The Goose Girl

She walked through the kitchen garden and up the hill to the worn door of the goose enclosure. When she pulled the bolt, a flurry of honking sounded on the other side. The Hepworths had a handful of geese back home, and she felt equal to this task. However, when she managed to get the door open, feeling some resistance on the other side, her heart flipped at the sight of a dozen and a half geese honking and hissing at her.
“Stop! Now!” With geese, it was best to assert authority. Those at the back clicked their beaks shut. The handful at the front clacked their beaks and continued to hiss. A few reached out to pull at her skirts. The fattest one nipped at her hand.
“No you don’t!” Fenella grabbed for its beak and closed it with firm fingers. She stared into its blue eyes. “I am in control. No biting.” The goose’s anger subsided. The blue eyes stopped whirling. She let go, pushed past it, and shut the door without any escaping. The flock gazed at her with curious eyes up.
“Where are your eggs? Do you hide them like the chickens?” With tentative steps she pushed into the flock. They parted for her.
Armed with the same basket she had used to gather herbs, she hunted for eggs. The flock preferred the open enclosure, and she found a dozen eggs there, adding them to the basket. One goose alternately purred and growled in a corner, and she left the brooder alone. Next, she searched the yard and found a small nest with two eggs in a corner. Then, with trepidation, she approached the structure.
Part of the flock followed her around as if she were the new head goose. Several stopped following as she neared the stone and wood structure. Fenella cracked the door open, and a white creature launched itself at her. She stepped back under the onslaught of hissing. The geese behind her retreated. She stopped and took a breath. The white goose had stopped its advance but intensified its hissing. Fenella had a sudden desire to hug the creature.
“You poor dear. Are you bullied because you’re different?” The rest of the flock were domestic gray geese. “Or are you broody?” While tempted to clip its bill between her fingers, she resisted and made soothing noises instead. “What has ruffled your feathers?” She reached into the apron pocket and found bits of leftover herbs, which she offered to the white goose. It hissed twice, then cocked its head sideways to eye the treat. In a flash, they were gone, with only tickles left on her palm.

Snippet from: Inventing Love: a tantalizing retelling of The Goose Girl Fairy Tale.

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