Dummling went and cut down the tree, and when it fell,
there was a
goose sitting in the roots with feathers of pure gold.
He lifted her up, and
taking her with him,
went to an inn where he thought he would stay the night. 
Now the host had three daughters, who saw the goose
and were curious to know
what such a wonderful bird might be,
and would have liked to have one of its
golden feathers.
The eldest thought, "I shall soon find an opportunity of
pulling out a feather,"
and as soon as Dummling had gone out, she seized the
goose by the wing,
but her finger and hand remained sticking fast to it.
The second came soon afterwards,
thinking only of how she might get
a feather for herself,
but she had scarcely touched her sister than she was held
fast.
At last the third also came with the like intent,
and the others
screamed out, "Keep away; for goodness' sake keep away!"
But she did
not understand why she was to keep away.
"The others are there," she thought,
"I may as well
be there too," and ran to them;
but as soon as she had touched her sister,
she remained sticking fast to her.
So they had to spend the night with the goose.
The next morning Dummling took the goose under his arm and set out,
without troubling himself about the three girls who were hanging on to it.
They
were obliged to run after him continually,
now left, now right, just as he was
inclined to go.
In the middle of the fields the parson met them,
and when he saw
the procession he said,
"For shame, you good-for-nothing girls,
why are you
running across the fields after this young man? is that seemly?"
At the
same time he seized the youngest by the hand, in order to pull her away,
but as
soon as he touched her, he likewise stuck fast,
and was himself obliged to run
behind.
Before long the sexton came by and saw his master,
the parson,
running behind three girls.
He was astonished at this and called out,
"Hi,
your reverence, where away so quickly?
do not forget that we have a christening
today!"
and running after him he took him by the sleeve, but was also held
fast to it.
While the five were trotting thus one behind the other,
two
labourers came with their hoes from the fields;
the parson called out to them
and begged that they would set him and the sexton free.
But they had scarcely
touched the sexton when they were held fast,
and now there were seven of them
running behind Dummling and the goose.
Soon afterwards he came to a
city.
The city was ruled by a king, who had a
daughter who was so serious,
that no one could make her laugh.
So he had put forth a decree, that whoever should be able to make her laugh, should marry her.
When Dummling heard this, he went with his goose and all her train before the
king's daughter,
and as soon as she saw the seven people running on and on, one
behind the other,
she began to laugh quite loudly, and as if she would never
leave off.
Thereupon Dummling asked to have her for his wife, and the wedding was celebrated.
After the king's death, Dummling inherited the kingdom and lived a long time contentedly with his wife.