{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_47428/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_47428","id":"gutenberg_47428","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/47428","summary":null,"tags":["Animal welfare -- Juvenile fiction","Category: Adventure","Category: Children & Young Adult Reading","Category: French Literature","Category: Humour","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Children -- Conduct of life -- Juvenile fiction","Conduct of life -- Juvenile fiction","Family -- Juvenile fiction","Farmers -- Juvenile fiction","Geese -- Juvenile fiction","Voyages and travels -- Juvenile fiction"],"text":"Produced by David Widger from page images generously\nprovided by the Internet Archive\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nJOHNNY NUT AND THE GOLDEN GOOSE\n\nDone Into English\n\nBy Andrew Lang\n\nFrom The French Of Charles Deulin\n\nIllustrated By A. M. Lynen\n\nLondon\n\nLongmans, Green, And Co.\n\n1887\n\n[Illustration: 0002]\n\n[Illustration: 0010]\n\n[Illustration: 0013]\n\n[Illustration: 0014]\n\n[Illustration: 0016]\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE\n\nThis Tale is rendered, a little freely, from _Trente-six Rencontres de\nJean du Gogu\u00e9_, in _Contes d\u2019un Buveur de Bi\u00e8re_, par Charles Deulin.\n(Sixi\u00e8me Edition. Paris: Dentu. 1873.)\n\nThe late M. Deulin told with much humour, and probably with but\nlittle alteration from oral tradition, the popular tales of his native\nprovince. The narrative here translated has points in common with a\nTongan legend, with several ancient French _fabliaux_, with a Zulu story\nin Bishop Callaway\u2019s collection, and with Grimm\u2019s _Golden Goose_.\n\n\nTO MISTRESS DOROTHEA THORPE\n\n[Illustration: 9018]\n\nIKE the Sultan in the _Arabian Nights_--and, sure, you are no less\ndespotic--you have sometimes commanded me to \u2018tell you a story.\u2019It has\nbeen my privilege to obey; but, alas! when my toil was ended, with\na stretch of absolute authority you have bidden me \u2018tell you\nanother.\u2019Truly, Madam, the _Ocean of the Streams of Story_, whereof\nthe Hindoos speak, will speedily be drained dry by your Slave, who now\npresents you with this little Tale, which he has conveyed from French\nFlanders. If it amuses your leisure as much to read, as it has diverted\nmine to translate it, I shall have that enjoyment which attends\nsuccessful enterprise, and I remain,\n\nMadam,\n\nYours very humbly to command\n\nA. Z.\n\nMADAM,\n\n\n\n\nGOLDEN GOOSE\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER I.\n\n[Illustration: 9020]\n\nLONG TIME AGO there lived in French Flanders, at a village called Saint\nSaulve, Valenciennes way, a little cow-boy named Johnny Nut He had no\nfather and no mother, and they called him Johnny Nut because he was\nfound one fine morning under a walnut-tree. Silly Billy was another\nname he had, for he was just as great an innocent as a calf before it is\nweaned.\n\nNow, never in his living days had Johnny Nut dined on anything better\nthan potatoes, and the one thing he wanted in the world was to taste\nroast goose.\n\n[Illustration: 0022]\n\nNow, about a dozen miles off, Cond\u00e9 way, there is a village where the\ngeese are so grand that all the world talks of nothing but the Hergnies\ngeese.\n\n\u2018When I grow up,\u2019 said Johnny, \u2018I\u2019ll go to Hergnies and eat goose.\u2019\n\n[Illustration: 9024]\n\nSo, at long and at last, one autumn evening he left the cows in the\nlurch, and off he went, without beat of drum.\n\nNow, whether he came back as poor as he started, and what a great love\nof roast goose brought Silly Billy to, that\u2019s what we are going to tell\nyou!