He did not hesitate because he knew that it would be well for him if the
goosey-gander were beheaded--at that moment he did not even remember
this--but because he shrank from being seen by his parents.
"They have a hard enough time of it already," he thought. "Must I bring
them a new sorrow?"
But when the door closed on the goosey-gander, the boy was aroused.
He dashed across the house yard, sprang up on the board-walk leading to
the entrance door and ran into the hallway, where he kicked off his
wooden shoes in the old accustomed way, and walked toward the door.
All the while it went so much against the grain to appear before his
father and mother that he could not raise his hand to knock.
"But this concerns the life of the goosey-gander," he said to
himself--"he who has been my best friend ever since I last stood here."
In a twinkling the boy remembered all that he and the goosey-gander had
suffered on ice-bound lakes and stormy seas and among wild beasts of
prey. His heart swelled with gratitude; he conquered himself and knocked
on the door.
"Is there some one who wishes to come in?" asked his father, opening the
door.
"Mother, you sha'n't touch the goosey-gander!" cried the boy.
Instantly both the goosey-gander and Dunfin, who lay on a bench with
their feet tied, gave a cry of joy, so that he was sure they were alive.
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