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The Goat Girl:
"A couple had no children; the wife prayed for any child, no matter what. One day, she gave birth to a baby goat. She grew up as playful as any child. Her mother wished that her father could have a jug of water, and the goat said she could carry it, if her mother tied it to her horns. She carried it to her father, and when she was coming back, she took off her skin in the woods to clean it. A prince saw her and fell in love. Though his parents and her parents were opposed, he grew sick with his love, and the queen insisted on the match, so her parents gave the goat to the queen, and the prince grew well again.

The prince and his parents went to a wedding. The goat girl changed into a golden gown and went to the wedding herself; after the dancing, she threw a golden apple among the guests to confuse them and fled, and the king and queen admired her beauty. On the second day, the same thing happened. On the third day, the prince ordered an oven heated in the bakery and told his parents he would not go. When the goat girl went, he seized her skin and burned it. When she returned, she tried to throw herself into the oven after the skin, but the prince restrained her, and they had a grand wedding."

The Goat-faced Girl:
"A poor peasant had twelve daughters, one year apart. He could not feed them all. A huge lizard offered to take his youngest daughter, Renzolla, and raise her, and if he refused, it would be the worse for him. His wife persuaded him that he did not know it meant ill, and he brought her. The lizard gave him great wealth, which enabled him to marry off his other daughters, and raised Renzolla in a palace. A king came by, and when he knocked on the door, the lizard turned into a beautiful woman and let him in. He fell in love with Renzolla. The lizard agreed to their marriage and gave Renzolla a large marriage portion, but Renzolla left without thanking her.

Angry, the lizard turned Renzolla's head into a goat's head. The king was horror-struck. He put Renzolla to work with a maid, carding flax; the maid obeyed, but Renzolla threw it out the window. When she saw what the maid had done, she begged aid from the lizard, who gave her spun flax. Then the king gave them both dogs, and the maid raised hers with care, but Renzolla threw hers out the window, so it died. When the king sent to hear how the dogs were doing, Renzolla hurried off to the fairy's, but met an old man there. He showed her in a mirror what had happened to her and told her to beg the fairy's pardon. She obeyed, and the fairy turned her back. The king fell in love again and they married"

God Gives a Hundred for One:
"A priest wants to get an Indian's cow, so he preaches that God will give a hundredfold for one, and pressures him into giving. The Indian's wife covered it with salt. All the priest's cattle were attracted to the salt. When the cow went back to its own corral, they all followed, and the Indian kept them all because God had given him hundredfold."

The Gold-Children:
"A fisherman caught a golden fish, who gave him and his wife a rich castle on the condition that he will not tell anyone how he had gotten it. His wife badgered the knowledge from him, but he caught the fish again and regained the castle, and when she badgered the truth out of him again, he caught the fish a third time. The fish saw it was fated to fall into the fisherman's hand and told him to take it home and cut it into six pieces, giving two to his wife and two to his horse. He had to bury the last two pieces in the ground. When he did, his wife gave birth to twins of gold, the horse gave birth to two foals of gold, and two golden lilies sprouted from the earth.

When they were grown, the gold children left home, telling their father that the lilies would wither if they were ill and die if they were dead. People mocked them because of their golden appearance, and one child went back to his father, but the other went on, through a forest filled with robbers. He covered himself with bearskins to hide the gold from the thieves, and wooed a maiden. They fell in love and soon married. Her father then came home and believed his son-in-law was a beggar because he was covered with bearskins. However, the next morning, he was relieved when he saw the gold skin of the young man who was no longer wearing the skins.

The gold man went out to hunt a stag and asked a witch about it. The witch told him that she knew of the stag, but her dog barked at him. When he threatened to shoot it, the witch transformed him into stone. Back home, his brother saw that the lily had withered and realized his brother was in trouble. He went to help him, but did not approach the witch closely enough to be transformed. Then he threatened to shoot her if she did not restore his brother. The witch did so, and one brother went back to his bride and the other returned to their father."

