Magical duck ponds

Slate recently featured an excerpted fairytale from The Turnip Princess and Other Newly Discovered Fairy Tales, by Franz Xaver von Schönwerth, which we wrote about here. The story is called "Tricking the Witch", and it feels a little... off-brand. There's no moral (that I can distinguish, anyway), or Cinderella-style glamour (all the human characters are royal, but their rank doesn't actually add anything to the story). It makes for a weird read, and I'm hoping the rest of the collection is more memorable.