A father and mother and their three daughters once lived in a small hut in the forest, for they were very poor. And one day the father said to his wife and daughters: “Good wife, and good little daughters, I must leave you for some time. But I shall return with many riches and beautiful things. My little daughters shall have many jewels to put in their hair; and you will all be happy”.
After saying these words, the man set out on his long journey. On his way he walked through the forest in the night, and a fairy met him. “Where are you going, O traveller, at this time of night?”, she asked. “I am going to seek fortune”, he replied. Without more words the fairy raised her wand and touched his shoulder, and he was changed into a goose with golden feathers.
The poor father, now changed into a goose, flew onto the branch of a tree and he thought: “What can I now do for my family? I am but a goose, I cannot seek for riches, and my wife and daughters are very poor”.
Such were his thoughts as he perched on the branch of the tree, and he was very, very sad. But suddenly he looked down and saw himself reflected in a pool of water beneath. “My feathers are gold!” he cried, shaking his wings with glee. And away he flew, to the little hut where his wife and daughters were waiting. “Mother, a golden goose is coming to us!”, exclaimed the daughters. Alighting at the door the goose spoke to them. “Good people”, he said, “I know you are poor, but, see, my feathers are of gold”. And taking a feather from his back he gave it to them, saying: “Take then this one and sell it. I will return again by and by”. And with that he flew back to the forest.
The wife sold the feather and received much money for it. And each time this was spent the goose returned and gave them another feather. But one day the mother said to her daughters: “My children, this goose may one day fly away and never return. Next time he comes we must pluck off all his feathers.” The daughters wept bitterly at the thought of this ingratitude. But nevertheless when the goose returned their mother seized him and plucked all his feathers.
Robbed of his plumage the goose was unable to fly, and his selfish wife threw him in a barrel and gave him but little food to eat. But the feathers she plucked became white as the feathers of every other goose, for the fairy had given them a charm, a charm that would turn them white if ever they were taken from him. After he had lived some time thus miserably in the barrel, white feathers grew on the goose’s wings again. He then flew away, far away to a forest where every bird was happy, and he lived happy with them ever after.
