Why isn't he here yet?
It's half past three already. He's half an hour late.
He's usually never this late... Oh no, what if something happened?
~~
Moments later, a soft knock on the front door broke Marie's reverie. The Goose finally came. A tad late, but he came nonetheless. Marie let out a sigh of relief.
She stood up from her seat at the kitchen table and strode quickly to the door to let the Goose in. He waddled in and set himself down in the living room. Compared to other geese, he was about twice as big. Because of his size, the first time Marie saw him, she actually wanted to catch him to make some delicious goose soup. That was before he started talking.
She thought back to the days when her daughters had to beg near the crossroads each day and she had to work long night shifts just to make ends meet. It was awful and she wondered how they managed to keep going. The thought of the disgusting, cockroach-ridden, old apartment they used to live in near the cemetery sent her reeling. They were lucky to not have caught anything nasty while living there.
Thanks to the Goose, however, her family eventually moved into a posh neighborhood far from all those bad memories of the past. His monthly "gifts" have provided them with more than enough wealth to live on for the rest of their lives. What was the monthly gift you ask? It was a beautiful golden feather.
Marie remembered that day two years ago when the Goose gave her the first feather. She was running at him with a butcher's knife when he suddenly yelled, "Wait!!! I'm no ordinary goose. You can't kill me!!!" She dropped the knife and just stared at him in confusion. Once the threat of imminent death was gone, he continued, "Look, I have this... power... to think and talk like a human. You probably think you're dreaming at this point. Well go ahead, you can pinch yourself if you don't believe me. I also have an ability to create golden feathers that you can sell for lots of money in exchange for my life. I have seen your daughters while I was flying over the outside market. It's them with the dirty clothes and the matted, ratty hair, right?"
She didn't know what to think of this stalker-ish, fat Goose, but she was certainly interested in that golden feather. She then told him, "Show me the feather and prove to me that it's actually valuable. If this proves wrong,we'll be having roasted goose tonight." He used his beak to pluck a single feather from under his wing and handed it to her. It was beautiful and polished. It felt real, but she couldn't be too sure since she wasn't an expert. She took the feather and the Goose to a jeweler nearby to see how much it would get. She thought it wouldn't be worth more than ten dollars, but to her surprise, the shop owner offered her ten thousand dollars. What the heck, right? It turned out, the feather was made of 100% gold, which was impossible to obtain, even by using the most complex refining process. However, she wasn't too caught up about the details; all she cared about in that moment was the huge lump of cash that she was about to deposit into her bank account.
While plopped on the couch, the Goose began to talk, pulling Marie away from her thoughts. "So I've been thinking about leaving the country. Maybe to Canada or something because you know the moment Donald Trump is able to do well in the presidential polls, you need to skedaddle pronto. Plus, it looks like your family is financially stable now, so you don't need me anymore," he said. Marie froze and panic settled over her. "No, but we do need you. The girls haven't gone to college yet and I don't even have a job right now," she said, trying to throw out any excuse she could. The Goose stared at her blankly and said, "Well, now you have the ability to get a good job and work for your own money."
Her? Work? What a joke. She hadn't worked in the last two years and thinking about the myriad of toilet bowls she had to clean before disgusted her.
The Goose got up and pulled out a golden feather, handed it to her, and said, "Here's the last one. Maybe you should keep it as a souvenir of our friendship and not sell it." She couldn't believe he was serious. Then Marie really panicked, and not knowing what else to do, she grabbed the Goose and plucked a handful of feathers. The problem was... none of them came out gold. No... no... NOOOO!! She couldn't stop herself and ended up pulling all of his white feathers out.
The Goose ran from her. Looking at her, the Goose said in a solemn voice, "Did you know my feathers only become gold if I want them to because they take away part of my lifespan each time I pull them out? I only did so because I cared for your family... It looks like my kindness over the past two years wasn't enough for your greed." He turned and spread his wings to fly away, leaving Marie for the last time.
Author's note: For this week, I chose to retell the story of "The Golden Goose" from the Jakata Tales Unit. In the original story, there was a goose with gold feathers and a poor mother with two daughters. The goose met the family and out of the kindness of its own heart, it gave one of its feathers to them to sell so they would live in comfort. The goose would continually give the family his feathers, but the mother didn’t trust the goose. She planned to steal all of this feathers the next time he came by. Her plan backfired because when she did that, all of the feathers were white and grew back white because they only become gold if they are plucked against his wish. As a result, the goose flew away and never came back again.
I kept the main plot of the story the same and I added in some dialogue to bring more 'reality' into the story. I also wrote the story with parts of the mother's/Marie's thoughts (in italics) instead of just an omniscient point of view since I wanted to depict her thoughts about why she tried to steal all of the goose’s feathers. I also added in a reason as to why the goose’s feathers didn’t turn gold when they were plucked against his will. I think this story has very good lessons to teach. One is that greed can and will ultimately cause you to lose everything. The other one is that you have to be grateful for the people that help you or they will leave you in the end. If anyone watches 'Once Upon a Time' on TV, I think this would be a good story to make into an episode! :)
Bibliography:
"The Golden Goose" by Ellen C. Babbitt, 1922. Website: UN-Textbook.
