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Grimms' Fairy Tales
The
Fox and the Geese
The fox once came to a meadow in which was
a flock of fine fat geese, on which he smiled and said,
"I come in the nick of time, you are sitting together
quite beautifully, so that I can eat you up one after the
other." The geese cackled with terror, sprang up, and
began to wail and beg piteously for their lives. But the
fox would listen to nothing, and said, "There is no
mercy to be had! You must die." At length one of them
took heart and said, "If we poor geese are to yield
up our vigorous young lives, show us the only possible favour
and allow us one more prayer, that we may not die in our
sins, and then we will place ourselves in a row, so that
you can always pick yourself out the fattest." "Yes,"
said the fox, "that is reasonable, and a pious request.
Pray away, I will wait till you are done." Then the
first began a good long prayer, for ever saying, "Ga!
Ga!" and as she would make no end, the second did not
wait until her turn came, but began also, "Ga! Ga!"
The third and fourth followed her, and soon they were all
cackling together.
When they have done praying, the story shall be continued
further, but at present they are still praying without stopping."
From Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, Household Tales, trans. Margaret
Hunt (London: George Bell, 1884), 1:336. |
