ADVENT CALENDAR December 16th - a goose story

It is Sunday again - the third Sunday in Advent. I think we want a story today. As before, I did not make this up, it is a retelling of one I heard...

There was once a man who found a goose. It was lying on the beach, quite exhausted. There had been a storm, and the goose had probably been separated from its fellows.

The man took the goose home to his wife. Now, they were quite poor, these two. And they had never had a goose before. So they decided they would keep this one until Christmas, and then they would have a good meal for once!

The man fixed up the shed for the goose, and the woman brought the goose scraps of potato, but the goose did not eat. Finally the man said, "I think the goose is sad, out here all alone." So they took the goose inside, and gave it a basket in the kitchen. They spoke to the goose, encouraging it to eat and to make itself comfortable. And after a while, the goose settled down and began to eat and even to drink a little water. This made the man and the woman very happy. "The goose is feeling more at home now," they said.

For many weeks, they fed the goose, talked to the goose, played music on the radio to the goose. And the goose slept in the kitchen at night. Once in a while the woman picked it up, so she knew the goose was getting nice and heavy. What a Christmas meal they would have!

Finally the day came. The woman went to the store and bought some red cabbage to cook with the potato dumplings and the goose. Then the man and the woman looked at the goose for a while. "Husband, I cannot do it," said the woman. The man answered, "I cannot do it either. I will take this goose to our neighbor. He will do it for us." The man picked up the goose and rode off with it on his bicycle. While he was gone, the woman cooked the cabbage and made the dumplings.

The man was gone a long time. As dusk was falling he came home, carrying the goose, which was bright and cheery. "The neighbor was not home," he explained. "We went for a ride around the countryside instead." The woman answered, "That is quite all right. As I was cooking I realized that goose would overpower the good taste of the cabbage and the dumplings anyway."

The man and the woman sat down to eat, and they shared their meal with the goose, which was quite happy to be home again. The next year, they had sourkraut with their dumplings, and the year after that they had spaetzle with red cabbage. This is such good food that it would be a shame to overpower it with the taste of goose. In the evenings, the man and the woman sat on their bench by the front door, with the goose sitting next to them.

Geese live for a long time...

Here is the calendar for today! # 16

The children are rehearsing their songs for Christmas!

Have a magical day!