The Golden Goose [1/3]
Fairy Tales 2.0
The Golden Goose [1/3]
Once upon a time, in a land far, far away, there lived a family of five. Kim Taeyeon was the head of the family, and with his beautiful wife Tiffany Hwang, they led a peaceful, pleasant life with three kids, Baekhyun, Jongdae and Luhan. All three kids inherited their parents' singing voices, and the whole hut was filled with joyous music everyday.
Baekhyun was the oldest son, and also the one whom Taeyeon doted on the most. The father would often spend hours with Baekhyun, teaching him the correct techniques to hit high notes.
Jongdae was the second son. He was a natural at singing, not needing his parents' coaching in hitting high notes. Besides, he was humorous and the ladies' man. Never had Taeyeon and Tiffany worried over the smartest, most independent middle child.
Last but not least, we have Luhan. Luhan... Shall we say, had an amazing singing voice as well. He was good-looking, the best looking in fact, among the three sons, but he had a big flaw. Luhan was what one would call a dumbo. Idiot, moron, whatever you call it. He wasn't very smart to begin with, and often unbelievably naive and gullible. Luhan was always teased by everybody, especially his brothers, that Taeyeon and Tiffany couldn't help but to worry over the future of their third child.
As the years passed, it came to the point where Taeyeon no longer had the vigour to go into the forest to hunt. One day, he called Baekhyun, the apple of his eye, to go into the forest to hunt for their dinner. Excitedly, the oldest son agreed and grabbed his father's bow happily. Before he set off, Tiffany packed him a sweet chocolate cake and a bottle of fine wine for Baekhyun to quench his hunger and thirst.
Baekhyun was bored out of his wits as he swung his weapon to and fro and looked around the forest for wild animals. After a futile hour in the forest, Baekhyun decided to take a rest and sat on a tree stump.
Just as he was about to chomp down on the large cake he brought, a weak, feeble voice called out to Baekhyun.
"Young man, do give me some cake and a little sip of your wine, I am so hungry and thirsty... If I don't eat I think I will die soon," the voice croaked and Baekhyun paused to take a look at the old man.
He looks well-nutritioned himself, I don't see how will he die when he can thrive on his fats, Baekhyun thought selfishly as he ignored the old man's pleas and chomped down the chocolate cake in the old man's face. He then proceeded on to swallow down the fine wine in a big gulp, before getting up from the tree stump and looking down on the tiny plump man.
"Look old man, I've just finished my meal and as you can see, I have nothing for you. Just go and eat your fats or something," Baekhyun remarked meanly, striding off with his bow.
The old man watched with a smirk on his face.
Thirty minutes after his rest did Baekhyun finally spot a tiny fawn, its leg stuck in a hole and struggling wildly to escape. A cunning smile crept up Baekhyun's face as he silently approached the fawn.
Just as he was about to approach the fawn, there was a loud boom! as Baekhyun fell head first into a cleverly set-up hunter trap which was covered by the deep layers of foliage. Baekhyun groaned as blood oozed out from his injuries. He could feel that his elbow was dislocated. Cursing to himself, he tried to get out of the hole. Thankfully, the hole wasn't a deep one and Baekhyun managed to get out after a few minutes of tolearting the spreading pain in his elbow.
When Baekhyun finally got out of the hole, the fawn was nowhere to be seen. He frowned and blamed himself for the bad luck he had.
Little did he know, the old man, named Shindong was hiding right behind a tree, watching Baekhyun's every move, with a meaningful smile on his round little face.
When Baekhyun got home empty-handed and injured that day, Jongdae, wanting to impress his father, offered to go to try. Though Taeyeon was unwilling, fearful that Jongdae would injure himself as well, Tiffany tried to persuade her husband.
"Taetae, just let Jongdae go, alright? He's the smartest out of all our children, afterall," whispered the brunette into her husband's ear. Taeyeon finally relented after Tiffany did aegyo on him and as usual, Tiffany packed a cake and a bottle of orange juice for the second child and Jongdae set off for the forest in bright spirits.
Hmm! I'm going to prove to appa that I will be better than Hyung! Maybe then will he teach me more singing techniques! Jongdae smiled to himself as he spotted a rabbit munching on leaves behind a bush. Here's my chance! Jongdae laughed as he silently and quickly pulled out of bow and got ready to aim for the rabbit.
Just as he was about to pull the string and shoot the rabbit, somebody tapped on his shoulder and the arrow shot out, missing the rabbit as the rabbit got startled and hopped away.
