scorching, that the bride began to feel very thirsty again.

And at last, when they came to a river, she forgot her maid's rude speech and said, pray get down and fetch me some water to drink in my golden cup.

But the maid answered her, and even spoke more haughtily than before, drink if you will, but I shall not be your waiting maid.

Then the princess was so thirsty that she got off her horse and lay down and held her head over the running stream, and cried and said, what will become of me?

And the lock of hair answered her again, alas, alas, if thy mother knew it.

Sadly, sadly would she ru it.

And as she leaned down to drink, the lock of hair fell from her bosom and floated away with the water.

Now she was so frightened that she did not see it, but her maid saw it and was very glad, for she knew the charm.

And she saw that the poor bride would be in her power now that she had lost the hair.

So when the bride had done drinking and would have got upon Flada again, the maid said, I shall ride upon Flada, and you may have my horse instead.

So she was forced to give up her horse, and soon afterwards to take off her royal clothes and put on her maid, shabby ones at last.

As they drew near the end of their journey, the treacherous servant threatened to kill her mistress if she ever told anyone what had happened.

But Flauda saw it all and marked it well.

Then the waiting maid got upon Flauda, and the real bride rode upon the other horse, and they went on in this way, till at last they came to the royal court.

There was great joy at their coming, and the prince flew to meet them, and lifted the maid from her horse, thinking she was the one who was to be his wife.

She was led upstairs to the royal chamber, but the true princess was told to stay in the court below.

Now, the old king happened just then to have nothing else to do, so he amused himself by sitting at his kitchen window looking at what was going on, and he saw her in the courtyard.

She looked very pretty and too delicate for a waiting maid.

He went up into the royal chamber to ask the bride who it was she had brought with her.

I was thus left standing in the court below.

I brought her with me for the sake of her company on the road, said she, pray give the girl some work to do that she may not be idle.

The old king could not for some time think of any work for her to do, but at last he said, I have a lad who takes care of my geese.

She may go and help him.

Now, the name of this lad that the real bride was to help in watching the king's geese was Kurdken.

But the false bride said to the prince, dear husband, pray do me one piece of kindness.

That I will, said the prince.

Then tell one of your slaughterers to cut off the head of the horse I rode upon, for it was very unruly and plagued me sadly on the road.

But the truth was, she was very much afraid lest Falada should someday or others speak and tell all she had done to the princess.

She carried her point, and the faithful Philada was killed.

But when the true princess heard of it, she wept and begged the man to nail up Falada's head against the large gate of the city, through which she had to pass every morning and evening, that there she might still see him sometimes.

Then the slaughterer said he would do as she wished and cut off the head and nailed it up under the dark gate.

Early the next morning, as she and Kurdkin went out through the gate, she said sorrowfully, Falada, Falada, here thou hangest.

And the head answered, bride, bride.

There thou genrest.

Alas, alas, if thy mother knew it, sadly, sadly would she ru it.

Then they went out of the city and drove the geese on.

And when she came to the meadow, she sat down upon a bank there and let down her waving locks of hair, which were all of pure silver.

And when Kurdkin saw it glitter in the sun, he ran up and would have pulled some of the locks out.

But she cried, blow, breezes, blow.

Let Kurdkin's hat go.

Blow, breezes, blow.

Let him after I go, or hills, dales, and rocks, away be it whirled till the silvery locks are all combed and curled.

Then there came a wind so strong that it blew off Kirkin's hat, and away it flew over the hills.

He was forced to turn and run after it, till by the time he came back, she had done combing and curling her hair and had put it up again safe.

Then he was very angry and sulky and would not speak to her at all.

But they watched the geese until it grew dark in the evening, and then drove them homewards.

The next morning, as they were going through the dark gate, the poor girl looked up at Flauda's head and cried, Philada, Philada, there thou hangest.

And the head answered, bride, bride, there thou gangst.

Alas, alas.

If thy mother knew it, sadly, sadly would she ru it.

Then she drove on the geese and sat down again in the meadow, and began to comb out her hair as before.

And Kurdkin ran up to her and wanted to take hold of it, but she cried out quickly, blow, breezes, blow.

Let Kurdkin's hat go.

Blow what breezes, blow.

Let him after it go.

Or hills, dales, and rocks, away it be whirled till the silvery locks are all combed and curled.

Then the wind came and blew away his hat, and off it flew a great way over the hills and far away, so that he had to run after it.

And when he came back, she had bound up her hair again, and all was safe.

So they watched the geese till it grew dark.

In the evening, after they came home, Kurdken went to the old king and said, I cannot have that strange girl to help me to keep the geese any longer.

Why?

Said the king, because instead of doing any good, she does nothing but tease.

Me all day long.

Then the king made him tell him what had happened.

And Kurdkin said, when we go in the morning through the dark gate with our flock of geese, she cries and talks with the head of a horse that hangs upon the wall and says, falada, falada, there thou hangest.

And the head answers, bride, bride, hear thou gangst.

Alas, alas.

If thy mother knew it, sadly, sadly would she rue it.

And Kurtkin went on telling the king what had happened upon the meadow where the geese fed, how his hat was blown away and how he was forced to run after it and to leave his flock of geese to themselves.

But the old king told the boy to go out again the next day, and when morning came, he placed himself behind the dark gate and heard how she spoke to Felada and how Philada answered.

Then he went into the field and hid himself in a bush by the meadow side.

And he soon saw with his own eyes how they drove the flock of geese, and how after a little time, she let down her hair that glittered in the sun.

And then he heard her say, blow, breezes, blow let Kurtkin's hat go, blow, breezes, blow let him after it go.

Or hills, dales and rocks away be it whirled till the silvery locks are all combed and curled.

And soon came a gale of wind and carried away Kurtkin's hat.

And away went Kurdkin after it, while the girl went on combing and curling her hair.

All this the old king saw.

So he went home without being seen.

And when the little goose girl came back in the evening, he called her aside and asked her why she did so.

But she burst into tears and said, and I must not tell you or any man, or I shall lose my life.

But the old king begged so hard that she had no peace till she had told him all the tale from beginning to end, word for word.

And it was very lucky for her that she did so.

For when she had done, the king ordered royal clothes to be put upon her and gazed on her with wonder.

She was so beautiful.

Then he called his son and told him that he had only a false bride, for that she was merely a waiting maid, while the true bride stood by.

And the young king rejoiced when he saw her beauty and heard how meek and patient she had been.

And without saying anything to the false bride, the king ordered a great feast to be got ready for all his court.

The bridegroom sat at the top, with the false princess on one side and the true one on the other.

But nobody knew her again, for her beauty was quite dazzling to their eyes, and she did not seem at all like the little goose girl, now that she had a brilliant dress on.

When they had eaten and drank and were very merry, the old king said he would tell them a tale.

So he began and told all the story of the princess as if it was one that he had once heard.

And he asked the true waiting maid what she thought ought to be done to anyone who would behave thus.

Nothing better, said this false bride, than that she should be thrown into a cask stuck round with sharp nails, and that two white horses should be put to it, and should drag it from street to street till she was dead.

Thou art she, said the old king, and as thou hast judged thyself, so shall it be done to thee.

And the young king was then married to his true wife.

And they reigned over the kingdom in peace and happiness all their lives.

And a good fairy came to see them and restored the faithful Philadelphia to life again.

Thank you for joining Freya's fairy tales.

Be sure to come back next week for the conclusion of my journey to holding my own fairy tale in my hands and to hear one of my favorite fairy tales.