"The Fox and the Geese" is a German

fairy tale A fairy tale (alternative names include fairytale, fairy story, magic tale, or wonder tale) is a short story that belongs to the folklore genre. Such stories typically feature magic (paranormal), magic, incantation, enchantments, and mythical ...

collected by the

Brothers Grimm The Brothers Grimm ( or ), Jacob (1785–1863) and Wilhelm (1786–1859), were a brother duo of German academics, philologists, cultural researchers, lexicographers, and authors who together collected and published folklore. They are among the ...

in ''

Grimm's Fairy Tales ''Grimms' Fairy Tales'', originally known as the ''Children's and Household Tales'' (german: Kinder- und Hausmärchen, lead=yes, ), is a German collection of fairy tales by the Grimm brothers or "Brothers Grimm", Jacob and Wilhelm, first publis ...

'' as tale number 86. It is Aarne-Thompson type 227, The Geese's Eternal Prayer.

D.L. Ashliman Dee L. Ashliman (born January 1, 1938), who writes professionally as D. L. Ashliman, is an American folklorist and writer. He is Professor Emeritus of German at the University of Pittsburgh and is considered to be a leading expert on folklore and ...

,
The Grimm Brothers' Children's and Household Tales (Grimms' Fairy Tales)
It was missing from the first printed editions of the 1812 edition. The text of the story was added to the 1815 Volume II of the KHM as Pg 387 at the end of the book as part of the corrections to the 1812 Vol I.

Synopsis

A fox tells some geese it will eat them. They get permission to pray first, and pray on and on, and the story will continue when they stop.

Context

This is the last story of the first volume. The Golden Key, the last story in the second volume, has a similar function.

References

Grimms' Fairy Tales Fictional foxes Fictional geese Literature featuring anthropomorphic foxes Anthropomorphic birds ATU 220-249 {{Folklore-stub