Once upon a time there was a Mother Goose who sat on her eggs and waited for her babies to hatch. The first one came out of the egg with a gigantic push, and as she looked around to see if any of her brothers and sisters had hatched, there was nothing but eggs around her. Being very brave she fought her way through her Mommy’s feathers and finally came to the edge of the nest. With a rather scared jump, she landed on the sand- looked around and again there was no-one there. Mommy Goose clucked at her, telling her to get back into the nest where she was safe. But Goosy never listened. She wandered further and further from her Mommy and finally the old lady of the house saw Goosy.

She gently picked her up and took her back to Mommy, trying to get her back into the nest. But her Mommy thought the old lady was trying to get her other eggs and she hissed at her. Goosy stayed awhile feeling warm and safe in the nest, but finally curiosity got the better of her and again she jumped out of the nest. Mommy Goose knew that there were hawks that would gobble Goosy up, there were monkeys that would chase her. Mommy could do nothing because she knew she had to stay sitting on her eggs, to keep them warm so the other goslings could hatch.

Goosy in the meantime wandered further and further.  She couldn’t find any food and noticed that she could only see the light moving against the dark shadows. And the more her Mommy called her the more she got lost as she bumped into branches and sticks she couldn’t see properly.

The old lady kept an eye on her and a few days later her brothers and sisters hatched and Mommy Goose could cluck and keep her babies together. Little goosy however kept lagging behind and then she couldn’t see her Mommy or her family.
After a few weeks of bringing Goosy back to her Mommy, the old lady of the house realized that Goosy was blind because she kept running into things. How was this blind baby goose going to run and hide if there was danger? “We will have to keep looking when we hear her cry”. A cry and they would find Goosy in a hole or stuck behind a bush, and gently she was picked up and taken back to her Mommy.

Little bit by little bit Goosy grew with her other brothers and sisters. Look for the baby with the white feet. That’s goosy! She got so used to the old lady giving her a big hug and a kiss everytime she got taken back to her Mommy, she never felt scared of the humans in her life. Her other family ran away from the humans, because they got told by Mom that the humans were not the same as them. Goosy survived her brothers pecking at her because she walked funny but being so brave she kept growing and she kept trying. Her Mommy tried to tell the family to be nice to her but they didn’t listen. Goosy started spending more and more time on her own.

When she started growing her feathers, the old lady got a bath of water and showed Goosy how to swim, She got so excited that she flapped and flapped and the next moment popped right out of the bath of water. Back in the water again, Goosy cleaned and preened her beautiful new feathers. She soon couldn’t fit into the bath and she got a bigger one and a bigger one. The rest of the family became strangers to her but she trusted the two ladies in her life and knew that they were always watching out for her.

With a loud call ‘Goosy, goose goose’ she’d come running for her food. Slow down silly! She fell over sticks and buckets and things. So she started walking slower and she would wait to hear the spoon being tapped on the side of the food bowl. Run a short way, and listen again, hear the tapping and change direction and run again. She learned to listen to tapping as the two ladies fed her. “See I missed the stones and sticks and buckets that were in my way.” When she got her hug she could hear the ladies’ heartbeats and she knew she was safe and loved.

One day a strange new thing started happening to her, she would feel around and pick up lots of little sticks and grass and pull them to her. She kept doing this and guess what… soon she had made a lovely nest around her. The problem was as soon as she got up and went to eat, she lost her nest. “I won’t give up. I’ll make a new nest”. So she just kept making another nest.. and another.

One day she felt under her and there was this big beautiful egg. She was so proud of herself. She sat on it and vowed to keep it warm. But the next day when she followed the sound of the spoon on her food bowl, she turned around and couldn’t find her nest again. The old lady carried her back to the nest, but in that short time something had stolen her egg. This happened every day and the finally old lady gave her a big snail shell to sit on.

After three weeks, she left her nest wondering why none of her shells had hatched. She didn’t know they were shells so she didn’t know they wouldn’t hatch. She didn’t understand that her body knew what to do no matter what. One day the worst possible thing. Goosy was nowhere to be found.

The two ladies ran around the farm calling and listening, and calling and listening. What could possibly have happened to their beloved Goosy? Nothing- no answer from her. After hours one of the ladies heard a faint call. Could that be Goosy? Run, run, run. Call and listen, the answering call again.

They found this big hole and right at the bottom was Goosy, sitting quite happily making another nest around her.
“What’s the fuss about?” she seemed to say as the ladies climbed down the ladder to get to the bottom Goosy got hugs and kisses and more hugs and kisses. No shortage of love there. Goosy still lives on Highcroft and the two ladies still spoil and love her, but now there’s a man in her life who gently nudges her along, calls loudly when there is danger, makes sure she takes her walks every day as she follows his call. He is her new ‘goose’ family and loves her as much as the ladies do. Or almost as much!!!