“The Golden Goose” is a tale lacking in a full frontal moral lesson. I’m sure it has something to do with respecting your elders and respect for the Simpleton in our lives, sharing, not taking what isn’t yours, and keeping one’s word. There isn’t just one topic that covers the whole of the story. There isn’t even a moral to describe the middle of the story. It could be just a fun narrative with no hidden message of what the right things to do in life are; fairy tales are not meant to just be a good time. The Simpleton just runs around with a golden goose with seven people tailing behind. He is awarded with the sparkling bird after he shares his stale bread and sour beer with an old man he meets on his way to chop down a tree. Unlike his two unkind brothers he shares the tasteless lunch that his mother has packed for him. His siblings, who are granted a royal lunch, do not share with the old man because then there will not be enough for them to eat. The magician causes the each one to have a different accident while trying to chop down the tree. One sibling injures an arm and the other hurts his leg. |
With this experience hopefully the brothers learned the lesson that sharing is caring and rewards will follow. The youngest brother is rewarded for his humanity with a tree and never ending luck. The man tells him to cut down a specific piece of shrubbery. When this task is finally complete a golden goose appears, leaving the Simpleton with no injures.
The foul is magic, everyone who touches it or a person with their hands already on the goose automatically becomes glued into the procession.
In the end the Simpleton has more than he ever dreamed of because he shows kindness to a hungry, thirsty forest wanderer. Kindness does go a long way even though we can not always see it.
I do wonder what happened to the procession. Were the seven people stuck on the goose set free or will they forever be glued together.