The three little men climbed out but they were very, very annoyed when Sam asked them to bring the castle back immediately. “It’s always an emergency”, they protested. “Why are you always in serious trouble? Why is your life always in danger? We’re not going to do this any more!” But Sam said sternly “Do as you’re told.” Reluctantly, the little men said “We’ll do it one more time. We’re not going to stay and work for a master who keeps on getting into serious trouble.”
And they flew out of the window and disappeared. But when Sam looked out of the window, there was the castle in the middle of the lake on its twelve golden pillars. The King was very pleased. “Good. Very good. Now you and my daughter can get married.” So Sam and the princess were married. The three little men never came back but Sam and the princess lived happily ever after in their castle on the lake.
8. THE STORY OF THE GOLDEN GOOSE
This is a story about a young man called Peter, a bird, a King and a princess. The King was very worried about his daughter because she never smiled or laughed. One day he had an idea. “The first man who can make my daughter laugh can marry her,” he declared. And he put a notice on the front gate of the palace. The news soon spread around the kingdom. Everyone was talking about it. And the news finally reached Peter. “I want to make the princess laugh,” said Peter. “I know some good jokes. I’ll go and tell her some jokes and make her laugh and marry her and live happily ever after.” And Peter set off for the Palace.
He walked a long way and he began to get tired and hungry. He decided it was time for lunch and sat down under a tree to eat the bread and cheese that he had brought with him. And then a little old man came up to him and asked him for something to eat. Peter shared his lunch and told him that he was going to the Palace to make the princess laugh. And Peter told the little old man a joke. “Why did the pony cough?” he asked. The little old man answered: “I don’t know. Why did the pony cough?” And Peter replied “Because it was a little hoarse.” (In English, of course, the two words “horse” and “hoarse” sound the same. A pony is a little horse and if you have cough, your voice can sound hoarse.) The little old man was not impressed. “You’ve been kind to me and I want to help you,” he said. Then he pointed to a tree in the distance. “Go and dig under the tree and you’ll find something that will bring you luck.”
So Peter went to the tree and began to dig a hole underneath it. And there he found a bird. Do you remember the bird mentioned at the beginning? It was a bird with feathers of pure gold - a golden goose. Peter picked up the goose and set off again for the Palace. In the evening he arrived at an inn and decided to stay there for the night. The landlord of the inn was very surprised when he saw the golden goose. “That’s amazing. I don’t believe it,” he cried out and called his wife and three daughters to come and look.
That night, after dinner, Peter went to bed. He was very tired. He put the golden goose on the end of his bed, then he got into bed and fell asleep. Now, the landlord’s eldest daughter wanted one of the golden feathers from the goose. She said to herself: “Just one. Nobody will notice if I take just one.” So in the middle of the night, the eldest daughter got up and crept in to Peter’s bedroom. She saw the goose on the end of the bed and she put out her hand and touched one of the golden feathers. And as soon as she touched the feather: “Aah!”, she cried. “Help! I can’t let go!”
Now the second daughter also wanted one of the golden feathers. She too thought nobody would notice if she took just one. So the second daughter crept into Peter’s bedroom and was surprised to find her elder sister there holding on to the goose. She caught hold of her elder sister’s arm and as soon as she touched her: “Aah! Help! I can’t let go!” And there she had to stay.
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