ate up all of the geese. 

‘Oh, well,’ said the king. ‘Hmmm ... put him in the stables. Let the horses trample him!’ 

So the king’s men put Gjysma Gjeli into the stables and they closed the stable door. They bolted the stable door and the horses reared up with their great hooves to trample Gjysma Gjeli.

‘Save me!’ he cried.

Out of his belly jumped the wolf and the wolf scared all of the horses.

‘Well,’ said the king, ‘lock him up tight in a great treasure chest!’ 

So they opened the king’s greatest treasure chest and they put Gjysma Gjeli inside and they locked it tight. 

The treasure chest was full of gold coins. Gjysma Gjeli pecked up those gold coins one by one until they were all inside his belly.

‘Save me!’ he cried again.

Out of his belly jumped the mouse. The mouse gnawed a hole in the side of the treasure chest. 

Out of that hole squeezed Gjysma Gjeli with all of those gold coins inside him. He went hopping back along the way, back towards the old man. As he hopped, with the king’s men coming after him (but they weren’t quick enough), one gold coin dropped from his beak upon the way. 

On he hopped until he came back to the old man. 

‘I will live with you,’ said Gjysma Gjeli, ‘but you must remember to feed me enough and give me somewhere soft to sleep. Remember to tap me with your rod every day.’ 

Well, the old man tapped Gjysma Gjeli with a rod and out of his beak dropped one gold coin. 

The old man, with that gold coin, had enough to eat and more to spare. 

The next day, he tapped Gjysma Gjeli again and there was another gold coin. The next day there was another and every day after that there was a new gold coin. 

Well, the old woman was jealous when she found out that the old man had all these gold coins. So she sent her cat to find gold coins. 

The cat set off along the way. It came along to where the gold coin had dropped from Gjysma Gjeli’s beak. The cat ate up that gold coin and went on its way. 

After that it found no more gold coins, it just swallowed other things. 

When the cat returned to the old woman, she took her rod and she tapped the cat. Sure enough a gold coin came out of its mouth. 

She was happy ... for a day. 

The next day, when she tapped the cat, what came out of his mouth was a salamander. 

The next day, when she tapped him, what came out of his mouth was a rat. 

The third day, what came out of the cat was a snake. 

She became so angry with the cat that it ran away in fear.

So it was that Gjysma Gjeli and the old man lived the rest of their days in comfort.