The wise old Goose

                                  
               

          Once upon time, a flock of geese lived atop a large tree. The tree was very tall and thick with leafy branches. The geese very safe and comfortable there. It was their happy home.
                One of the geese was a wise old bird. His wisdom came from his long experience of life. One day this old bird noticed a tiny creeper growing at the foot of the tree. It worried him and so he called all the birds together and spoke to them.
                "Do you see that creeper?" he said to them. "We must get rid of  it at once. We must uproot it and destroy it."
                "Why? What harm has that little, weak creeper done to us? Why must we destroy it?" asked the other geese in surprise.
                  "My young friends," replied the wise old bird, "if you don't destroy it now, it will grow and encircle this tree one day. Gradually, it will become tough and strong. Then, with the help of this creeper, any hunter will be able to climb our tree and kill us."
                             However, the other geese did not heed the old bird's advice. They ignored the creeper. Months passed. The creeper grew stronger and thicker. It went on winding its way up the tree. Finally, it encircled the tree completely.
                             Meanwhile a hunter was observing the geese and studying their habits. He planned big haul. He wanted all the birds.
                             One day when the birds had flown away in search of food, the hunter climbed up the tree. He used the circling stem of the creeper as steps of a ladder. He spread his net care fully all over the branches, hiding it carefully amongst the leaves. He then got down and went to some nearby bushes to hide and wait for the geese.
                             In the evening, the geese returned to the tree. They did not suspect any foul play. They flew straight into the hunter's net. They were trapped. Not knowing what to do, they begged of the wise old bird to show them the way out.
                             The wise old goose said, "I had warned you long ago. But you took me to be a fool. You did not destroy the creeper. Now listen to me carefully. Tomorrow, when the hunter comes, we must all lie still. We must pretend to be dead. The hunter will then pick each one of us from the net and throw us to the ground. Even there, we must lie as if we were  dead. But when he throws down the last one of us, we must fly away at once."
                              This time, the geese heeded the wise advice of the old bird. They did exactly as they were told. When the hunter climbed up the tree in the morning, he found all the birds lying dead. Dead birds were of no use to him. He was very disappointed. "What could have killed all the birds?" he wondered. Sadly he picked them up and threw them out of the net one by one. The birds lay still on the ground. But as soon as the last one reached the ground, they all rose up and flew away. They never came back there again.