I know that I shall never see my darling daughter again, and so I will give her all she needs to make a comfortable journey through life. I will give her my best waiting maid. I will give her baggage and ornaments, gold and silver for her trousseau. Yet these are mere trinkets compared with my real gift. I will give her my blood, the power of her mothers’ line, and pray she does not lose it.

The Blood Queen in The Goose Girl, Grimms. Painting by Amedeo Modigliani.