# The Old Woman in the Wood explained — Household Tales > Chapter companion for Household Tales by Jacob Grimm. ## What happens A poor servant-girl survives a robbery in the forest and is aided by a white dove that provides her with food, shelter, and clothing. The dove later asks her to retrieve a plain ring from an old woman's house. She succeeds, and the dove reveals itself to be a prince transformed by a witch, whom she marries. ## Themes in this chapter ### Transformation and Redemption The prince is transformed into a tree and a dove, and is redeemed by the girl's retrieval of the ring. ### Magic and the Supernatural A white dove provides keys to magical trees, and a witch's enchantment is broken by a plain ring. ## Character check-ins ### the girl A poor servant-girl who survives a robbery and is aided by a white dove. ### the young King A prince transformed into a tree and a white dove by a wicked witch, later freed by the girl. ### Unknown The old woman who is a wicked witch, keeper of the ring and the birdcage. ## Key lines > Then she took the ring, and ran quite joyously home with it, and thought the little white dove would come and get the ring, but it did not. She happily brought the ring back, expecting the dove to retrieve it, but the dove did not come. _The girl's expectation is subverted, leading to a direct encounter with the enchanted prince._ > Thou hast delivered me from the power of the old woman, who is a wicked witch. She had changed me into a tree, and every day for two hours I was a white dove, and so long as she possessed the ring I could not regain my human form. You have freed me from the witch's spell; she turned me into a tree and a dove, and only by retrieving the ring could I become human again. _The prince explains the enchantment and the significance of the ring._ ## Links - HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/household_tales_se/chapters/the-old-woman-in-the-wood - Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/household_tales_se - All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/household_tales_se/chapters