and fruit. One morning he was in the goose
market, looking for some nice fat geese. No one thought of laughing at
his appearance now; he was known as the duke's special body cook, and
every goose-woman felt honoured if his nose turned her way.

He noticed one woman sitting apart with a number of geese, but not
crying or praising them like the rest. He went up to her, felt and
weighed her geese, and, finding them very good, bought three and the
cage to put them in, hoisted them on his broad shoulders, and set off on
his way back.

As he went, it struck him that two of the geese were gobbling and
screaming as geese do, but the third sat quite still, only heaving a
deep sigh now and then, like a human being. 'That goose is ill,' said
he; 'I must make haste to kill and dress her.'

But the goose answered him quite distinctly:

'Squeeze too tight
And I'll bite,
If my neck a twist you gave
I'd bring you to an early grave.'

Quite frightened, the dwarf set down the cage, and the goose gazed at
him with sad wise-looking eyes and sighed again.

'Good gracious!' said Long Nose. 'So you can speak, Mistress Goose. I
never should have thought it! Well, don't be anxious. I know better
than to hurt so rare a bird. But I could bet you were not always in this
plumage--wasn't I a squirrel myself for a time?'

'You are right,' said the goose, 'in supposing I was not born in this
horrid shape. Ah! no one ever thought that Mimi, the daughter of the
great Weatherbold, would be killed for the ducal table.'

'Be quite easy, Mistress Mimi,' comforted Jem. 'As sure as I'm an honest
man and assistant head cook to his highness, no one shall harm you. I
will make a hutch for you in my own rooms, and you shall be well fed,
and I'll come and talk to you as much as I can. I'll tell all the other
cooks that I am fattening up a goose on very special food for the grand
duke, and at the first good opportunity I will set you free.'

The goose thanked him with tears in her eyes, and the dwarf kept his
word. He killed the other two geese for dinner, but built a little shed
for Mimi in one of his rooms, under the pretence of fattening her under
his own eye. He spent all his spare time talking to her and comforting
her, and fed her on all the daintiest dishes. They confided their
histories to each other, and Jem learnt that the goose was the daughter
of the wizard Weatherbold, who lived on the island of Go