Children Stories - The Toy-goose

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The Toy-goose

from Stories To Read Or Tell From Fairy Tales And Folklore

A Flea, a Grasshopper, and a Toy-goose once wanted to see which of them
could jump highest, and so they invited the whole world and everybody else
who would like to come, to see the frolic. When the three met together in
the room, everyone thought they were remarkable jumpers.

"Well, I'll give my daughter to the one who jumps highest!" said the king;
"for it would not be fair to let these people jump for nothing!"

The first one to step forward was the Flea; he had such perfect manners and
bowed on every side, for he had noble blood in his veins, and more than
that, he associated only with human beings, which makes a great difference.

Then came the Grasshopper; he was certainly very much larger, however, he
carried himself well, and wore the green uniform he was born with.
Moreover, as he said, he belonged to a very old family in the land of
Egypt, and was well thought of here at home.

The fact was, when he was brought out of the fields he was put in a house,
three storeys high, all made of court-cards with the colored side turned
in; both doors and windows were cut out in the waist of the Queen of
Hearts. "I sing so well," he said "that sixteen native crickets who had
chirped since they were born, and still had no house of cards to live in,
grew thinner than they were before out of vexation when they heard of me."

So it was that the Flea and the Grasshopper were able to give a good
account of themselves, and saw no reason why they should not marry the
princess.

The Toy-goose said nothing; and people thought it was because he knew all
the more; the house-dog sniffed at him with his nose, and assured them the
Toy-goose was of good family. The old councilor, who had three orders given
him for holding his tongue, said that the Toy-goose was a prophet; for one
could see on his back if there would be a severe or mild winter, and that
was more than one could see on the back of the man who writes the
almanacs.

"Well, I shall say nothing," said the king, "however I have my own
opinion."

The trial was to take place at once, so the Flea jumped first. He jumped so
high that nobody could see where he went to; so they said he had not jumped
at all; which was shameful.

The Grasshopper jumped only half as high; but he jumped right into the
king's face, which, the king said was most unpleasant.

The Toy-goose stood still for a long time, thinking to himself; at last the
people believed he would not jump at all.

"I only hope he is not ill," said the house-dog; when, pop! he made a side
jump right into the lap of the princess, who was sitting on a little golden
stool close by.

Then the king said, "There is nothing above my daughter; therefore he has
made the highest jump that can be made: to do this, one must have a good
mind and the Toy-goose has shown that he has a good mind. He has a mind of
his own!"

And so he won the princess.

"It's all the same to me, she may have the old Toy-goose, for all I care,"
said the Flea. "I jumped the highest; but, in this world a fine appearance
is what people look at nowadays."

The Flea then went into a foreign land and enlisted, where it is said, he
was killed.

The Grasshopper sat on a green bank, and thought on worldly things; and he
said, "Yes, a fine appearance is everything--a fine appearance is what
people care about." And then he began chirping his melancholy song from
which we have taken this story; and which may or may not be true, although
it is printed.

Next: Yellow Lily

Previous: King Longbeard

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