Jongdae rolled his eyes irritably and turned to see who was the one caused him to miss. "What do you want?"
It was an old man, short and stout, a little chubby to be exact. The old man looked up at Jongdae sadly and asked, "Young man, I have gone without food for many days. Please take pity on me and offer me some food and wine." The old man gestured to Jongdae's foodbag weakly.
Jongdae did some quick thinking. If I give him my mouth, I wouldn't have enough for myself. Why would I be that stupid to do so?! Jongdae looked down at the old man and stated, "Look old man. You just scared me and caused my dinner to run away. Tell me why should I offer you my food when I myself do not have enough?" He rolled his eyes as he walked away, leaving the old man stunned by the response.
A harder nut to crack than the first, huh? Shindong smiled to himself as he watched the figure disappear.
Jongdae was whistling to himself softly, when a loud chirp came from up above. He looked up at a tree, and there, resting on a branch, was a fine bird's nest! He spotted a mother bird sitting on her eggs before covering the nest with twigs and flying away.
Looks like Lady Luck is smiling on me, Jongdae thought to himself. We haven't had eggs for dinner for a long time. Laughing to himself, Jongdae made his way up the tree swiftly and carefully.
The nest was perched at the end of the branch, and when he got up there, Jongdae wondered how he was going to reach the eggs without falling off. After much thinking, the smartest son decided to get his backpack, attach it to his bow and sort of use it as a fishing rod, only for fishing nests in this case.
As Jongdae was busy trying to get the nest, he failed to notice the mother of the birds flying back to the nest. As soon as the mother bird saw what the intruder was trying to do, she chirped angrily and made a dive for Jongdae's face.
"Ahh!" Jongdae tried to cover his face as the Mama Bird pecked his face all over. As a result, he lost his firm grip on the tree trunk and with a loud crash!, Jongdae landed on the floor, followed by his bagpack landing on his stomach. "Oww!" Jongdae winced as he tried to get up. He noticed that his knee was bent at a weird angle and cursed the Mama Bird. As though the Mama Bird heard him, on cue, she began to empty her bowels on him and Jongdae was faceted by the vicious bird. Jongdae let out a cry of frustration as he got up, supporting himself with a large branch he found nearby. The Mama Bird let out a birdy cry of victory as she watched the figure walk home.
Shindong looked at Mama Bird and Mama Bird looked back at Shindong. The both of them let out peals of birdy laughter, both satisfied with what Jongdae got.
That night, Tiffany was shocked to see her second son injured from hunting. "My goodness! First Baekhyun, now you, Jongdae! Taetae, maybe our sons shouldn't be hunters instead. Why don't they be singers?" Tiffany suggested excitedly to Taeyeon. Taeyeon shook her head in disappointment. Looks like our sons aren't meant to be hunters. Unlike me-
Taeyeon's train of thoughts were interrupted by a small tug on his sleeve. He looked down to see the smiling face of Luhan.
"Appa," Luhan pouted, "can I go hunting, too?"
Baekhyun exchanged looks with Jongdae before bursting into laughter in unison. "You? Hunting?" Jongdae guffawed, but stopped when Tiffany gently hit his leg. "Umma!"
Baekhyun looked at Luhan. "Even we, who are older and smarter than you, can't even successfully hunt! What makes you think that you can?' He sneered at his little brother.
Luhan pouted even more. He was already used to his brothers putting him down. Seeing that Taeyeon had no response, he proceeded on to Tiffany.
"Umma, please? I really want to go hunting!" Luhan asked with gleaning eyes. Tiffany sighed. Maybe letting him go and injure himself will let him learn things the hard way. "Tae-"
Taeyeon silenced his wife. "Fine. Just don't blame me when our son comes home all bloody." He shook his head and sighed.
"Yay!" Luhan jumped up and down, happy that he was finally allowed to go hunting.
The next day, Luhan set off with a bag of supplies. The cakes were finished hence Tiffany packed stale loaf of bread and a bottle of water from the well in his bag, along with some medical supplies, as she was most afraid of Luhan's safety. As Tiffany glanced at the skipping figure dance away, she frowned and hoped Luhan would return home safely.
Luhan was happily singing EXO-M's 365 when he happened to spot a deer in the distance, silently grazing. He smiled as he decided to make his way towards the fawn, wanting to its soft-looking fur. Luhan always had a soft spot for deers.