\n\nSo Johnny Nut followed his nose, and asked his way, and at nightfall he\nreached the village of Escau-bridge.\n\n\u2018You can\u2019t show me the way to Hergnies, mother?\u2019 cried Johnny to the\nfarmer\u2019s wife, who was just sitting down to supper.\n\n\u2018That I can, my son, but you are out late.\n\n\u2018Are you in such a hurry?\u2019\n\n\u2018Oh, mother, who is in a hurry if not me? These ten years I\u2019ve been\ndying to taste roast goose, so don\u2019t you see there\u2019s no time to waste.\u2019\n\nThe farmer\u2019s wife stared at him with all her eyes.\n\n\u2018What do they call you?\u2019 says she.\n\n\u2018Silly Billy,\u2019 says he.\n\n\u2018Oh, _don\u2019t I see_.\n\n\u2018Yes, I see,\u2019 said the woman, laughing to his very\nface. \u2018Listen, my lad! You are big, and strong, and you seem honest. Now\nJim, our man, is off on the King\u2019s wars. Will you take his place?\u2019\n\n\u2018Will you let me taste roast goose?\u2019\n\n[Illustration: 0026]\n\n\u2018On Sunday, as sure as sure, you shall have your fill of goose; I have\nto send some one to Hergnies, to my cousin\u2019s, to-morrow. You shall\nstart, at peep of day, and bring me a good fat goose. We\u2019ll dine off him\nwhen we come back from the fair at the next town. Does that suit you, my\nson?\u2019\n\n\u2018Mother, it\u2019s just the thing for me.\u2019\n\n\u2018Then come to supper.\u2019\n\nAnd to supper went Johnny Nut, with such an appetite that he scarcely\nhad time to say grace.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II.\n\n\n[Illustration: 9028]\n\nEXT day was a Saturday, and the farmer\u2019s wife went to waken Johnny in\nthe stable-loft.\n\n\u2018Come, come, up with you!\u2019 says she, shaking him. \u2018Don\u2019t you hear the\ncock crowing?\u2019 So she gave him a big bowl of coffee, and _such_ a chunk\nof bread; and showed him the way, and sent him off, saying, \u2018Mind you\nask for my cousin\u2019s mill, and bring me the goose, and seven bushels of\nflour, and a pint of seed corn.\u2019\n\n[Illustration: 0030]\n\n\u2018Seven bushels, and one pint,\u2019 \u2018Seven bushels, and one pint\u2019--for, not\nbeing very clever, he was afraid he might forget.\n\nAs he went on saying this, he met a farmer, who was counting up how much\nhis field should bring him in.\n\n\u2018_Seven_ bushels, indeed!\u2019 said the farmer. \u2018Let a hundred come!\u2019\n\nNow this puzzled Johnny Silly Billy, for he had never room in his head\nfor more than one idea at a time; so he went on his way, repeating,\n\n\u2018Let a hundred come! let a hundred come!\u2019\n\n[Illustration: 0032]\n\nWell, as Johnny crossed a wood, there sat a shepherd, as red as scarlet,\nand as proud as a peacock that has laid an egg; and all because his dog\nhad just killed a wolf that was after the lambs.\n\n\u2018Let a hundred of them come! let a hundred of them come!\u2019 sang out\nJohnny Nut.\n\n\u2018What do you mean, you fool?\u2019 says the shepherd, \u2018with your _Let a\nhundred them come!_ A hundred, indeed! Rather say, _There\u2019s another\ncaught and done for!_\u2019\n\n[Illustration: 0034]\n\n\u2018_There\u2019s another caught and done for!_\u2018said Johnny Nut, as he went on\nhis way.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III.\n\n\n[Illustration: 9036]\n\nOW, as Johnny strutted along, he heard jolly music and wedding bells,\nand saw a multitude of people.\n\n[Illustration: 0036]\n\nIt was a wedding party, outside a tavern; and the fiddlers were\nfiddling, and everybody dancing.\n\nJohnny Nut went through the middle of them all, shouting:--\n\n\u2018_There\u2019s another caught and done for!_\u2019\n\n\u2018Caught and done for! Meaning _me_!