# The True Sweethearts explained — Household Tales

> Chapter companion for Household Tales by Jacob Grimm.

## What happens

A beautiful young girl, mistreated by her stepmother, is helped by a mysterious old woman to complete impossible tasks: picking twelve pounds of feathers, emptying a pond with a hole-ridden spoon, and building a castle in a day. The stepmother dies when a trapdoor falls on her, leaving the girl alone in the magnificent castle. She falls in love with a prince, who promises to return but never does. After years of searching, she becomes a cowherd and eventually attends the prince's wedding to another. Using three magical dresses, she wins back his love, and they marry.

## Themes in this chapter

### Virtue Rewarded and Vice Punished

The girl's hard work and kindness are rewarded with magical help and a castle, while the stepmother's cruelty leads to her accidental death.

### Promises and Their Consequences

The prince's broken promise to return to the lime-tree leads to years of separation and the maiden's quest to reclaim him.

### Transformation and Redemption

The maiden transforms from a mistreated stepdaughter to a wealthy castle owner, and later from a cowherd to a bride, while the prince is redeemed through recognition of his true love.

## Character check-ins

### the girl

The protagonist, a young and beautiful maiden mistreated by her stepmother, who completes impossible tasks with supernatural help and later seeks her lost prince.

### the maiden

The same as the girl, referred to as the maiden after inheriting the castle and becoming a cowherd.

### the young King

The prince who betroths himself to the maiden but forgets her, later marrying another before recognizing her.

### Unknown

The old woman who magically helps the girl complete her tasks and builds the castle.

## Key lines

> Here are twelve pounds of feathers which thou must pick, and if they are not done this evening, thou mayst expect a good beating.

The stepmother gives the girl an impossible task: to pick twelve pounds of feathers by evening or face a beating.

_This is the first of three impossible tasks set by the stepmother._

> Little calf, little calf, kneel by my side, And do not forget thy shepherd-maid, As the prince forgot his betrothed bride, Who waited for him 'neath the lime-tree's shade.

The maiden sings a song to her calf, lamenting that the prince forgot her as she waited under the lime-tree.

_This song is a key moment where the maiden expresses her grief and later catches the prince's attention._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/household_tales_se/chapters/the-true-sweethearts
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/household_tales_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/household_tales_se/chapters