The Man and his Goose with the Golden Eggs

The Man and His Goose with the Golden Egg

Edited by Amalia F. Annisa

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Once upon a time, there was a man who lived with his dear Goose. He lived his life by selling his Goose’s eggs. From the very start, his Goose was different from the other Geese. The number of eggs it laid was quite a lot. That way, the man could sell plenty eggs and get some money from it. Still, the man felt it wasn’t enough. It could only buy his Goose‘s everyday food and some for the man himself. He always yearned for getting a lot of money and better life.

One night, he decided to sleep early than usual. As it became his routine, he prayed to God to make him rich and have a better life. He complained that his life was so ordinary. He became so tired and wanted some things to change. The Goose, on the outside of the house, heard her owner’s prayer and felt so sad. The Goose just liked the way things were but her owner didn’t. She wanted her owner to feel happy like she did, for the owner always taking care of her first. So that night, the Goose also prayed to the God to repay her owner’s kindness and the God answered the Goose’s prayer because of its good intention.

“Your pure will has made me answer your prayer and wishes. There my little creature, I give you a gift, for all of your hard work and never get tired of what you did. Starts from this morning, all your eggs will be pure made of gold, as pure as your wishes. That way, you can help your owner to have a better life.”

“Thank you ‘o God!” squealed the Goose happily.

“But remember,” warned God. “You could only lay one egg per day. And you must be healthy as a dog in his good condition to be laid a gold egg. That’s all you need.”

“It’s alright my Lord, for my owner always taking care of me patiently, he sure wouldn’t mind of that condition.”

“We shall see, my dear creature.” That night the Goose slept soundly with a smile in its face.

The man woke up early and went to the nest of his Goose to check its condition. As he checked his Goose, he found an egg all yellow and glittering below the Goose. When he took it up it was as heavy as lead and he was going to throw it away, because he thought a trick had been played upon him. But he took it home on second thoughts, and soon found, to his delight, that it was an egg of pure gold. He was so happy that his prayer finally got answer from the God. Every morning the same thing occurred, and he soon became rich by selling his eggs. At first he thought it was so odd that his Goose could only lay a single egg per day, but he didn’t care as much as he saw a gold egg first time in his life. He could only dreamed, how much money he would get from those golden eggs.

As he grew rich, he grew greedy and he stopped caring his Goose in the same way as he did in the past. He was so busy spending all his money to buy all the things he ever wanted in his life. The Goose was so sad to see that her owner started to change into a bad person. One day, the Goose felt very sick as she rarely got a proper treatment as she had before. This made the Goose couldn’t lay any single egg anymore and her health became worst as day went by. She only hoped that her owner would find her as soon as possible, or she couldn’t give any eggs anymore for him.

Even so, the man was still busy with his money. He feared that one day he got robbed by someone. He decided to build a fine house with a good security. Unfortunately, all his money was spent out for this. He thought it was the time to visit his beloved Goose and got another gold egg. All the way, he could only smile to think there would be a pile of gold egg because it was already in long time he didn’t meet his Goose. But what he found was something that shattered his heart, he saw the Goose laid limp in her nest. He started to feel panic; his source of wealth was going to die. He hurriedly gave the Goose a treatment but it was too late. The Goose couldn’t be helped anymore. Before she died, she smiled happily; it was such bless to see her owner for the last time taking care for her like what he did in the past.

He felt so miserable to see his Goose died. In his mind, it was all chaotic. All suddenly happened and he couldn’t think straight. In desperation, he thought he could get at once all the gold the Goose could give if he ripped the Goose’s body. Hopelessly, he ripped the Goose’s body only to find nothing. Now he got nothing and lost his companion.