\u2019 says the gay bridegroom; and\nhe tucked up his shirtsleeves to give Johnny one in the eye. But the\nbridesmaid, who did not want a quarrel, gave Johnny a push, and said to\nhim--\n\n\u2018Idiot, say rather, \u201cLet everybody follow a good example.\u201d\u2019\n\n[Illustration: 9038]\n\nIt was all one to Johnny, and off he went, shouting--\n\n\u2018Let every one follow this good example!\u2019\n\nSo he left the village, and he went, and went and better went, till he\ncame to a house on fire.\n\nThe policeman had caught a poor tramp, whom he charged with burning the\nhouse.\n\n\u2018_Let everyone follow this good example_!\u2019 shouted Johnny, never\nthinking of anything but roast goose.\n\n\u2018What\u2019s that you say, you vagabond! You incite the populace to arson\nand fire-raising!\u2019 cries the policeman, who was by way of being \u00e0 great\nlawyer.\n\n[Illustration: 0040]\n\nJohnny trembled like an aspen-leaf.\n\n\u2018Say, \u201cHeaven help you to put the fire out,\u201d\u2019 whispered one of the\nfiremen; and Johnny said so, and off he went, the old way, crying--\n\n[Illustration: 9040]\n\n\u2018_Heaven help you to put the fire out!_\u2019\n\nNow he passed a blacksmith\u2019s forge, and that blacksmith was as cross\nas two sticks, for he had been blowing the bellows for three hours, and\ncould not make the fire burn.\n\nWell, just when a little tiny blue flame burst forth, as little as a\npussycat\u2019s tongue, what did the blacksmith hear but--\n\n\u2018_Heaven put the fire out!_\u2019\n\n [Illustration: 0042]\n\nRound he turned, pitched his hammer at Johnny, and knocked him down flat\non the king\u2019s high way.\n\n[Illustration: 8042]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IV.\n\n\n[Illustration: 9044]\n\nOHNNY was not dead; Fortune had other adventures in store for Johnny. A\nfarmer came out with his men, and carried him into the house, where he\nsoon came to his senses. It was not very much in that way he had to come\nto; but if Johnny had not many brains, he had an extraordinarily thick\nskull. The blow with the hammer would have killed another man, but it\nonly made a bump on the head of our Johnny.\n\nThe farmer asked him where he came from and what he wanted.\n\n\u2018I\u2019m going to Hergnies, to eat roast goose,\u2019 said Johnny.\n\n[Illustration: 8044]\n\n\u2018Why, you are twelve miles from Hergnies,\u2019 said the farmer; and he gave\nJohnny a sheaf of corn, and sent him on his road.\n\n [Illustration: 8046]\n\nWell, Johnny lost himself again, and sat down against a wall and lunched\noff part of his hunch of bread.\n\n[Illustration: 9046]\n\nThen, as he was tired, he fell asleep, and a chicken came and ate all\nthe grains of corn out of his sheaf. Then Johnny woke, and when he found\nhe had nothing left of his sheaf but straw he fell a-crying.\n\n[Illustration: 6046]\n\nNow, the farmer there was a good-natured man, and, to console Johnny, he\nmade him a present of the fowl, and off he went.\n\n[Illustration: 7046]\n\nAbout four in the afternoon Johnny was hungry again, and sat down to\nfinish his hunch of bread with his chicken beside him.\n\nUp came a clumsy great cow, and trod on the chicken and crushed it flat.\n\nJohnny set off sobbing again. \u2018Never no luck,\u2019 says he. \u2018They gave me a\nsheaf, and a chicken ate it. They gave me a chicken, and a cow crushed\nit Boo-hoo!\u2019\n\n[9048]\n\n\u2018Don\u2019t boo-hoo,\u2019 says the Lord of the Manor, who came by with his gun\non his shoulder and his game-bag on his back. \u2018Don\u2019t boo-hoo! take the\ncow.\u2019\n\n\u2018Thank you kindly, your noble worship,\u2019 says Johnny, as merry as may be,\nand he and the cow jogged along till it grew dark.\n\n[Illustration: 0048]\n\nAt last Johnny came to another farm, and there the farmer took in him\nand his cow.