She stood up from her seat at the kitchen table and strode quickly to the door to let the Goose in. He waddled in and set himself down in the living room. Compared to other geese, he was about twice as big. Because of his size, the first time Marie saw him, she actually wanted to catch him to make some delicious goose soup. That was before he started talking.
She thought back to the days when her daughters had to beg near the crossroads each day and she had to work long night shifts just to make ends meet. It was awful and she wondered how they managed to keep going. The thought of the disgusting, cockroach-ridden, old apartment they used to live in near the cemetery sent her reeling. They were lucky to not have caught anything nasty while living there.
Thanks to the Goose, however, her family eventually moved into a posh neighborhood far from all those bad memories of the past. His monthly "gifts" have provided them with more than enough wealth to live on for the rest of their lives. What was the monthly gift you ask? It was a beautiful golden feather.
Marie remembered that day two years ago when the Goose gave her the first feather. She was running at him with a butcher's knife when he suddenly yelled, "Wait!!! I'm no ordinary goose. You can't kill me!!!" She dropped the knife and just stared at him in confusion. Once the threat of imminent death was gone, he continued, "Look, I have this... power... to think and talk like a human. You probably think you're dreaming at this point. Well go ahead, you can pinch yourself if you don't believe me. I also have an ability to create golden feathers that you can sell for lots of money in exchange for my life. I have seen your daughters while I was flying over the outside market. It's them with the dirty clothes and the matted, ratty hair, right?"
She didn't know what to think of this stalker-ish, fat Goose, but she was certainly interested in that golden feather. She then told him, "Show me the feather and prove to me that it's actually valuable. If this proves wrong,we'll be having roasted goose tonight." He used his beak to pluck a single feather from under his wing and handed it to her. It was beautiful and polished. It felt real, but she couldn't be too sure since she wasn't an expert. She took the feather and the Goose to a jeweler nearby to see how much it would get. She thought it wouldn't be worth more than ten dollars, but to her surprise, the shop owner offered her ten thousand dollars. What the heck, right? It turned out, the feather was made of 100% gold, which was impossible to obtain, even by using the most complex refining process. However, she wasn't too caught up about the details; all she cared about in that moment was the huge lump of cash that she was about to deposit into her bank account.
While plopped on the couch, the Goose began to talk, pulling Marie away from her thoughts. "So I've been thinking about leaving the country. Maybe to Canada or something because you know the moment Donald Trump is able to do well in the presidential polls, you need to skedaddle pronto. Plus, it looks like your family is financially stable now, so you don't need me anymore," he said. Marie froze and panic settled over her. "No, but we do need you. The girls haven't gone to college yet and I don't even have a job right now," she said, trying to throw out any excuse she could. The Goose stared at her blankly and said, "Well, now you have the ability to get a good job and work for your own money."
Her? Work? What a joke. She hadn't worked in the last two years and thinking about the myriad of toilet bowls she had to clean before disgusted her.
The Goose got up and pulled out a golden feather, handed it to her, and said, "Here's the last one. Maybe you should keep it as a souvenir of our friendship and not sell it." She couldn't believe he was serious. Then Marie really panicked, and not knowing what else to do, she grabbed the Goose and plucked a handful of feathers. The problem was... none of them came out gold. No... no... NOOOO!! She couldn't stop herself and ended up pulling all of his white feathers out.
The Goose ran from her. Looking at her, the Goose said in a solemn voice, "Did you know my feathers only become gold if I want them to because they take away part of my lifespan each time I pull them out? I only did so because I cared for your family... It looks like my kindness over the past two years wasn't enough for your greed." He turned and spread his wings to fly away, leaving Marie for the last time.
~~
Golden feather by Soraya Leathers. Source: Pinterest.
Author's note: For this week, I chose to retell the story of "The Golden Goose" from the Jakata Tales Unit. In the original story, there was a goose with gold feathers and a poor mother with two daughters. The goose met the family and out of the kindness of its own heart, it gave one of its feathers to them to sell so they would live in comfort. The goose would continually give the family his feathers, but the mother didn’t trust the goose. She planned to steal all of this feathers the next time he came by. Her plan backfired because when she did that, all of the feathers were white and grew back white because they only become gold if they are plucked against his wish. As a result, the goose flew away and never came back again.
I kept the main plot of the story the same and I added in some dialogue to bring more 'reality' into the story. I also wrote the story with parts of the mother's/Marie's thoughts (in italics) instead of just an omniscient point of view since I wanted to depict her thoughts about why she tried to steal all of the goose’s feathers. I also added in a reason as to why the goose’s feathers didn’t turn gold when they were plucked against his will. I think this story has very good lessons to teach. One is that greed can and will ultimately cause you to lose everything. The other one is that you have to be grateful for the people that help you or they will leave you in the end. If anyone watches 'Once Upon a Time' on TV, I think this would be a good story to make into an episode! :)
Bibliography:
"The Golden Goose" by Ellen C. Babbitt, 1922. Website: UN-Textbook.