Just as he was about to walk towards the deer, a wolf popped out of nowhere and begun stalking its new prey- the fawn. Luhan managed to spot the wolf's grey fur against the green background and panicked. "Oh no," Luhan muttered, "the deer is going to get eaten by the wolf if I don't do something!" He paced to and fro worriedly, his mind trying to think how he could save the tiny fawn.
"Ah! I know!" Luhan's eyes lit up as he quickly got out his bow and arrow. Closing one eye and aiming properly, Luhan released the bow. The arrow hit the wolf's chest with a loud thud and the wolf collapsed on the ground with a groan. The deer got a shock and quickly ran away.
Luhan didn't want to take any chances, hence he got out his pocket knife and made his way steadily towards the wolf. He kicked the wolf's leg first, raising a brow when the wolf didn't move an inch. "Yah," he said, "are you dead already?" He continued kicking the wolf's hindleg, but the wolf was already dead- how could it respond?
Luhan then placed his index finger under the wolf's gigantic hairy nostrils. The wolf's eyes were closed, his long lashes gently swaying in the breeze. Somehow, the wolf reminded Luhan of his senior at school, Jonghyun. Jonghyun looked kinda like a dinosaur but also kinda resembled the wolf. Luhan scratched his head. The wolf wasn't breathing anymore.
"Oh well," Luhan mumbled to himself, before slashing his knife across the wolf's skin, getting its grey fur and packing it into his haversack.
By now, Luhan was getting rather tired. Afterall, killing a wolf and then skinning it was no easy feat. He decided to take a break under a tree and he got out his stale bread and bottle of water.
Luhan was about to take a large bite out of his stale bread when a weak voice called out.
"Young man, I haven't had food and water for many days, do you mind if you could give me some of your food?" Shindong hobbled slowly towards Luhan out of nowhere. Seeing that the all-rounded man had difficulty walking, Luhan immediately stood up and helped Shindong to his resting place.
"Old man, I do not have any nice food for you, but I do have stale bread and water. If you do not mind we can share!" Luhan gushed happily, showing Shindong his neat rows of white shiny teeth.
Shindong smiled to himself and thought, "What a fool. But he's a kind fool." He nodded with fake gratitude and held his hand out to Luhan, who unsuspectingly placed the bread on the former's outstretched palm.
The stale bread and water finished rather quickly. Shindong took advantage of Luhan's gullible nature to consume more food, but Luhan was too busy humming a happy tune to notice. Giving a loud burp and rather satisfied smile, Shindong stood up, rubbing his tummy.
"Thank you so much, young man. You are indeed very kind-hearted. In return, I shall give you a reward. You see that tree over there?" Shindong pointed to an old tree a few meters away. Luhan glanced up and nodded curiously. "Go to that tree over there, and strike the trunk three times. There will be something for you. Now run along, my child." Shindong patted Luhan's head.
Luhan thanked Shindong, stood up and started to make his way towards the old tree. Then he stopped and turned, wanting to ask Shindong what that something was.
However Shindong had disappeared into thin air.
Luhan shrugged and continued humming his happy tune, carrying his items along with him.
When Luhan reached the old tree, he got out Taeyeon's axe and struck the tree trunk with three heavy blows. One, two, three-
It was surprising that the tree trunk broke into half, considering that the tree was old and sturdy. There was something golden and shiny sitting there, and Luhan had to rub his eyes twice to make sure he wasn't dreaming. Because, is that a golden goose he sees, sitting right in his face?
The golden goose stopped whatever it was doing- which was actually trying to clean its feathers- and stared back at Luhan with big, wide eyes. Luhan smiled back at the goose.
"Hey goosie, you're so cute!" Luhan beamed, picking up the golden bird and cradling it in his arms. "I shall call you Kyungsoo!" The golden goose's beak curved upwards a little as it nodded its round birdy head eagerly.
Luhan sat down with Kyungsoo and talked to it for hours. Before he knew it, the sun had set and it was dark already.
"Oh no," Luhan said, looking around. "I don't know how to get home. Do you know how to get home, Kyungsoo?" He asked the blur goose. Kyungsoo blinked his large beady eyes and pecked its beak against Luhan's chest. "I guess that means no," Luhan cried sadly.
Luhan then took his bag and placed it on his shoulder, cradled Kyungsoo in his arms and started waking towards no particular direction. He decided to walk around the forest to find a shelter for the night.
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