George with the Goat

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There was once a king who had a daughter who never could be made to laugh. She was always sad, no matter what was done for her. So the king proclaimed throughout the land that she would be given in marriage to any man who could make her laugh.

There was also a shepherd who had a son named George. One morning George said to his father: "Daddy, I too will go and see whether I can make her laugh. I want nothing from you but the goat." His father shrugged and said, "Well, go then." The goat was no ordinary animal - when her master wished it, she could make any person who touched her stick fast and stay beside her, unable to pull away.

George took the goat and set off down the road. Before long he met a man who was carrying a foot on his shoulder. "Why do you carry a foot on your shoulder?" asked George. "If I set it down," the man replied, "I can leap a hundred miles." "And where are you going?" "In search of service - to see if anyone will take me." "Come with us," said George.

They walked a little further and met another fellow who had a bandage tied tightly over his eyes. "Why do you wear that bandage?" asked George. "If I remove it," the man answered, "I can see a hundred miles in any direction." "Then come with us too," said George, and the man joined them gladly.

A little further on still, they came upon a third man who was walking with his thumb pressed firmly into the neck of a bottle. "Why do you hold your thumb there?" asked George. "If I pull it out, I can squirt liquid a hundred miles and besprinkle everything I choose," the man said. "You may find that useful. Take me into your service - it may be to our mutual advantage." "Yes, come along," said George, and so the four of them - George, the goat, and the three extraordinary companions - continued toward the city where the king lived.

When they arrived in the city, George bought a fine silk ribbon for the goat's neck. They found an inn where they were already expected - the king had given orders that visitors come to make the princess laugh were to be fed and watered at royal expense. That evening, George tied the goat with the silk ribbon and left it in the innkeeper's care, in the side room where the innkeeper's three unmarried daughters slept.

The three daughters - Manka, Dodla, and Kate - were not yet asleep when they noticed the beautiful ribbon. "Oh!" said Manka. "If I could only have that ribbon! I'll go and take it from the goat." "Don't," warned Dodla. "He'll notice in the morning." But Manka went anyway - and did not come back. After a long while Kate said to Dodla, "Go and fetch her." So Dodla went, gave Manka a pat on the back to hurry her, and found herself unable to leave either. Then Kate came to fetch Dodla, gave her a pull on the petticoat - and was stuck just the same.

In the morning George collected his goat - and with it the three daughters trailing behind. The innkeeper was still asleep. Through the village the strange procession went. The judge leaned out of a window. "Fie, Kate - what on earth is this?" He reached out to pull her free and immediately found himself stuck as well. Then a cowherd came driving cattle through a narrow street, and a bull came rushing around the corner, blundered into the back of the judge - and was stuck too.

George led this extraordinary parade - goat, three young women, a judge, and a bull - right into the square in front of the castle. When the royal servants saw it they rushed inside. "Sire! We have quite a spectacle out here - we have seen all manner of masquerades and entertainments, but never anything like this!" They brought the king's daughter to the square at once. She looked - and she laughed. She laughed and laughed until the whole castle shook.

But when they asked George who he was, he said he was a shepherd's son. The king's courtiers whispered at once: "It cannot be done. He is of mean lineage. We cannot give him the princess." Instead they told George he must complete two more tasks.

The first task: there was a spring a hundred miles away. If George could bring back a goblet of its water within one minute, he could have the princess. George turned to his first companion. "You said if you set down that foot you could leap a hundred miles." "I'll easily do that," said the man, and set off with a single bound. But the minutes ticked by, and he did not return. "Look and see what is happening," George told the second companion. The man whipped off his bandage and peered into the distance. "He has fallen asleep!" "Then wake him," said George to the third companion, who pulled his thumb from the bottle and gave a single squirt a hundred miles in the right direction. The sleeping man woke with a start, shook the dust from his clothes, drew the water, and leaped back exactly in time.

The second task: somewhere in the forest lived a savage unicorn - a wild beast that had been destroying many of the king's people. George must kill it. George took his three companions into the forest. They found a clearing with three beasts resting in it; two were harmless, but the third - the unicorn - was the killer. They filled their pockets with stones and pine cones and climbed high into a fir tree. When the beasts settled into their lairs, George let a stone fall onto the unicorn. "Stop that!" the unicorn snapped at the beast beside it. "I did nothing," that beast said. A second stone fell. The unicorn turned and attacked. During the fight, it charged its neighbour so violently that when the other beast dodged aside, the unicorn drove its long horn deep into the trunk of the fir tree and could not pull it free. George and his companions leaped down at once. The two harmless beasts fled. They cut off the unicorn's head, carried it back to the castle, and laid it at the king's feet.

The king and his courtiers were at a loss. "What shall we do? Must we really give him the princess?" "No, sire," said one attendant. "He is too lowborn. We must get rid of him instead." They ordered their soldiers to shoot George during a false "celebration" in the square.

But a kind serving woman slipped away to warn him. "George, they mean to kill you today." George was not frightened. "When I was only twelve years old," he said cheerfully - loudly enough for the king's spy to hear - "I killed twelve of them at one blow!" (What he did not mention was that the twelve had been flies on his mother's fresh flat-cake, killed with a single slap.)

When the courtiers heard this they were terrified: a man who could kill twelve in one blow? The soldiers were drawn up in the square. George turned calmly to his third companion. "Now is your moment." The man pulled his thumb from the bottle and gave one tremendous squirt. Every soldier was instantly blinded and could not see a thing to aim at.

With no other choice remaining, the king at last kept his word. He gave George a magnificent royal robe and the wedding was celebrated in grand style. There was music and singing, meat and cheesecakes, baskets piled with every good thing, and buckets brimming with strong drink. I was there too - today I went, yesterday I came; I found an egg among the tree stumps, knocked it against somebody's head, and gave him a bald spot he carries to this day.

Why Kids Love This Story

• Irresistible Comedy - The image of a judge, three young women, and a bull all stumbling through a village stuck helplessly to a goat is pure slapstick comedy that children find genuinely funny every single time.
• Three Superheroes in Disguise - Each companion has one extraordinary ability - speed, sight, or force. Children love cataloguing these powers and debating which they would choose for themselves.
• The Unicorn Hunt - The clever trick of provoking the unicorn into getting its horn stuck in a tree is a satisfying puzzle that rewards creative thinking over brute strength.
• A Villain Who Gets His Comeuppance - The king is smug, snobbish, and dishonest - and he fails utterly. Children feel a deep satisfaction watching someone who abuses their power be outwitted and humiliated.
• Teamwork Wins - George never tries to be the hero alone. Every challenge is solved by pooling the unique abilities of his companions. The story is a compelling model for collaborative problem-solving.
• The Flies Joke - When George boasts of killing "twelve at one blow," the reveal - that they were flies on his mother's flat-cake - is a perfect comic payoff that children and adults both love equally.

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