Screenshot from Prinzessin Maleen, a 2015 German TV movie based on the fairy tale.
"Maid Maleen" (German: "Jungfrau Maleen") is a German fairy tale. It is included in the 1850 sixth edition and the 1857 seventh edition of Kinder- und Hausmärchen (Children's and Household Tales), the anthology of German folktales compiled by the Brothers Grimm.
The story's title character and protagonist is a princess who decides to marry a certain prince against her father's wishes. As punishment for her disobedience, Maid Maleen's father has her imprisoned in a windowless tower for seven years. When Maid Maleen finally leaves the tower, she finds that her father has gone and his kingdom has been laid to waste by an invading army. Forced to fend for herself, Maid Maleen eventually finds work as a servant in a castle in another kingdom. The castle turns out to be the home of the prince with whom Maid Maleen fell in love years earlier.
The tale has been adapted to other media.
Plot[]
Maid Maleen is a king's daughter who falls in love with and wants to marry a certain prince. Her father, however, wants her to marry someone else. Maid Maleen refuses to bow to her father's will and give up her love. Maid Maleen's father has her imprisoned in a windowless tower with one female servant to keep her company. Maid Maleen and her servant are provided with enough food and drink to last for seven years. The king hopes that by the time those seven years are up, his daughter will have learned to obey him. When the food and drink begin to run out, Maid Maleen and her servant realize that the seven years are coming to an end. Nobody, however, comes to free them. To save herself from starving to death, Maid Maleen is forced to use a bread knife to dislodge a stone from the wall of the tower.
When Maid Maleen and her servant eventually escape from the tower, they find out that the kingdom has been invaded by an enemy army. Maid Maleen's father has fled, everything has been destroyed and no inhabitants remain. Maid Maleen and her servant find no one to give them shelter or food. They are forced to eat nettles in order to keep from starving. They eventually make their way to another kingdom and find work in the kitchen of a castle.
Maid Maleen and her servant escape from the tower. 1917 illustration by the British artist Arthur Rackham.
The castle is home to the prince with whom Maid Maleen fell in love some seven years earlier. The prince's father has decided that he should marry someone else. A date has been set for the wedding and the bride has already arrived at the castle. She is very ugly. For that reason, she stays in her room and does not allow anyone to see her. Afraid that the people will laugh at her ugliness on her wedding day, the bride decides to get Maid Maleen to take her place for the ceremony. Maid Maleen does not want to do that but the bride says that she will have her executed if she refuses to obey her.
Maid Maleen puts on the bride's clothes and jewels and is brought before the prince. The prince is struck by how much his bride looks like Maid Maleen, whom he believes to be either still imprisoned in the tower or dead. On the way to the church, Maid Maleen sees some nettles. She says to the nettles that there was once a time when she would have eaten them raw. The prince asks her what she said. She replies that she was thinking of Maid Maleen. Maid Maleen also speaks to a footbridge and the church door. She tells them both not to break and adds, "I am not the true bride." The prince asks her what she said. She replies that she was thinking of Maid Maleen, whom she claims to have heard of but never met. The prince puts a necklace around Maid Maleen's neck before they enter the church and the wedding ceremony takes place. Maid Maleen goes back to the castle. She puts her own clothes back on but keeps the necklace that the prince gave her.
At night, veiled and under cover of darkness, the woman that the prince's father chose to be his bride goes to the prince's bedroom. The prince asks her what she said to the nettles. He adds that if she cannot answer, she is not his true bride. The bride says that she has forgotten and must ask her maid who remembers all things for her. She goes to ask Maid Maleen. She tells the bride and the bride tells the prince. The prince then asks the bride what she said to the footbridge and afterwards what she said to the church door. Both times the bride goes to ask Maid Maleen again. She repeats what Maid Maleen said, including the statement, "I am not the true bride." The prince then asks the bride where her necklace is. She replies that she does not have one. The prince says that she cannot be his true bride if she does not have it. He removes her veil. The bride tells the prince that she got a servant to stand in for her because she was afriad of being mocked for her ugliness. The prince asks for the servant to be brought to him.
Maid Maleen is brought before the prince. The prince says to her that she mentioned Maid Maleen on the way to the church and that she looks just like her. She replies that she is Maid Maleen and that she suffered seven years of imprisonment followed by poverty and hunger out of love for the prince. Maid Maleen adds that she is now happy because she and the prince were married that day. Maid Maleen is accepted as the prince's wife and they live happily together.
Adaptations[]
"Maid Maleen" was adapted as the 2007 novel Book of a Thousand Days by the American author Shannon Hale.
Under the title Prinzessin Maleen ("Princess Maleen"), the fairy tale was adapted as a 60-minute live-action German-language TV movie. In that version of the story, Princess Maleen falls in love with a minor nobleman called Konrad. After he mistakenly comes to believe that Princess Maleen has died, Konrad agrees to marry a noblewoman named Walpurga von Schwarztal. Walpurga, whose facial disfigurement has caused five potential husbands to reject her already, is only marrying Konrad because she will lose her inheritance if she does not marry somebody. She plans to poison him on their wedding night. The TV movie stars the German-Chilean actress Cleo von Adelsheim as Princess Maleen, the German actor Peter Foyse as Konrad and the German actress Mariella Ahrens as Walpurga. It was filmed on location in Austria. It was first shown on the ARD network in Germany on December 26, 2015.