The Maid Freed from the Gallows:
"Although it exists in many forms, all versions recount a similar story. A maid (a young woman) about to be hanged (for unknown reasons) pleads with the hangman, or judge, to wait for the arrival of someone who may bribe him. The first person (or people) to arrive, who may include the father, mother, brother, and sister, have brought nothing and often have come to see her hanged. The last person to arrive, often her true love, has brought the gold to save her.[1] Although the traditional versions do not resolve the fate of the condemned one way or the other, it may be presumed that the bribe would succeed. She may curse all those who failed her.

The typical refrain would be:

"Hangman, hangman, hangman / slack your rope awhile.
I think I see my father / ridin’ many a mile.
Father, did you bring any silver? / father, did you bring any gold,
Or did you come to see me / hangin’ from the gallows pole?"
"No, I didn’t bring any silver, / no I didn’t bring any gold.
I just come to see you / hangin’ from the gallows pole."

It has been suggested that the reference to "gold" may not mean actual gold for a bribe, but may instead stand for the symbolic restoration of the maid's honor, perhaps by proof of her innocence or fidelity.[2][3] Such an interpretation would explain why a number of variations of the song have the maid (or a male condemned) asking whether their visitors had brought them gold or paid their fee. In at least one version, the reply comes that "I haven't brought you gold/ But I have paid your fee."[4]

The song is also known as "The Prickly Bush", a title derived from the oft-used refrain lamenting the maid's situation by likening it to being caught in briery bush, wherein the brier prickles her heart. In versions carrying this theme, the typical refrain may add:

O the prickly bush, the prickly bush,
It pricked my heart full sore;
If ever I get out of the prickly bush,
I'll never get in any more. "

The Golden Bird:
"Every year, a king's apple tree is robbed of one golden apple during the night. He sets his sons to watch, and though the first two fall asleep, the youngest stays awake and sees that the thief is a golden bird. He tries to shoot it, but only knocks a feather off.

The feather is so valuable that the king decides he must have the bird. He sends his three sons, one after another, to capture the priceless golden bird. The sons each meet a talking fox, who gives them advice for their quest: to choose a bad inn over a brightly lit and merry one. The first two sons ignore the advice and, in the pleasant inn, abandon their quest.

The third son obeys the fox, but when the fox advises him to take the golden bird in a wooden cage rather than a golden one, he disobeys, and the golden bird rouses the castle, resulting in his capture. He is sent after the golden horse as a condition for sparing his life. The fox advises him to use a wooden saddle rather than a golden one, but he fails again. He is sent after the princess from the golden castle. The fox advises him not to let her say farewell to her parents, but he disobeys, and the princess's father orders him to remove a hill as the price of his life.

The fox removes it, and then, as they set out, he advises the prince how to keep all the things he has won. It then asks the prince to shoot it and cut off its head. When the prince refuses, it warns him against buying gallowsflesh and sitting on the edge of wells.

He finds that his brothers, who have been carousing and living sinfully in the meantime, are to be hanged (on the gallows) and buys their liberty. They find out what he has done. When he sits on a well's edge, they push him in. They take the things and the princess and bring them to their father. However the bird, the horse, and the princess all grieve for the prince. The fox rescues the prince. When he returns to his father's castle dressed in a beggar's cloak, the bird, the horse, and the princess all recognize him as the man who won them, and become cheerful again. His brothers are put to death, and he marries the princess.

Finally, the third son cuts off the fox's head and feet at the creature's request. The fox is revealed to be a man, the brother of the princess."

The Golden Branch:
"A cruel king had a hideous but good-hearted son. The king wanted to arrange an alliance by marrying his son to a princess who was as ugly as he was. The prince, being tired enough of seeing himself, did not want to marry her. The king imprisoned him in a tower until he consented, and sent his ambassadors anyway. The princess did not want to consent, but her father sent her off with the ambassadors.

