Oldal 327 [327]
THE GOLDEN GOOSE. — 267
came the third with the same intentions; but the others
screamed out,
‘Stay away! for heaven’s sake stay away!”
But she did not see why she should stay away, and thought,
“Ifthey do so, why should not I?" and went towards them. But
when she reached her sisters there she stopped, hanging on with
them. And so they had to stay, all night. The next morning
the Simpleton took the goose under his arm and went away,
unmindful of the three girls that hung on to it. The three
had always to run after him, left and right, wherever his legs
carried him. In the midst of the fields they met the parson,
who, when he saw the procession, said,
‘Shame on you, girls, running after a young fellow through
the fields like this,” and forthwith he seized hold of the youngest
by the hand to drag her away, but hardly had he touched her
when he too was obliged to run after them himself. Not long
after the sexton came that way, and seeing the respected parson
following at the heels of the three girls, he called out,
“Ho, your reverence, whither away so quickly? You
forget that we have another christening to-day ;” and he seized
hold of him by his gown; but no sooner had he touched him
than he was obliged to follow on too. As the five tramped
on, one after another, two peasants with their hoes came up
from the fields, and the parson cried out to them, and begged
them to come and set him and the sexton free, but no sooner
had they touched the sexton than they had to follow on too;
and now there were seven following the Simpleton and the
goose.
By and by they came to a town where a king reigned, who
had an only daughter who was so serious that no one could
make her laugh; therefore the king had given out that who¬
ever should make her laugh should have her in marriage. The
Simpleton, when he heard this, went with his goose and his
hangers-on into the presence of the king’s daughter, and as
soon as she saw the seven people following always one after
the other, she burst out laughing, and seemed as if she could
never stop. And so the Simpleton earned a right to her as
his bride; but the king did not like him for a son-in-law and
made all kinds of objections, and said he must first bring a
man who could drink up a whole cellar of wine. The Simple¬