The Golden Goose facts for kids

Quick facts for kids The Golden Goose
Simpleton finds The Golden Goose: illustration by L. Leslie Brooke, 1905
Folk tale
Name	The Golden Goose
Data
Aarne–Thompson grouping	ATU 571 (Episode of type 513B)
Published in	Grimm's Fairy Tales

"The Golden Goose" (German: Die goldene Gans) is a famous fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm. It is a story where many characters get stuck together, and it also includes a magical ship.

The Brothers Grimm Story: Simpleton and the Goose

The main character in this story is the youngest of three brothers, often called Simpleton. His older brothers are sent into the forest to chop wood. They take good food and wine with them. Each brother meets a small gray man who asks for food and a drink. But the older brothers are rude and refuse to share. Because of this, they both get hurt and have to go home.

Simpleton is then sent to the forest. He only has a burnt biscuit and sour beer. But when he meets the little old man, Simpleton is kind and shares what little he has. As a reward, the old man helps Simpleton find a golden goose hidden in the roots of a tree.

Simpleton takes his amazing golden goose to an inn. The innkeeper's daughter sees the goose and tries to pluck one of its shiny gold feathers. But as soon as she touches it, she gets stuck fast to the goose! Her sister comes to help her and also gets stuck. Then the youngest daughter tries to grab her sisters' aprons and gets stuck too.

As Simpleton walks towards the castle, more people try to interfere with his golden goose. The innkeeper, a parson, his sexton, and two workers all try to get involved. Each one ends up stuck to the person in front of them, forming a funny parade behind Simpleton and his goose.

The Princess Who Never Smiled

In the castle, there lives a King with his Princess who has never smiled. The King has promised that anyone who can make the princess laugh will get to marry her.

The sad Princess is sitting by her window when she sees the strange parade. She watches Simpleton walking with his golden goose, followed by a long line of people stuck together. The sight is so funny that she starts to laugh. She laughs so hard that tears stream down her face!

In some versions of the story, Simpleton has to complete three more challenges. With the help of his little golden friend, he succeeds in all of them. In the end, Simpleton wins the princess's hand in marriage, and they live happily ever after.

The Jataka Story: The Golden Goose's Feathers

There is another old story about a golden goose from the Jataka tales. These stories are about the past lives of the Buddha. In this tale, the Buddha was once born as a golden goose with beautiful golden feathers.

After he was reborn, the golden goose found his wife and daughters. They were not doing well and needed help. So, he decided to give them some of his golden feathers. He hoped these feathers would help them live comfortably.

Over time, the golden goose brought them more feathers to sell. His family lived well and happily because of his kindness. But one day, his wife became greedy. She made a plan to take all of his feathers at once to get more money. His daughters did not like this idea and did not agree to it.

Sadly, the next time the golden goose came back, his wife pulled out all of his feathers. When she did this, the golden feathers immediately turned into plain white feathers. The wife waited for the golden feathers to grow back, but they never did. They only grew back white. The goose then flew away and never returned.

Images for kids

• 

  Simpleton finds The Golden Goose: illustration by L. Leslie Brooke, 1905

See also

In Spanish: El ganso de oro para niños