In the Brothers Grimm tale “The Goose Girl,” the princess loses a handkerchief before reaching the kingdom. Her mother gives her the handkerchief as a protective token, marked with three drops of her mother’s blood.
During the journey, the princess becomes thirsty and asks her waiting maid to fetch water. The maid refuses to serve her, and the princess is forced to drink from a stream herself. This happens twice, and the handkerchief falls away without the princess noticing.
The lost handkerchief is important because its blood drops represent the protection the princess has lost. The waiting maid then forces the princess to exchange clothes and identities with her. Readers sometimes confuse this object with Falada, the princess’s talking horse, but Falada is a separate magical element in the tale.