Knjigice
Fairy tale · Classic fairy tales
The Golden Goose
The old tale of the goose nobody could let go of
Also in: Zlata gos (Slovenian) · Zlatá hus (Slovak)
Once a father had three sons. The youngest was called Lenart. He was quiet and good, but people thought him simple, and they laughed at him.
1
The eldest went to the forest for wood. His mother gave him cake and a bottle of wine. In the middle of the forest he met a little grey man. "Would you give me a bite?" "I'll give you nothing!" he said, and walked on.
2
He had hardly swung his axe when it slipped from his hands and stuck fast in a stump. He could not pull it out, and had to go home empty-handed. The same thing happened to the middle brother.
3
At last Lenart was allowed to go too. All he was given was a cake baked in ashes and a jug of sour beer. But when the little man asked, Lenart sat straight down beside him and shared everything in half.
4
And look: the ash cake became the finest nut cake, and the sour beer sweet wine. "Because you have a good heart," said the little man, "fell that old tree. In its roots you will find a present."
5
Lenart felled the tree — and among the roots sat a goose. Every feather on her was pure gold. He took her in his arms and went to spend the night at an inn.
6
At the inn there were three daughters. "What a beautiful feather!" said the eldest. "I shall take just one." She reached out her hand — and stuck fast to the goose, and could not let go.
7
The second sister came and grabbed the first — and stuck to her. Then the third came — and she stuck too. All three had to spend the night right there, one behind the other.
8
In the morning Lenart tucked the goose under his arm and walked on. And the three sisters came hopping after him, whether they liked it or not, wherever he went.
9
Out in the fields the parson saw them. "What do you think you are doing?" he shouted, and caught the last one by the sleeve — and stuck fast. After him the sexton stuck, and then two farmhands with their hoes.
10
And so Lenart led them all into the city. And there lived a king's daughter who had never once in her life laughed. Nobody could make her.
11
And just then the whole line came hopping across the square: Lenart, the goose, three sisters, the parson, the sexton and two farmhands. The princess looked — and laughed so hard she had to hold on to the railing.
12
When she laughed, the whole city laughed. The goose flapped her wings — and everyone came unstuck. The sisters straightened their aprons, and the parson his hat.
13
Lenart and the princess became friends, and soon there was a wedding. The golden goose lived from then on in the castle garden, and the little grey man got the biggest slice of cake at the feast.
14The End
