Ministry of Education "Full-time Compulsory Education Chinese Curriculum Standards": Selected Stories from

Author: Brothers Grimm
Translator: Yang Chunfeng, Jiang Hongxia, Bu Maicun, Liu Jie
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 eldest son was going into the forest to chop wood. His mother made delicious pies and prepared a bottle of wine for him to take with him, so he could eat when he got tired from working. The eldest son walked into the forest and met an old man. After greeting him, the old man said, "Give me some of your pie, and let me have a drink of your wine. I’m thirsty and hungry right now." The clever eldest son 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 and walked away without looking back.
The eldest son started chopping wood. He hadn’t been working for long when he accidentally cut his arm. He had to go home and 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 sweet pies and delicious wine. In the forest, he met the old man again. The old man asked for some pie and wine as well. The second son was just as clever as his older brother and said, "If I give you everything, what will I do? Don’t daydream!" The old man also suffered a punishment for this. When the second son was chopping wood, he accidentally injured his leg and had to go home to heal.
The youngest son, who was called "fool," said, "Father, let me 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 know 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 went into 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, let’s 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 they had a nice meal, the old man said, "You’re a kind-hearted person to share your food with me. I’ll bring you some good luck. There’s an old tree ahead. Cut it down, and you’ll find something good in the roots." With that, the old man left.
The youngest son cut down the old tree and saw a hole in the roots. Inside the hole, there was a goose with golden feathers. He grabbed the goose and went to a hotel to stay. The hotel owner had three daughters, and they were all fascinated by the golden goose. They all wanted to pull out a golden feather from it. The eldest daughter thought, "I must find a way to pull out a feather!" So, when the youngest son was out, she grabbed one of the goose’s wings. But to her surprise, her fingers stuck to the wing and wouldn’t come off. Later, the second daughter came over to pull a feather, but as soon as she touched her sister, she was stuck there too. Finally, the third daughter secretly came over, and her two older sisters shouted at her, "Don’t come over! Oh my god! Get away from here!" But the third daughter didn’t understand what they meant. She thought, "Since my sisters came, I should go see too." So she walked toward them. But as soon as she touched her sisters, she suffered the same fate. The three sisters stayed by the golden goose all night.
The next morning, the youngest son took the golden goose and left. He didn’t care about the three girls stuck to the goose’s back. They had no choice but to run after them. They passed through the fields when a priest saw this strange group and shouted at them, "Aren’t you ashamed? You girls, running around in the wilderness with a young man—you’re not acting like proper ladies at all!" Then he reached out to pull the hotel owner’s youngest daughter away, but as soon as he touched her, he was stuck too and became part of the group. Soon after, they met a clerk who also wanted to interfere with this improper group. He shouted at the priest, "Hey, priest, what are you doing there? There’s a child waiting for you to give him a baptism!" With that, he reached for the priest’s arm, but he was also stuck. The five of them walked in a line forward.
Soon, they met two farmers who had finished their work and were carrying their hoes. The two men tried to separate them, but as soon as they touched them, they couldn’t break free. So the seven of them walked behind the youngest son and his golden goose. Later, they entered an ancient city where the king had a only daughter. The princess was always sad and no one could cheer her up. The king issued a decree that whoever could make the princess laugh would marry her.
After hearing this, the youngest son took his golden goose and the group behind him into the palace. The princess saw the seven people stuck together in a funny line and couldn’t help but laugh. As a result, the princess married the youngest son. Later, the youngest son inherited the throne and lived a happy life with the princess.