Once upon a time there was a man who went to a seer for advice on how to grow wealthy. The seer told the man of a magic goose that would bring wealth to its owner. The man asked the seer how he could get this goose, and the seer offered to sell him instructions.
The next day, the man went into the forest in search of the magic goose. In his hand he carried the map that the seer had given him. The map led the man along a stream in the forest to one particular bend, where the seer said that a magic goose would appear at noon each day.
At noon, the man saw the goose walk into a clearing. Following the seer’s instructions, the man stepped out into the clearing, and held three grains of barley in his outstretched hand.
“Goose,” he said, reciting the speech the seer had told him. “With these three grains of barley, I make an offer to you. I promise to feed and care for you from this day forward, and in return, I ask you to bring me wealth.”
The goose approached the man, and ate the three grains of barley. The man picked up the goose and carried it under his arm, to his home. The man set up a pen in a corner of the barn as her living space. He made sure that she had food, water, and plenty of straw, and wished her good night.
The next morning, the man checked on the goose, and found that it had laid a golden egg. Overjoyed, he thanked the goose, gave her food and water, and petted her on the head. Then he went to the store to trade the golden egg for supplies.
Things went on like this for a while. He gave the goose plenty of good food, water, and straw, and she continued to lay nice, golden eggs every morning.
In time, however, the man began to take the goose for granted. If the goose, missing the stream where she grew up, made too much noise then the man would yell at her to quiet down.
Soon the man grew greedy. He began to try to find ways to cut costs, so that he could keep a greater share of the goose’s eggs for himself. He bought cheaper food for the goose. The barn where the goose lived had leaks in the roof, and even though it began to grow cold and rainy, the man delayed making the needed repairs. When he finally made repairs, he skimped on materials, and the leaks soon returned.
Meanwhile, the man had furnished the rest of his house richly, and had begun filling a secret chest with the surplus eggs he had been hoarding. Still, he grew even greedier.
One winter, the goose became sick from exposure to the drafts and leaks, and the cheap food the man fed her. When the man went to town to buy groceries the next day, he spoke to the seer. The seer gave the man some medicine, advised him about the goose’s need for clean food and a dry, warm nest, and reminded him of his solemn oath. But the man grew angry, and told him to mind his own business.
At home, the man gave the goose the medicine, but kept feeding the goose the same cheap food, and did not repair the leaks in the goose’s home.
Soon, the man noticed that the eggs that the goose laid each day were growing smaller. He told the goose that, for now, he would be generous and leave the goose’s food rations the same. “When the eggs grow larger again in the spring,” the man reasoned, “the goose can repay the loan.”
But the eggs stayed small, and soon the man approached the goose and said “I’m sorry, but there is not enough money to keep funding lavish repairs on your home every year, or providing free medicine, or even supplying you with all of the free food that you are accustomed too. You will have to be satisfied with less.” And he cut the goose’s food rations.
The eggs grew smaller, and the man responded by cutting rations again. And the man’s guilt over his own behavior began to make him think strange thoughts.
Sometimes, he would imagine that the goose was looking reproachfully at him. He began to think to himself “If this goose expects me to dip into my own money for her upkeep, then what good is this arrangement to me anyways? I can just find another goose who will be satisfied with less!”
Or, he would imagine that the goose was hoarding food in a corner of her nest, and pretending to be hungry to trick the man into giving her extra rations.
Soon, he began to suspect the goose of plotting to steal all of his fine things. And he grew very indignant at the thought. “These are my things; I earned them! That goose will not be satisfied until she has the shirt off my back!”
The man continued to neglect the goose, until, one day, the goose died.
The man went to his chest, now filled to the top with golden eggs, and found the map that he had bought from the seer many years ago. The man took the map and set out for the forest, to catch another goose.
The man waited in the designated spot, and at noon a goose appeared. Then another appeared, and another. Soon, the clearing was filled with geese. The man counted them. There were 99. They stared at the man, and soon began to speak in one voice.
“We are the 99.” they said. “We know how you treated our sister. We know your greed. You made a promise to feed and care for her. By continuing in your course of selfishness, you have violated your oath and incurred our displeasure.
You have failed to uphold your end of the obligation, and now those eggs that you hoard in your chest belong to us. Go now to your house, fetch our golden eggs, and return them to us by nightfall. If you fail to do so, we will find you. If you delay, we will find you.”
Upon finishing this speech, the geese disappeared into the forest. The man shuddered in fear, turned, and began running home. On his way, though, he grew indignant at how the geese had treated him, and he began to plot against them. When he reached his home, he did not go to the chest of golden eggs. Instead, he went to his tool shed and grabbed an axe.
When the man came out of the tool shed, 99 geese were waiting.
“How dare you enter my property!” The man screamed.
“We are the 99.” They said. “Do not test us. We are not threatening you. We are here to remind you of your obligation.”
The man responded by swinging his axe wildly at the geese, felling several of them.
“We are the 99.” They said. “Our number will always be 99, no matter how many of us you kill.” And for every goose that died, another goose stepped out from the shadows to take its place.
The man continued to attack the geese, but every time he killed a goose, another took its place, until the man grew exhausted and fell to his knees. Now at eye-level with the geese, he began to try to bargain with the geese, offering them half of the eggs.
“We are the 99.” They said. “The golden eggs are not yours to bargain with. We made them, and we will stay here until you bring every last one to us.”
The man, chest heaving with exhaustion, remained on his knees. He looked from one goose to the next, and began to see the futility of his situation. His grip on the axe loosened, and soon it fell into the grass with a thud.