\n\nNow, this farmer had a big pretty maid, as strong as a man, and he bade\nher milk Johnny\u2019s cow. But, as she milked, the cow switched its tail in\nher eyes and made her see quite an illumination.\n\n[Illustration: 9050]\n\nThe maid was an angry maid. She picked up a pitchfork and threw it at\nthe cow, and the poor beast fell down dead!\n\nThen Johnny began to cry again, and I don\u2019t wonder at it.\n\n\u2018Never no luck,\u2019 says he. \u2018They gave me a sheaf, and a chicken ate it;\nthey gave me a chicken, and a cow crushed it; they gave me a cow, and\nthe maid killed it. Boo-hoo!\u2019\n\n[Illustration: 8050]\n\n\u2018Oh bother! take the maid and don\u2019t blubber,\u2019 said the farmer. He didn\u2019t\nlike to keep a girl in the house who threw pitchforks about when she\nlost her temper.\n\nJohnny did not wait to be asked twice. He took the maid, tied her hands\nand feet, put her in a sack, heaved her on to his back, and away went\nJohnny.\n\n\u2018When I do get to Hergnies,\u2019 said he to himself, \u2018I\u2019ll marry the maid,\nand we\u2019ll have roast goose at the wedding supper,\u2019 for his intentions\nwere strictly honourable.\n\nBut the further he went the more Johnny didn\u2019t find the way; and at\nlast, as the maid was pretty heavy, he set her down by a tavern door and\nwent in and asked for a pot of beer.\n\n[Illustration: 0052]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER V.\n\n\n[Illustration: 0054]\n\n[Illustration: 9054]\n\nOW, in the tavern were Tun\u00e9, the tailor, with a coat he had made for\na customer, and Nanasse, and Polydore, and Rumble his dog, four of the\nwildest wags in that country-side.\n\nTun\u00e9 went out of the tavern to see what kind of night it was, and there\nwas the sack and something in it that moved. So he opened the sack, and\nwhat should he find but a pretty tall maid, trussed like a fowl.\n\n[Illustration: 0056]\n\nWell, he let her out and she told him all about it, and, as she was not\ndying to marry our Johnny, off she ran to her own village as hard as she\ncould go.\n\n\u2018What am I to fill the sack with?\u2019 thought Tun\u00e9. \u2018By George, I\u2019ll put in\nPolydore\u2019s yellow dog, Rumble.\u2019\n\nSo he whistled to Rumble and put him in the sack.\n\nBy this time Johnny had finished his ale, and he came out, hoisted the\nsack on his shoulder, and marched away without asking questions. Tune\nfollowed at a little distance, and, as Rumble knew a friend was there,\nwhy, he entered into the fun and said never a bark.\n\nAt last Johnny reached Hergnies, and where should he go to but to the\nparson\u2019s, of course, to get married! Then it occurred to him that he\nhad never asked the maid if she would have him! He put down the sack and\nopened it.\n\n\u2018I say, maid,\u2019 quoth he, \u2018shall us get married, us two?\u2019\n\n\u2018G-r-r-r-r-r-r!\u2019 says the maid.\n\nJohnny, in a fright, let go his hold of the cord, the sack fell open,\nout jumped Rumble, and flew at his throat.\n\nJohnny sprang into a willow-tree and climbed up it, but, lo and behold!\nthe tree was rotten, and down came tree and Johnny and all on the back\nof Rumble! Now, Rumble was expecting nothing of that sort, and, with one\nwild yowl, he flew away like the wind, and never stopped till the town\ngates of Cond\u00e9 were closed behind him!\n\n[Illustration: 0060]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VI.\n\n\n[Illustration: 0062]\n\n[Illustration: 9062]\n\nHEN once the voice of Rumble was lost in the distance, Johnny climbed\nout of the tree and found that none of his bones were broken.\n\nAll of a sudden in the hollow of the tree trunk he saw something shining\nlike a will o\u2019 the wisp.