The Goat

One autumn morning, a goat took a little wicker basket and set off across the river, where the hazelnuts were ripe. The billy goat walked with her as far as the…

One autumn morning, a goat took a little wicker basket and set off across the river, where the hazelnuts were ripe. The billy goat walked with her as far as the little bridge and asked her to return by sunset. Among the hazel trees she quickly filled her basket, but on the path home she found a large branch that the night wind had blown across the way.

The sun was sinking towards the forest, and the goat still had not returned. The billy goat grew worried and called on the wolves for help, because they knew the distant paths well. The wolves invited a bear who could move heavy logs. The bear called the people from a nearby village, and soon a whole friendly search party set off along the road.

At the edge of the forest, the people saw that a branch from an old oak was blocking the path. The oak rustled its leaves and told them to remove only the dead branches, without touching the living ones. They needed a sharp axe for the work, and it had to be sharpened on a stone. But the stone lay by a mill whose wheel had stopped because there was no water.

Then the wind nudged the clouds along, a gentle rain filled the stream, and the water turned the mill wheel once more. The miller fetched the stone, the blacksmith carefully sharpened the axe, and the people cut away the dead branches. The bear moved the large branch aside, the wolves found a short path, and around the bend everyone saw the goat with her full basket.

The goat was delighted to see her friends. She explained that she had not wanted to leave the nuts behind, so she had waited for the path to be cleared. Together they crossed the little bridge on their way home, just as the first stars appeared. At home the goat spread the nuts over a large table, and everyone received a handful. From then on, the friends checked the forest paths in advance and knew that even a long chain of tasks becomes simple when everyone helps one another.