The Golden Goose

Once upon a time thereThere was a man who had three sons, the youngest of whom was called Dummling, or Simpleton, and was despised, mocked, and put down on every occasion.

It happened that the eldest wanted to go into the forest to chophew wood, and before he went his mother gave him a beautiful sweet cake and a bottle of wine so he would not go hungry or thirstyin order that he might not suffer from hunger or thirst.

When he entered the forest, he met a little grey-haired old manWhen he entered the forest there met him a little grey-haired old man who wishedbade him good daygood-day, and said, “Do give me a piece of cake out of your pocket, and let me have a drinkdraught of your wine; I am so hungry and thirsty.” But the supposedly sensible young man answeredBut the prudent youth answered, “If I give you my cake and wine, I won’t have any left for myself. Go awayI shall have none for myself; be off with you,” and he left the little man standing and went on.

But when he began to chophew down a tree, it was not long before he swung his axe badlymade a false stroke, and the axe cut him in the arm, so that he had to go home and have it bandagedbound up. And this was the little grey man’s doing.

After this the second son went into the forest, and his mother gave him, like the eldest, a cake and a bottle of wine. The little old grey man met him toomet him likewise, and asked him for a piece of cake and a drink of wine. But the second son, too, said with what seemed good reason to himmuch reason, “Anything I give you means less for me. Go away!What I give you will be taken away from myself; be off!” and he left the little man standing and went on. He did not have to wait long for his punishmentHis punishment, however, was not delayed; when he had made a few strokes at the tree he struck himself in the leg, so that he had to be carried home.

Then Dummling said, “Father, do let me go and cut wood.” The father answered, “Your brothers hurt themselves chopping wood. Leave it alone; you don’t know how to do it.have hurt themselves with it, leave it alone, you do not understand anything about it.” But Dummling begged so long that at last he said, “Just go then, perhaps getting hurt will teach you some senseyou will get wiser by hurting yourself.” His mother gave him a cake made with water and baked in the ashescinders, and with it a bottle of sour beer.

When he came to the forest the little old grey man met him toomet him likewise, and greeting him, said, “Give me a piece of your cake and a drink out of your bottle; I am so hungry and thirsty.” Dummling answered, “I have only cake baked in the ashescinder-cake and sour beer; if you don’t mind thatif that pleases you, we will sit down and eat.” So they sat down, and when Dummling pulled out his cake baked in the ashescinder-cake, it was a fine sweet cake, and the sour beer had become good wine. So they ate and drank, and after that the little man said, “Since you have a good heart, and are willing to sharedivide what you have, I will give you good luck. There stands an old tree, cut it down, and you will find something at the roots.” Then the little man said goodbyeThen the little man took leave of him.

Dummling went and cut down the tree, and when it fell there was a goose sitting in the roots with feathers of pure gold. He lifted her up, and taking her with him, went to an inn where he thought he would stay the night. Now the innkeeperhost had three daughters, who were curious about the wonderful goose and each wantedwho saw the goose and were curious to know what such a wonderful bird might be, and would have liked to have one of its golden feathers.

The eldest thought, “I’ll soon get a chance to pull out a featherI shall soon find an opportunity of pulling out a feather,” and as soon as Dummling had gone out she seized the goose by the wing, but her finger and hand stuck firmly to itremained sticking fast to it.

The second came soon afterwards, thinking only of how she might get a feather for herself, but she had scarcely touched her sister whenthan she was stuck tooshe was held fast.

At last the third also came with the same intentionlike intent, and the others screamed out, “Keep away; for goodness’ sake keep away!” But she did not understand why she was to keep away. “The others are there,” she thought, “I may as well be there too,” and ran to them; but as soon as she had touched her sister, she stuck to her tooshe remained sticking fast to her. So they had to spend the night with the goose.

The next morning Dummling took the goose under his arm and set out, without worryingtroubling himself about the three girls who were hanging on to it. They had to keep running after him, left or right, wherever he chose to goThey were obliged to run after him continually, now left, now right, just as he was inclined to go.

In the middle of the fields the pastorparson met them, and when he saw the procession he said, “For shame, you good-for-nothing girls, why are you running across the fields after this young man? is that properseemly?” At the same time he seized the youngest by the hand in order to pull her away, but as soon as he touched her he stuck to her too and had to run behind themhe likewise stuck fast, and was himself obliged to run behind.

Before long the church caretakerthe sexton came by and saw his master, the pastorparson, running behind three girls. He was astonished at this and called out, “Hi, your reverence, where are you goingwhither away so quickly? do not forget that we have a baptism at church todaywe have a christening to-day!” and running after him he took him by the sleeve, but stuck to it toowas also held fast to it.

As the five trotted along, one behind the other, two farm workers came from the fields carrying their tools for loosening the soil. The pastor called to them and begged them to free him and the caretaker.Whilst the five were trotting thus one behind the other, two labourers came with their hoes from the fields; the parson called out to them and begged that they would set him and the sexton free. But they had scarcely touched the caretakerthe sexton when they got stuck toowhen they were held fast, and now there were seven of them running behind Dummling and the goose.

Soon afterwards he came to a city, whose king had a daughter so serious that no one could make her laughwhere a king ruled who had a daughter who was so serious that no one could make her laugh. So he had announcedput forth a decree that whoever could make her laugh would marry herwhosoever should be able to make her laugh should marry her. When Dummling heard this, he went to see the King’s daughter with his goose and everyone trailing behind herwith his goose and all her train before the King’s daughter, and as soon as she saw the seven people running on and on, one behind the other, she began to laugh quite loudly, and as if she would never stop. Thenleave off. Thereupon Dummling asked to have her for his wife, and the wedding was celebrated. After the King’s death, Dummling inherited the kingdom and lived a long time contentedly with his wife.