As for the story... it sort of sounded to me like magical realism in a fantasy world. Not knowing the original Goosegirl story, but having read the occasional "king comes among the commoners" story, I was able to follow it. But only just. I couldn't really go back and tell you many of the details because they sort of washed over me in a flood. The whole body-switching thing seemed inadequately explained, as did her witching thing. Did a witch swap the bodies? Did the impostor go to a witch to commission the swap?
I liked untangling the body-switch thing -- enchantment as told from the point of view of the enchanted. Much more interesting than just having her wake up and wonder if it was a dream.
Although I'm not familiar with the original
Goose Girl tale, what I think happened is that the story's "princess" -- actually, the daughter of a powerful witch -- posed as a goose girl to get into position to swap bodies (and to some extent, memories) with a real princess. We pick the story up shortly after the swap occurs, from the vantage point of the real princess, now imprisioned in the body of the goose girl/witch. She's a reverse Max Headroom -- one mind, two sets of memories. She remembers being the daughter of a witch, and she remembers being a princess going to marry the king's son. Both sets of memories are incomplete, they conflict, and she's not sure which one is real.
She eventually figures out she can reverse the spell by killing the imposter -- she is gradually acquiring the full set of the imposter's memories, including the use of magic -- but chooses not to do so. Instead, she embraces her identity as a witch, and she and the king wander happily into the sunset.
I certainly thought the imposter was a villian. Understandable, certainly -- though you'd think a witch could come up with other ways to escape crushing poverty -- but she still carried out an incredibly complete act of identity theft. It's not like the princess agreed to the swap in advance.
At least, that's what I think I heard. Anybody else? (This story is all about perspective and memory, after all...)