\n\nHe put in his hands and pulled out A Goose with Golden Feathers!\n\n\u2018Here\u2019s luck at last,\u2019 says Johnny, \u2018I\u2019ve lost a maid and found a golden\ngoose! I\u2019ll have it roasted this very night,\u2019 and off he went to the\nbest inn in the village.\n\nNow the inn was full of people going to the fair on St. Calixtus\u2019s day,\nwhich was a great festival.\n\nHowever, Johnny, being but a village idiot, had never heard anything\nabout all that.\n\nUp he comes and goes to the landlord, who didn\u2019t know where to turn, he\nhad so many customers, all going to the fair.\n\n\u2018Cook my goose!\u2019 says Johnny, as bold as brass.\n\n\u2018Oh, you go to--Jerusalem,\u2019 says the landlord, \u2018we don\u2019t cook _gold\ngeese here_, not to-day, we don\u2019t.\u2019\n\n[Illustration: 0066]\n\n\u2018Well, if you won\u2019t be obliging and cook my goose,\u2019 says Johnny Nut,\n\u2018why, I\u2019ll give it to Saint Calixtus. A pretty poor saint he\u2019ll be if he\ndoes not give me a goose fit to put on the spit in exchange for my goose\nof gold!\u2019\n\nSo he got supper somehow, and went with his goose to sleep in the\nstable.\n\n[Illustration: 0068]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VII.\n\n\n[Illustration: 9070]\n\nHE landlord of the inn had three fair daughters, all as curious as\ntheir mother Eve. All night long they turned and tossed in their beds,\nthinking about the golden goose and longing to see it.\n\nAs soon as the first cock crew, up gets the oldest daughter.\n\n\u2018It is so hot I really can\u2019t sleep,\u2019 said she, and went on tip-toe to\nthe stable, as quiet as pussy, for fear of waking Johnny.\n\nIn the moonlight the golden goose was shining like a star.\n\n\u2018I\u2019ll take one of the pretty feathers,\u2019 said the girl, and put out her\nhand to touch it But she could not pluck the feather and she could not\npull her hand away!\n\nWhen the second cock crew, up got the second daughter.\n\n\u2018It is far too hot to sleep,\u2019 said she, and she ran downstairs to her\nsister. But as soon as she had touched her _she_ could not move a step\nfrom the place!\n\n[Illustration: 0072]\n\nThen the third cock crew, and up got the youngest daughter, and ran to\nthe stable after her sisters.\n\n\u2018Take care! don\u2019t come here!\u2019 they cried, but she did not understand,\nand she thought--\n\n\u2018Why, if they are there, I can go too!\u2019\n\nBut as soon as she touched her sisters, there she was, as fast as could\nbe to the golden goose!\n\nA quarter of an hour later Johnny wakened, and stretched himself, and\nshook some of the straw out of his hair, and then took his goose under\nhis arm, and off he went, never noticing the girls, whom he had _not_\nleft behind him.\n\n[Illustration: 0074]\n\nThey tried to stop him, but Johnny thought they wanted to rob him of his\ngoose, and he ran, and they ran, and they all ran as fast as their legs\nwould carry them.\n\nWhen they were out of the village, the girls were also out of breath,\nand they entreated Johnny to stop. So he said he would stop if they\nwould show him the right road, and the sun was up by the time they\nreached the next village.\n\n[Illustration: 0076]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VIII.\n\n\n[Illustration: 9078]\n\nUST at that very moment, who should come by who should come by but the\nVicar of Cond\u00e9, with his two Curates, the Churchwardens, the Beadle\nhimself, the man that played the fiddle, the man that played the cornet,\nand all the wicked little choirboys.\n\nThey were all marching off to sing the Mass on St. Calixtus\u2019s day.