I.
And the gold fairy said,
“Of course, I will,”
to the troubled giant
who hollered,
and shook the earth.
“But when, when, will my dream come true?”
“When the moon rises
over the glassy creek,” she said.
“Then will I give you
my new sweet milk,” she promised.
II.
She flew off over the green woods
across the running river
and alighted in a red field,
waiting for them to arrive.
First, she heard their ghostly cries.
Then their dark waves came over the blue sky.
They landed in a rush of wings,
calling to one another
of things important to Canada geese.
III.
“I will go,” said the young hen.
“It is my dream to journey far.”
“You may never return to your folk,”
explained the gold fairy.
“Even so, I will go with you,” agreed the Goose.
“First, you must eat this kernel of wheat.”
“It is gold!” cried the hen.
“It is the only way,” said the fairy.
The Goose swallowed the golden kernel.
She felt it go down hard and indigestible.
Then the hen turned completely gold.
“Something has happened to me!” she managed to squeak.
“Indeed!” said the gold fairy.
IV.
“Now come with me!”
She took to the air in a cloud of silver and gold,
and the hen followed her now, unable to make a sound.
They flew off away from the flock,
across the running river
and over the greenwood.
The day turned into night. and the Goose
was a velvet patch on the full moon.
The gold fairy’s light grew stronger
until she shimmered like a star.
V.
Now the giant took to watching the sky
for the last fortnight or so,
enjoying the cool breezes and the scent
of burning leaves and soda bread.
In the growing darkness of the gloaming,
he first saw the star beside the Hunter’s moon.
Then he heard the whoosh of the
Goose’s wings as it flew overhead
and landed in the giant’s garden.
The golden fairy settled on the
briar rose bush.
“Behold the Golden Goose!” she cried.
VI.
The giant was greatly pleased and gave
his green milk to the gold fairy.
You were true to your word.
“Why doesn’t it speak?” asked the giant.
“So, you can hide it away,” said the fairy.
“But beware of Englishmen!
They will be your undoing.”
The giant did not know what she meant,
but he was so happy with his Goose —
it was his dream come true —
and his new wealth that he soon forgot the warning.
VII.
The Goose waited to be liberated
from its nightmare, but every morning
came the cramping and then the laying
of a golden egg.
No longer was their ripe corn to eat
nor fresh winds to ride
and cool water to drink.
Gone the song that always
sang above and below the Goose,
no one to guard and no one to play,
but now only a smokey room to huddle in,
nothing to eat and nothing to drink
and unable even to speak its dismay.
The Giant was not good company.
He ate too much and slept too much,
gambling his new fortune away.
The sweet scent of fields and rivers
were replaced with the fetid smell
of an aging Giant, lusting for gold day and night.
VIII.
Until the little man Jack came
and tricked and slayed the Giant,
stealing the Golden Goose,
bearing it under his arm,
taking it far, faraway unto another country,
to a little cottage by the sea
where domestic geese gathered in courtyards
honking and honking about the business of geese.
For a time, the Golden Goose found
the new surroundings somewhat better,
but then every morning came with
the cramping and the laying of a golden egg.
Day after day passed in agony and
night after night without sleep.
Its dream of faraway journeys is long gone.
The Goose could feel the hard, heavy egg
forming and weighing it down
and again, every morning the laying.
IX.
Then a child was born who felt sorry for the Goose
and held it all day and stroked it from
the top of its head to the tip of its tail,
insisting on carrying it outside to snuggle
in her lap and enjoy the afternoon sun on its feathers.
For the child knew the Goose was unhappy
and the child grew to love the Goose with all her heart.
One spring day the child picked up the Goose
in such a rush to get outside into the sun
and full of love for the poor creature
who was dying from sorrow when suddenly,
the golden grain of wheat came loose
and the Golden Goose coughed it up,
changing back into a Canada Goose, and it sang for pure joy,
taking to flight high up in the air, circling
above the little cottage and the child.
Circling once, and then it was gone
Gone back to its flock to fly north for the winter.
