Once upon a time, there was a king who had a beautiful garden. In the middle of the garden stood a tree that grew golden apples. The king’s servants counted the apples every day, but as the apples ripened, they noticed something strange—each night, one apple disappeared!
The king was furious and ordered the royal gardener to keep watch under the tree all night. That night, the gardener’s oldest son stood guard. But around midnight, he fell asleep, and in the morning, another apple was gone.
The next night, the second son took his turn, but just like his brother, he also fell asleep at midnight. When morning came, another golden apple was missing.
Then the youngest son offered to keep watch. The gardener was worried and didn’t want to let him go, but in the end, he agreed. That night, the young man lay under the tree, watching carefully.
At midnight, he heard a soft rustling in the air. Looking up, he saw a bird flying toward the tree—it was covered in feathers of pure gold! As the bird tried to take an apple, the young man jumped up and shot an arrow at it. The arrow didn’t hurt the bird, but one golden feather fell from its tail as it flew away.
In the morning, the young man brought the feather to the king. The king called his advisors together, and everyone agreed—it was the most valuable thing they had ever seen. But the king said, “One feather is not enough. I must have the whole bird!”
The gardener’s oldest son set off on a journey to find the golden bird. He was sure it would be easy. After walking for a while, he came to a forest, where he saw a fox sitting by the path. He raised his bow to shoot it, but the fox spoke.
“Don’t shoot me,” said the fox. “If you let me go, I will give you some advice. I know why you’re here—you want to find the golden bird. Tonight, you will reach a village with two inns. One will be bright, beautiful, and full of people singing and dancing. The other will look old and dirty. Stay in the simple inn, even though it doesn’t look nice.”
But the young man thought, What does a fox know about anything? He ignored the advice and shot an arrow at the fox. The fox jumped out of the way, lifted its tail, and ran into the trees.
That evening, the young man arrived at the village. Just as the fox had said, there were two inns. One looked grand and lively, with music, laughter, and delicious food. The other looked dark and run-down.
“I’d be a fool to stay in that ugly place,” he thought. So he went into the fancy inn, where he ate and drank and enjoyed himself. Soon, he forgot all about the golden bird—and even his home.
