Kate Crackernuts
Katie Crackernuts is a fairy tale collected by Joseph Jacobs.
Sypnosis
A king had a daughter named Anne, and his queen had a daughter named Kate, who was less beautiful. The queen was jealous of Anne, but Kate loved her.
The queen consults with a hen-wife to ruin Anne's beauty, and after three tries, they enchant Anne's head into a calf's head.
Kate wraps Anne's head in a cloth, and they go out to seek their fortunes. They find a castle where the king had two sons, one of whom was sickening, and whoever watched him by night vanished. Kate offered to watch.
At midnight, the sick prince rose and rode off. Kate sneaked onto his horse and collected nuts as they rode through the woods. He went into a green hill, where the fairies were dancing, and Kate added herself to the charm he used to get in.
The second night, Kate found a fairy baby. It played with a wand, and she heard fairies say that three strokes of which would cure Anne. So she rolled nuts to distract the baby and get the wand, and cured her sister.
The third night, Kate said she would stay only if she could marry the prince, and that night, the baby played with a bird, three bites of which would cure the sick prince. She distracted the baby with the nuts again to get it. As soon as they returned to the castle, she cooked it, and the prince was cured by eating it.
Meanwhile his brother had seen Anne and fell in love with her, so they all married.