Six geese a-laying

(Children’s stories are always fun to do. This is another one to read to children but I hope the adult reader can get something out of the story too!)

Long ago, on a small farm a young lad sat watching his geese, wondering what to do.
His mother had warned him, “Mark my words,” she had said, “if these geese don’t start laying soon you will have to take them to market and sell them.”
The young lad, whose name was Jack, was very sad; he had tried everything to get them to lay eggs but they just would not do it. He had six geese, his fine young ladies, and one gander called Goosie. He would call to them “Here Goosie Goosie gander! Here my fine young ladies!” and they would gather ‘round him looking for food. But no matter how happy, no matter how well fed, no matter how comfortable his geese were, not one of them ever thought it a good idea to give him even a small egg. He would sit down amongst them and talk to them. He would sing songs and tell them stories and he would take them for walks to the pond and back. He had tried every trick in the book, but not one egg appeared and his mother told him again and again, “We can’t afford to have geese that won’t lay. They must go. You must sell them at the market.”
So, Jack had gathered his flock together and he told them straight, “Girls, this is your last chance! If you do not lay any eggs by the morning we will have to set off for market and that will be that. Goosie, if you want to keep enjoying the good life get to work! Help these ladies NOW!”
In the morning he had looked everywhere but he could find no eggs.
“Good bye mother,” said Jack, “I have sixpence and a pack with some food. It takes three days to walk to market and three days to come home. Wish me luck!”
“Good luck!” she said, wiping a tear from her eye, “Be careful and remember, sell them for no less than sixpence each. They are fine looking birds, even if they can’t lay eggs...”
Jack wandered down the lanes and across the heath guiding his geese with his stick as he sang them his favourite songs. One was “Will the wind every stop blowing/” and another was, “Does my sweetheart know the colour of my eyes?” and his very best one was, “I walk the roads in springtime, and see all nature wake.” The geese seemed happy as they trotted and chattered and occasionally stopped to peck something interesting on the path.
The first night he found a small hollow up on the heathlands. The dip in the land was surrounded on three sides by gorse bushes so he led the geese into the sheltered area and slept across the entrance like a human gate, protecting all that was inside.
In the morning he opened his eyes and looked at his lovely geese. On the ground, in the little hollow, he could see that his birds had laid some eggs! He gathered them up and counted them. Seven fine eggs! One for his breakfast and six to keep!. He gently stored them in his pack and they set off again.
All day, the sun shone and the skylarks flew up either side of his path and hovered high in the air singing their shrill songs. He saw rabbits in the grass close by and ravens would sit in the branches of small trees watching them all go by.
Jack told the geese stories of the robber prince called Jackadoo and his merry gang of swashbucklers. He explained how the stars floated in the sky and why the grass was green and occasionally he would share a little joke with the birds or ask them a riddle or two to pass the time.
As the sun began to set Jack found an old house. It had no roof and holes for windows but it was shelter and inside the floor was covered in fine grass and soft moss. With a warm fire in the corner and an old board blocking the door, he settled down for the night with his little flock. “Good night my little beauties.” He called to them. Then he fell asleep and dreamed of sailing ships and pirate mice with eye patches.
In the morning he got up and began to laugh with joy.
There, scattered on the ground, were even more eggs! He counted thirteen this time! Twelve for his pack and one for his breakfast.
That day, as the breeze kept them cool despite the bright, hot sun, Jack entertained his geese with magic tricks and dances.
To the tunes from his little pipe he danced jigs and reels and showed the geese how to strip the willow and be as dashing as a white sergeant. He showed them courtly dances and demonstrated the way to lift your partner off her feet and spin her till her hair was wild and her cheeks were red. He then made little cloth flowers emerge from the backs of the heads of his birds and surprised them by making his pennies roll across his knuckles. He produced long lines of coloured silk hankies from his mouth and made them disappear from his nimble fingered hands.
That night, just a few miles from the market town, Jack saw a little island in the middle of the river and waded out to it with the geese swimming beside him. The place was sheltered and peaceful and the sound of the water was delightful. The moon’s reflection sparkled on the dark surface of the river and the other sounds around him settled his mind and calmed his tired geese.
Jack sang a series of lullabies to his geese and praised them for being such good and clever birds. “I will miss you all, my little lassies, and I will miss you too, Old Goosie!” Then he fell asleep and his mind wandered across a beautiful and mysterious landscape chasing dragons and rescuing maidens all through the night.
In the morning Jack lay with his eyes closed. “What will I see today?” He wondered.
Opening one eye he looked at the ground nearest to him. He started counting eggs, then thought he better open the other eye too because he needed both eyes to count so many eggs.
“You have been saving these up, haven’t you!” he laughed.
There were nineteen eggs lying around the island. One for his breakfast and eighteen for the pack. It was hard packing the eggs away as there was not much room and he wanted to make sure every egg would be safe.
“Three days and more than three dozen eggs! What shall I do?”
Jack wanted to go back home with his geese but knew his mother would not be happy. “They have been laying eggs on the way to the market but would they continue to lay eggs if I took them back home?”
Jack thought that it was probably best to take them to market so he walked on with them quietly humming his favourite tunes. By the time he had reached the entrance to the town he was happy again and playing lively dance tunes on his little tin whistle. In the market place people gathered around to listen to him play. They dropped coins at his feet and put money in his top pocket asking him to play their favourite tunes. Before he knew it, the afternoon was closing in and the market stalls were closing up.
“What shall I do now, my little lovelies? The market is closing and I still have not sold you! Oh dear, what will mother say?”
Then he sat down beside his birds and gathered up all of the coins. He pulled out the money from his top pocket, too and began to count.
“Even if I had sold each of you for a hundred pennies I still would not have made as much as I have here!” he shouted with glee. “Let’s go home my little friends and tell mother all about our adventures!”
As he stood up he saw a familiar face in the crowd. It was farmer Julius Macdingle with his bushy beard and his horse and cart.
“Hello Jack,” said the farmer, “I have not seen you at market before.”
“It’s my first time here.” Said Jack, “But now I must head back home!”
“Well now,” said the farmer, “I could give you and your lovely geese a lift in my cart if you want, but there would be a little matter of the fare.” Farmer Macdingle was always interested in making a little more moeney.
Jack thought for a moment and realised that he would be back home much quicker by cart.
“And what is your fare?” Asked Jack, knowing that he had enough money to pay for the journey.
“Well, I’m wondering,” said the farmer, “seeing your geese makes me think and I can think of nothing finer than a goose egg for breakfast. So if you have, say, half a dozen eggs to spare I would take you all the way to your home today.”
So Jack opened his pack and said, “Choose your six from this.” and farmer Macdingle whooped with delight.
“Lad,” he said, “you have been keeping these lovely geese secret! These are the finest eggs I have ever seen. When we get home I will place an order with you for a dozen eggs a week. Hop in board and let’s get going!”
So farmer Macdingle kept the horses going at a fair old pace as Jack told him stories and asked him riddles. He did some magic tricks and sang a couple of songs and the time passed so quickly they had hardly spent a minute of time wondering at the stars above or thinking about the road ahead.
And when they stopped by Jack’s gate they turned to the geese in the back and Jack said, “Well farmer Macdingle, there’s the other six eggs you wanted!” And sure enough, the six geese had been a laying as the wagon had bumped and rolled along the country roads.
So, Jack got to keep his geese, after all and they still lay their eggs for him. Six laying geese and their Goosie Goosie gander for company. And Jack goes to market every week now on a fine grey mare, and there he earns his money singing songs, playing tunes and doing magic tricks for the crowds.