Storybook - Atreian Folk Tales Vol. 9
The Fairytale Chronicles
Volume Nine: The Aukwi Who Laid Golden Eggs
Once upon a time, a young man lived in a tiny Morheim village.
Though the young man worked hard, he was always poor, always hungry, and always alone.
He worked for a farmer who was thriftier than he was wise or kind, and was paid only a pittance.
One day, an Aukwi, shabby and skinny, waddled into the young man's shabby hut.
The young man spread fresh, clean straw in the yard so the Aukwi could rest. He offered the Aukwi his tiny portion of daily grain to eat. He stroked the Aukwi so it would feel comforted. The next morning before he went to work, the young man went to his yard to feed the Aukwi, who quack-quacked a greeting.
What a surprise! The Aukwi had laid an egg--an egg of pure gold!
Every night, the young man made sure the Aukwi was comfortable and well fed. Every morning, the Aukwi laid a golden egg. The young man took each egg and hid it safely away.
On Market Day, he gathered up the golden eggs and sold them for a fine price.
With the Kinah he earned from the golden eggs, the young man bought himself new clothes. He ate Spicy Potcrab and Tayga Cream Soup to his heart's content, and he was happy.
But once he had a full stomach and warm clothes, he still had one more wish: to marry a pretty girl who lived in the village.
But the pretty girl didn't want to marry a poor man. "No shabby hut will do for me," she laughed.
Only a big brick house and beautiful bejeweled clothes would win the girl's heart.
Though the golden eggs bought the young man food and clothes, the girl wanted more than one egg a day could provide.
When he fed it the next morning, the young man asked the Aukwi, "Can you please lay all this month's eggs in advance?"
But the Aukwi shook its head and quack-quacked at the young man.
The young man begged, then threatened. But the Aukwi laid only one golden egg each day.
One morning he thought, "There must be a great deal of gold in the belly of an Aukwi that lays golden eggs!"
The young man took his knife and went out to his yard. The Aukwi, sitting on a fresh gold egg, quack-quacked a greeting. The young man reached for the egg, then slashed the Aukwi's belly with his knife.
No gold came from the Aukwi's belly, only blood.
"How could this be?!" the young man cried.
He cradled the dead Aukwi in his arms and wept. The Aukwi had been kind and wise but also thrifty, as all good friends should be. The young man had been none of these things and now would always be poor, always hungry and, worst of all, always alone once more.