Meanwhile, the prince found a room with stained glass windows, that were depicting the adventures of a man like himself, and then the central figure became a tall and handsome young man, which no longer pleased him. He went back, and found a book, which he found depicted the same scenes, coming to life. In one, the people told him to find them their queen. Finally, he tried to find the key and the cabinet as depicted in the windows and book. He succeeded and found a man's hand, which horrified him, but a voice told him he could restore it to the man and directed him to go to the gallery and search where the light was brightest. There he found a portrait, and behind it a hidden room where a lady lay sleeping, and lamenting the fate of her beloved in her sleep. An eagle brought him a branch of a cherry tree, he touched the lady with it, and she came away. She implored the eagle to remain, but it left. He asked if he could restore her beloved, and she told him he could not, but asked if he wanted something for himself. He asked her to make him look less ridiculous. She turned him into a tall and handsome young man and transported him from the tower.

The guards, trying to cover his disappearance up, told the king he was ill. This gave him hope that the prince was weakening. The princess arrived, and she was still unwilling. Then the guards reported that the prince had died. The king locked the princess up in the tower.

She found a room with stained glass windows, depicting herself in some windows and a slim, charming young shepherdess in others, which she thinks uses her to make the contrast. An old woman appeared and offered her a choice between goodness and virtue; she choses goodness. She found the same cabinet and key as the prince, and the box with the hand. She was told to give it to an eagle as soon as she saw him. She did so, and he became a man. He told her how a wicked enchanter had changed him to this form because they both loved the same fairy, and she preferred him. He offered to make her beautiful, and she accepted. He transformed her and transported her from the tower.

There, she met with the transformed prince, who was now a shepherd. They fell in love. The princess, unable to forget that she was not really a shepherdess, could not bring herself to marry a poor shepherd. She decided to consult an enchanter. She found at his house, twelve cats being tormented by mice just out of reach, and the mice being tormented by a piece of bacon just out of reach. The enchanter appeared, and she tried to flee, but spiderwebs caught her. He asked her to marry him and told her that the cats and mice were once princes and princesses in love, but they had offended him. She still refused him. He turned her into a grasshopper. She fled and, once outside, lamented the pride that had made her reluctant to marry a shepherd.

The prince set out to find her, but was lured by a phantom into a castle where a hideous old fairy asked him to marry her. When he refused, she set goblins on him. He made such a good fight against them that she stopped them, showed him the phantom, and threatened to have her killed if he refused her. He called on the fairy he had saved, and heard a voice telling him to stand firm and seek the Golden Branch. He refused, and the fairy turned him into a cricket.

The cricket and grasshopper met, discovered they could both speak, and explained to each other that they had been a prince and a princess. Two mice, both speaking, arrived at their hiding place, and one knew the way to the Golden Branch. They went and were restored. The fairy and her beloved arrived and arranged for them to marry at once. The princesses who had been mice asked for help, and the fairy could not refuse anything on this happy occasion. She transformed them all back, and gave the prince and princess the castle and garden of the Golden Branch to live in."

Golden Goose:
"The hero is the youngest of three brothers, given the nickname Dummling. His eldest brother is sent into the forest to chop wood, fortified with a rich cake and a bottle of wine. He meets a little gray man who begs a morsel to eat and a swallow of ale but is rebuffed. The eldest brother meets an accident and is taken home. The second brother meets a similar fate. Dummling, sent out with a biscuit cooked in the ashes of the hearth and soured beer, is generous with the little old man and is rewarded with a golden goose. The goose has been discovered within the roots of the tree chosen by the little gray man and felled by Dummling.

With the goose under his arm, Dummling heads for an inn, where, as soon as his back is turned, the innkeeper's daughter attempts to pluck just one of the feathers of pure gold, and is stuck fast. Her sister, coming to help her, is stuck fast too. And the youngest, determined not to be left out of the riches, is stuck to the second. Dummling makes his way to the castle, and each person who attempts to interfere is joined to the unwilling parade: the parson, his sexton, and two laborers.

In the castle lives the king with the Princess who has never laughed. But the despondent Princess, sitting by the window and glimpsing the parade staggering after Dummling and his golden goose, laughs until she cries. Some versions include an additional three trials. Dummling succeeds in all with the help of his little gray friend and finally wins the princess, living happily ever after."