3 1 4 mr grim and the goose that laid golden eggs

Suggested levels for Guided Reading, DRA,™
Lexile,® and Reading Recovery™ are provided
in the Pearson Scott Foresman Leveling Guide.

Mr. Grim and the Goose
That Laid Golden Eggs

Genre

Animal
fantasy

Comprehension
Skills and Strategy

• Realism and Fantasy
• Character
• Monitor and Fix Up

Scott Foresman Reading Street 3.1.4

ISBN 0-328-13333-7

ì<(sk$m)=bd d i< +^-Ä-U-Ä-U

by Kristin Cashore
illustrated by Tom LaBaff


Reader Response
andstory

theor aGoose
1.Mr.
Is thisGrim
story a realistic
fantasy?
Explain your answer.
That Laid Golden Eggs
2. Use words or phrases to list Mr. Grim’s five
plans on a web like the one below. Reread
to find any you don’t remember.

by Kristin Cashore
illustrated by Tom LaBaff
Mr.
Grim’s
Plans

3. What is a mortgage? Use the context clues
on page 18, as well as a dictionary, to find
out. Then use mortgage in a complete
sentence to show your understanding.
4. A moral is a lesson taught by a story. Does
this story have a moral? If so, what do you
think it is?

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Mr. Grim lived in an enormous mansion
outside of town. In his backyard he had
beautiful flowers and tall grass and a lovely
pond. He had apple trees and pear trees and
green hills that rolled gently into the distance.
It was a beautiful place to live, and Mr.
Grim should have been happy. But he wasn’t.
Mr. Grim was never happy because he always
wanted more than what he had.

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photographic material. The publisher deeply regrets any omission and pledges to
correct errors called to its attention in subsequent editions.
Unless otherwise acknowledged, all photographs are the property of Scott Foresman,
a division of Pearson Education.
Photo locators denoted as follows: Top (T), Center (C), Bottom (B), Left (L), Right (R),
Background (Bkgd)
Illustrations by Tom LaBaff
Photograph 20 Corbis
ISBN: 0-328-13333-7
Copyright © Pearson Education, Inc.
All Rights Reserved. Printed in the United States of America. This publication is
protected by Copyright, and permission should be obtained from the publisher
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2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 V0G1 14 13 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05

3

One day, a goose knocked on Mr. Grim’s
door.“Good day to you,” said the goose.
“What do you want?” asked Mr. Grim,
grumpily.
“I’m looking for a new home,” said the
goose,“and I think that your yard is just the
right place.”
“I can’t have a goose running around my
yard, eating my grass, and swimming in my
pond,” Mr. Grim snapped.
“If you’ll let me make my home here,” the
goose said,“I’ll give you my golden eggs.”
“Golden eggs?” Mr. Grim asked, interested.
“Every day, I lay one golden egg,” said the
goose.“If you’ll grant me permission to live
here, the eggs will be yours.”
4

The goose reached into her suitcase and
pulled out a glittering golden egg.“Here,” she
said.“This is the golden egg I laid this morning.
Would you like to have it?”
Mr. Grim’s eyes gleamed as brightly as the
egg.“It’s a deal,” he said. He grabbed the golden
egg and slammed the door in the goose’s face.
A few seconds later, he opened the door
again and peeked out.
“You lay only one egg a day?” he asked.

“One should be more than enough,” the
goose said,“if you invest it wisely.”
Mr. Grim scowled and slammed the door
again.Then he sat down and began some
serious planning.
5


The next morning, Mr. Grim brought the
goose a huge breakfast.
“Thank you very much,” said the goose,“but
I’m a goose. I don’t eat bacon and eggs, and I
don’t drink coffee. I prefer to eat a bit of grass
and sip cool water from the pond.”
“If you don’t eat it,” Mr. Grim said,“I’ll
assume that you have very bad manners.”
So the goose ate the bacon and eggs and
drank the coffee. And when Mr. Grim brought
the goose brunch, then lunch, then tea, then
dinner, and then supper, the goose ate all of
those too.Then Mr. Grim arrived with a very
rich dessert, but the goose had had enough.
Her stomach was much too full!

