The Fox and the Geese

The fox once came to a meadow, where a flock of beautiful fat geese was sitting, there he laughed and said 'I'm just in time, you sit together nicely, so I can eat one after the other'. The geese cackled with fright, jumped up, began to moan and to beg piteously for their lives. The fox, however, would listen to nothing and said, "There is no mercy, you must die. At last one of them took heart and said: "If we poor geese should give up our young fresh lives, then show us the only mercy and allow us one more prayer, so that we do not die in our sins: then we will also line up in a row, so that you can always choose the fattest one.

Yes,' said the fox, 'that is fair, and is a pious request: pray, I will wait so long.' So the first one began a rather long prayer, always 'ga! ga!' and because she didn't want to stop at all, the second one didn't wait until her turn came, but also began 'ga! ga!' The third and fourth followed her, and soon they were all cackling together. (And when they have finished praying, the fairy tale is to be told further, but in the meantime they are still praying).