You may think how she wept for her dear children.
At last, in her grief, she went out, and the youngest gosling ran
beside her. And when she came to the meadow there lay the wolf under
the tree, snoring till the boughs shook. She walked round and examined
him on all sides, till she perceived that something was moving and
kicking about inside him.
"Can it be," thought she, "that my poor children whom he has swallowed
for his supper are yet alive?" So she sent the little gosling back to
the house for scissors, needle, and thread, and began to slit up the
monster's stomach. Scarcely had she given one snip, when out came the
head of a gosling, and when she had cut a little further, the six
jumped out one after another, not having taken the least hurt, because
the greedy monster had swallowed them down whole. That was a joy! They
embraced their mother tenderly, and skipped about as lively as a
tailor at his wedding.
But the old goose said, "Now go and find me six large stones, which we
will put inside the greedy beast while he is still asleep." So the
goslings got the stones in all haste, and they put them inside the
wolf; and the old goose sewed him up again in a great hurry, while he
never once moved nor took any notice.
Now when the wolf at last woke up and got upon his legs, he found he
was very thirsty, and wished to go to the spring to drink.
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