6

“Oh, help!” the goose moaned.“I can’t eat
another bite! I’m a goose! I eat grass and grains!
Why are you feeding me so much food?”
Mr. Grim grunted.“I thought that if I fed you

well, you might lay more eggs,” he said.
“I told you that I lay only one egg a day,”
said the goose. “What did you do with the egg I
gave you yesterday?”
“I used it to buy this food,” said Mr. Grim.
The goose sighed.“Here,” she said, reaching
into her nest.“Here is the egg I laid today. I
hope you will take it to the bank and deposit it
in your bank account.”
Mr. Grim grabbed the egg greedily.“Yeah,
maybe,” he said, but the goose suspected that
he didn’t mean it.

7


The next day while the goose was sleeping,
Mr. Grim carried a big pump out to the pond.
He lowered the pump into the pond and
attached a hose to it.Then he turned on the
pump and sprayed the goose with water.The
startled goose woke up immediately.
“Hold on!” she spluttered.“What do you
think you’re doing?”
“I thought that if I watered you, you might
lay more eggs,” Mr. Grim said.
“If I were a flower that grew golden petals,”
said the goose,“that might make sense. But I am
a goose! Whoever heard of watering a goose?”
“It was worth a try,” said Mr. Grim, grumpily.

8

“I’ve told you before that I lay only one egg
a day,” said the goose.“What did you do with
the egg I laid yesterday?”
“I used it to buy this pump and hose,” Mr.
Grim said.
The goose shook her head, reached into her
nest, and pulled out another glittering egg.
“Here’s today’s egg,” she said.“Why don’t
you take it to the bank and open a savings
account? If you leave the egg in the account
for a while, it will earn interest. It will grow in
value and increase your wealth.”
Mr. Grim took the egg, but he didn’t go to
the bank and open a savings account.

9


The next day, Mr. Grim dressed in a monster
costume and scary mask, tiptoed over to the
pond, and quietly snuck up on the goose.
“Boo!” he yelled.“Boo!”
“Oh my!” screamed the goose, jumping so
high that she lost some of her feathers.“Mr.
Grim, is that you? What are you doing now?”
“I thought that if you had a good scare, you
might lay more eggs,” said Mr. Grim.“It’s a very

clever idea. Won’t you agree?”
10

“Mr. Grim,” said the goose,“I’ve told you
many times that I lay only one egg a day. Did
you use the egg I gave you yesterday to buy
that silly costume?”
“Yes,” said Mr. Grim.“Are you impressed?”
The goose’s voice was stern.“Mr. Grim,”
she said,“I’m going to give you today’s egg. I
suggest that you go straight to the bank and
sit down with a banker.There are many ways
for you to invest these golden eggs so that you
earn more money.The banker will give you
advice. Will you do that, Mr. Grim?”
“Yeah, sure,” said Mr. Grim, but he didn’t
mean it. He was already busy thinking of more
ways to get the goose to lay more golden eggs.
11


The next day when the goose came back
from a stroll, she discovered Mr. Grim building
a miniature house next to the pond.
“What are you doing?” asked the goose.
“I’m building you a house,” said Mr. Grim.
“I thought that if you had a nice house to keep
you warm, you might lay more eggs.”
“But I don’t want a nice house!” said the
goose.“I’m a goose! I live outside!”

“Just try it,” said Mr. Grim.“Maybe you’ll be
more comfortable in this house and then you’ll
lay more eggs.”
The goose tapped her foot and struggled to
hold her temper.

