Selected Stories from

Author: Brothers Grimm
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-08-01
Features: The Golden Goose
A long time ago, there was a man who had three sons. His youngest son was called "fool," and the family always looked down on him and bullied him whenever they could. One day, his older brother was going into the forest to chop wood. His mother made a delicious pie and prepared a bottle of wine for him to take along, so he could eat it when he got tired from working. The older brother walked into the forest and met an old man. After greeting him, the old man said, "Give me a little of your pie, and let me have some of your wine. I’m thirsty and hungry right now." The clever older brother said, "If I give you my pie and wine, I won’t have anything to eat or drink. I’m not that foolish!" With that, he turned around and left without looking back.
The older brother started chopping wood. He hadn’t been working for long when he accidentally cut his arm and had to go home to bandage the wound. He thought it was all the old man’s fault. Soon after, his second son was also going into the forest to chop wood. His mother also gave him a sweet pie and delicious wine. In the forest, he met the same old man again. The old man asked him for some pie and wine to eat. The second son was just as clever as his older brother and said, "If I give you everything, what will I have left? Don’t daydream!" The old man also punished him. When the second son was chopping wood, he accidentally injured his leg and had to go home to recover.
The youngest son, who was called "fool," said, "Father, may I go into the forest to chop wood?" But his father said, "Your two older brothers got injured while chopping wood. You’d better stay home and be a good boy. You don’t understand anything." But the youngest son kept begging, and finally, his father said, "Alright, alright. Learn from your mistakes!" His mother only gave him a little dry bread and a bottle of sour beer to take with him. He entered the forest and met the old man again. The old man said, "I’m thirsty and hungry. Give me some of your bread and beer." The youngest son said, "My bread is all dry, and my beer is sour. If you don’t mind, we can sit down and eat together." So they sat down.
When the youngest son took out the dry bread, it turned into delicious, fragrant bread, and when he took out the beer, it stopped being sour and became a bottle of fine wine. After a hearty meal, the old man said, "You’re a kind-hearted person to share your food with me. I’ll bring you some good luck. Ahead, there’s an old tree. Chop it down, and you’ll find something good inside the roots." With that, the old man left.
The youngest son chopped down the tree and found a hole in the roots. Inside the hole, there was a goose whose feathers were all pure gold. He caught the goose and went to a (inn) to stay. The innkeeper had three daughters, and as soon as they saw the golden goose, they were fascinated and all wanted to pluck a golden feather from it. The oldest daughter thought to herself, "I must find a way to pluck a feather!" So, while the youngest son was out, she...