JOHNNY AND THE GOLDEN GOOSE
Project Gutenberg EPUB3 edition
Mabie, Hamilton Wright, Forbush, William Byron, and Hale, Edward Everett
This King had an only daughter, who all her life had been so sad that no one had ever been able to make her laugh. So the King made a decree that the man who could bring a smile to his daughter's face should have her for his bride.
When Johnny heard what the King had promised, he at once made his way into the Princess's presence, and when she saw the goose, with the seven queer-looking companions hanging on behind, she burst into such a hearty fit of laughter that it was thought she would never be able to stop again.
Of course, the Simpleton claimed her as his bride, but the King did not fancy him for a son-in-law, so he made all sorts of excuses.
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"You shall have her," said he, "if you can first bring me a man who can drink up a whole cellarful of wine."
Johnny at once remembered the little gray man, and, feeling sure that he would help him, he set out for the wood where he had first met him.
When he reached the stump of the old tree which he had himself hewn down, he noticed a man sitting beside it, with a face as gloomy as a rainy day.
Johnny asked politely what ailed him, and the man answered:
"I suffer from a thirst I cannot quench. Cold water disagrees with me, and though I have, it is true, emptied a barrel of wine, it was no more to me than a single drop of water upon a hot stone."
You can think how pleased Johnny was to hear these words. He took the man to the King's cellar, where he seated himself before the huge barrels, and drank and drank till, at the end of the day, not a drop of wine was left.
Then Johnny claimed his bride, but the King could not make up his mind to give his daughter to "a ne'er-do-weel" who went by such a name as "Simpleton."
So he made fresh excuses, and said that he would not give her up until the young man had found someone who could eat up a mountain of bread in a single day.
So the young man had no choice but to set out once more for the wood.
And again he found a man sitting beside the stump of the tree. He was very sad and hungry-looking, and sat tightening the belt round his waist.
"I have eaten a whole ovenful of bread," he said sadly, "but when one is as hungry as I am, such a meal only serves to make one more hungry still. I am so empty that if I did not tighten my belt I should die of hunger."
"You are the man for me!" said Johnny. "Follow me, and I will give you a meal that will satisfy even your hunger."
He led the man into the courtyard of the King's palace, where all the meal in the kingdom had been collected together and mixed into an enormous mountain of bread.
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The man from the wood placed himself in front of it and began to eat, and before the day was over the mountain of bread had vanished.
A third time the Simpleton demanded his bride, but again the King found an excuse.
"First bring me a ship that can sail both on land and sea, and then you shall wed the Princess," he said.
Johnny went straightway to the wood, where he met the little gray man with whom he had once shared his food.
"Good day," he said, nodding his wise little head. "So you've come to visit me again, eh? It was I, you know, who drank the wine and ate the bread for you, and now I will finish by giving you the wonderful ship which is to sail on either land or sea. All this I do for you because you were kind and good to me."
Then he gave him the ship, and when the King saw it he could find no further excuse.
So he gave the young man his daughter, and the pair were married that very day.
When the old King died, the Simpleton became King in his stead, and he and his wife lived happily ever after.