12

“Mr. Grim,” she said,“I’m not going to ask
you how you bought the materials for this
house because I think I already know.”
The goose reached into her nest.“Here is
today’s egg,” she said.“I have two important
things to tell you.The first is that I’m not going
to live in that house.The second is that if you’re
wise, you won’t spend this egg. Maybe you’ll
take this egg to the bank, or maybe you’ll call
a stockbroker and invest this egg in the stock
market. Will you be wise this time, Mr. Grim?”
Mr. Grim didn’t answer. He was thinking of
a new plan to get the goose to lay more eggs.

13


The next morning the goose was reading
a newspaper when a large, toothy dog came
bounding over the hill.
“Run!” yelled the dog.“Run! It’s a game, Miss
Goose! Run, or I’ll catch you!”

“Help!” cried the frightened goose.“Help!”
She ran around the yard as fast as she could,
and the dog snapped at her heels.
“Stop!” cried the goose as she flapped
through a field of flowers.
“It’s a game!” yelled the dog as he raced
around the pond.
“It’s not a fun game!” yelled the goose.

14

The dog stopped running and settled down
to rest.“I’m sorry,” he said, meaning it.“Mr. Grim
told me you would think the game was fun. I
didn’t mean to scare you.”
The goose caught her breath and smoothed
her feathers. She looked up to see Mr. Grim
walking toward them.
“I thought that if you got more exercise,” Mr.
Grim said,“you might lay more eggs.”
The goose took a few deep breaths and
tried her best to calm down, but it was no use.
“That’s it!” she said.“I’ve had enough!”

15


“Please don’t leave!” Mr. Grim said.“Where
will you go? You won’t find a more beautiful
home than my yard.”

“I will buy a small piece of land of my own,”
said the goose,“with a pond and grass and
flowers and trees. I will keep my eggs, invest
them myself, and live peacefully and happily
ever after.”

The goose marched back and forth and
waved her wings in the air.“All I wanted was a
peaceful home,” she said,“but this place is not
peaceful! Every day you come down here and
bother me. Every day you invent some silly plan
to get me to lay more eggs. I told you from the
start that I lay only one egg each day, and I told
you that if you invested wisely, one egg each
day would be more than enough. But you are
too greedy to listen to my advice!”
The goose opened her suitcase and began
packing.“You’re the worst neighbor I’ve ever
had,” she said,“and you’re wasting my valuable
eggs. Our deal is finished! I’m leaving!”
16

17


And that’s exactly what the goose did. She
found some land with a pond and grass and
flowers and trees. She took out a mortgage,
which allowed her to pay for the land slowly
over time. And every day when she laid a

golden egg, she called her stockbroker and
asked him to invest it wisely for her.
Over the years, the goose earned money in
the stock market. It wasn’t enough to make her
rich, but it was enough to pay for her land, and
it was enough to send her nieces and nephews
to college.This made the goose very happy.

Mr. Grim, on the other hand, returned to
the same life he’d had before he met the goose.
He lived in his beautiful house on his beautiful
land. And now that the glittering golden eggs
were gone, Mr. Grim felt even more sorry for
himself. Although he had more than he needed,
he was not happy. Because no matter how
much Mr. Grim had, all he wanted was more.
18

19


Investing in the
Stock Market
Have you ever heard people talk about
investing in the stock market? Do you know
what this means?
The stock market involves a large group
of companies. Investors study the companies.
When an investor finds a company that makes
a lot of money, the investor knows that it is a

good company in which to invest.
If you invest carefully in many different
companies and then wait ten or twenty or even
fifty years, many of the companies are likely to
grow. If you are patient like the goose, you are
likely to earn money over time.

It is a stockbroker’s job to help people invest
their money wisely.

20

Reader Response
1. Is this story a realistic story or a fantasy?
Explain your answer.
2. Use words or phrases to list Mr. Grim’s five
plans on a web like the one below. Reread
to find any you don’t remember.
Mr.
Grim’s
Plans

3. What is a mortgage? Use the context clues
on page 18, as well as a dictionary, to find
out. Then use mortgage in a complete
sentence to show your understanding.
4. A moral is a lesson taught by a story. Does
this story have a moral? If so, what do you
think it is?