\n\nThe Vicar at that time was a stout clergyman, as big as a barrel, but he\nwas a very holy man, and very severe about good and modest behaviour.\n\nNaturally, when he saw the landlord\u2019s daughters all strutting away\nbehind our Johnny, he was Shocked!\n\n\u2018Are you not ashamed of yourselves,\u2019 he cried out, \u2018great lasses like\nyou, to run about the country after a lad?\u2019\n\nSo he plucked the youngest girl by the sleeve to stop her, but, behold!\nno sooner had he touched her than he could not leave hold, and _he_ had\nto march after the golden goose!\n\n[Illustration: 0080]\n\n\u2018Oh, sir, oh, sir!\u2019 cried the Beadle (who was a long, thin-legged man,\nlike a heron), and he ran up, caught hold of the Vicar by his gown, and\nthere he stuck.\n\nThe Vicar cried for help to the rest of his company, so first the\nCurates, then the Organist, then the man with the violin, then the\ncornet-player, and, lastly, all the wicked little choir-boys, rushed to\nhold the Vicar back, but they were all caught, and had all to run after\nJohnny, while Johnny just followed his goose!\n\n[Illustration: 0082]\n\n[Illustration: 0084]\n\nPilgrims came to do him honour from all the country round, and, as Saint\nCalixtus was famous for curing lame people, they made a very singular\nprocession.\n\n[Illustration: 0086]\n\nThe maimed and the halt and the blind were there, humpbacks by the\ndozen, cripples by the score, men with wooden legs, men with iron\nhooks instead of hands, men with wry necks--in short, they were a funny\nspectacle.\n\n[Illustration: 8088]\n\nThey would not have been funny, but very pitiful, if they had really\nbeen lame and blind, but the truth is that they were all persons whom\nthe good Saint had cured, and now they were only making believe, for one\nday in the year, to suffer from their old complaints. But, to tell the\ntruth, they looked so odd that the images of the other Saints in the\nchapel were set, on that day, with their faces to the wall, for fear\nthey should break out laughing.\n\n[Illustration: 9088]\n\nWhen the High Mass had been sung, all the worthy cripples threw away\ntheir sham humps, and bandages, and wooden legs, and they laughed, and\ndanced, and skipped, and revelled, so that it was a pleasure to see so\nmany people enjoying themselves.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER X.\n\n\n[Illustration: 0090]\n\n[Illustration: 9090]\n\nOW you must be told that the King of that country had a daughter _as\nlovely as the day,_ who had never laughed in all her life!\n\nShe was as sad and sorry as the mournful Bell that rings for a death,\nand so they called her the _Passing Belle_; it was a sort of joke. *\n\n     *  The French country people call the Passing Bell La\n     Dolente, and this unhappy Princess they named La Belle\n     Dolente. If any child cannot understand this, she may\n     consult her nice French grammar, and her French and English\n     dictionary, and turn it over in her mind till next\n     Christmas.\n\n\n[Illustration: 8092]\n\n[Illustration: 9092]\n\nNow, as she was an only child, the \u2018Passing Belle had been spoiled from\nher very cradle. Cakes, toys, diversions, such as playing at funerals,\nhad been lavished on her, but she never, never smiled.\n\n[Illustration: 7092]\n\nThey tried her with Punch and Judy, they tried her with pantomimes, they\ntook her to the play, but there never came a smile on the pale lips of\nthe Passing Belle.\n\nShe would not have laughed for a King\u2019s ransom; nay, if you had ordered\nher off to instant execution, and laid her head on the block, you could\nnot have wrung a smile from her!\n\nThe King, who had a strong sense of humour, was in despair. Finally he\nhad a proclamation printed:--\n\n[Illustration: 0094]\n\nWHOEVER CAN MAKE\n\nTHE\n\nPRINCESS\n\nGIGGLE\n\nSHALL WIN HER FOR\n\nHIS BRIDE.