But Taper Tom said that he would try.
But when he came to the court he did not go before the King to say that he had come to make the Princess laugh. Many there were who were trying that each day, and there was hardly a well back in all the kingdom by now, and Taper Tom had no mind to have his own back cut, for they were cutting the stripes broader and rubbing the salt in harder every day.
So Taper Tom went to the court and asked for work to do. They told him that there was no work to be done, but he said:
“What, no work—even in the kitchen? I am sure that the cook needs some one to fetch and carry for her.”
“Well, now,” said the lord high chamberlain, “that might perhaps be. You may go to the kitchen and see.”
So Taper Tom went to the kitchen and the cook gave him work fetching and carrying. And every day Taper Tom saw the men who came and went away with their backs sore.
One morning he was sent to the stream to catch a fish, and he caught a nice, fat one. As he came back he met a woman leading a goose with golden feathers by a string tied around its neck.
The old woman wanted a fish, so she asked Taper Tom if he would trade the fish for the golden goose. “For,” she said, “it is a very strange goose. If you lead it about and anyone lays hands on it, and you say, ‘Hang on, if you care to come with us,’ he will have to hang on and go with the goose wherever you lead.”
“Then,” said Taper Tom, “you may have my fish and I will take your goose.”
So the old woman took the fish, and Taper Tom took the end of the string in his hand, and the goose followed after.