Tillie,  the Feder Frau

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​Tillie lived close by the river near Ganse Stadt with
her parents and many farm animals.
Her favorites were the geese that swam in the river near by.
She would often sneak them up the stairs to her room, where
she would share her bed with the geese and
keep them warm and comfortable through the night.
In the morning, when Tillie joined her parents for breakfast,
they would see many feathers in her hair, and attached to her clothes,
They wondered where the feathers could be coming from.
Tillie, of course, had quietly and carefully put the geese
outside so no one really knew how she became covered with feathers.
Not many children lived near Tillie, so the geese were her best friends.
They would follow Tillie wherever she went.
Often Tillie could be seen walking up the hill to the brewery and
those silly geese would be right behind her.
Townsfolk believed she was feeding them corn and other grains to “fatten them up”. Tillie knew some folks wanted to capture her geese, especially
the sausage man, who wanted to make the best
goose sausage in the world.
So Tillie and was always on alert and
counting her geese to be sure none were missing.
Another who had his eye on Tillie’s geese was the Burgermeister, or Mayor,
he thought Tillie’s geese would be nice and fat for the
Summerfest feast which was held each year in Ganse-Stadt.
So Tillie kept an even closer eye on the Burgermeister.
Wherever the geese went with her,
they left a trail of feathers, which many folks would gather.
This gave Tillie the idea that if the feathers were multi-colored,
they would certainly LOOK special, and
perhaps folks would think they really were
special, lucky, magic feathers,
then no one would want to make sausage from her geese or
make them the “main event” at the Summerfeast feast.
Thus, Tillie began her project;
she dyed the feathers many different colors, and
shared them with everyone she met,
IT WORKED!!
Somehow, everyone who received a colored feather
believed it was magic and could bring good luck.
Tillie was soooo happy.
Her geese were even happier.

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