\n\nCambrinus R.\n\nBut nobody came!\n\nEvery one thought it was hopeless to get a laugh from the Passing Belle.\nThen the King, who was a very religious man, determined to take her to\nthe shrine of Saint Calixtus. Of course, if the Saint could make her\nsmile, she would become a nun, and perhaps, in the long run, would have\nbeen as solemn and _lugubrious_ as ever.\n\n[Illustration: 0096]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XI.\n\n\n[Illustration: 0098]\n\n[Illustration: 9098]\n\nLL the Court came, and all the Court nearly died with laughing at the\nprocession of the halt, and lame, and blind. \u2018Go it, ye cripples,\u2019 cried\nhis Majesty, in convulsions of merriment! Some of the people were like\nX\u2019s, and some like Y\u2019s, and some like Z\u2019s, and plenty of K\u2019s and S\u2019s,\nall the cross letters were there, all the letters but straight upright\nI. Meanwhile the courtiers held their sides and screamed, and the tears\ncame into their eyes; but the Princess yawned like a pretty little trout\nout of water! She did not see what there was to laugh at!\n\nBesides, if she _had_ laughed, perhaps they would have made her marry a\nman with a hump upon his back, or two wooden legs and a glass eye.\n\n\nThe fun was over, the King got up, the courtiers all rose, when past\ncame Johnny and the golden goose and all his company.\n\nNow when the Princess beheld our Johnny, and the landlord\u2019s three\ndaughters, and the fat Vicar, and the thin Beadle, and the two Curates,\nand the Organist, the violin-player, the man with the comet, and all the\nwicked little choir-boys, all stuck fast together, and all treading on\neach other\u2019s heels, she fell into such convulsions of laughter that she\ndropped into the Queen\u2019s arms, and chuckled till she was nearly dead.\n\nThe King, wild with delight, threw his royal arms around the neck of our\nJohnny, shouting, \u2018Take her, you dog; she is yours, my bonny boy!\u2019 and\nall the courtiers, falling on each other\u2019s breasts, cried=\n\n````Hooray, hooray,\n\n````She\u2019s laughed to-day!=\n\n[Illustration: 0100]\n\nBut our Johnny moved on, quite grave, to the altar of Saint Calixtus,\nand there he laid the golden goose, after which all the people who\nfollowed him were able to get free. The charm was broken.\n\n[Illustration: 0102]\n\nNext day was the marriage. They ate a whole flock of roast geese from\nHergnies, and they drank two vats of the local beer. In short, merrier\ntimes never were, in all the merry country of Flanders, where the beer\nis so excellent.\n\n[Illustration: 0104]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XII.\n\n\n[Illustration: 9106]\n\nFTER the King died, Johnny succeeded to the vacant throne, and the\nChronicles report that he did not govern less wisely than other\nmonarchs, prime ministers, and politicians generally, before or since.\n\n[Illustration: 0106]\n\nThe people of his own good town of Valenciennes had a statue made of\nJohnny Nut, in walnut-wood, and a statue of his wife, and there they\nstand on a tower, and strike time on the big clock; so you see this\nstory is quite true. Do not you believe any learned man who tells you\nthat Johnny is the Sun, and that the Goose is the Sun, and that the\nPassing Belle is the Moon, or nonsense of that kind, which, my dear\nchildren, is _too common!_\n\n\nMORAL.\n\nI think the Moral is that we should always be kind to animals,\nrespectful to Old Age, and, above all, that we should be _Easily\nAmused._\n\n[Illustration: 0108]","title":"Johnny Nut and the Golden Goose","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":4178}