I was decapitated for speaking out, but that didn’t stop me from speaking my mind. In fact, when my head was nailed to the bridge, I became quite the public speaker!

I watch the queen’s daughter come and go. I remind her, over and over, that she lost her power because she lost her mother’s blood. I am her lament and her loss, and I am faithful. I will never lie.

Falada, the Speaking Horse in The Goose Girl, Grimms. Illustration by Otto Ubbelohde.