The Snow Goose

In the Spring 1930, a man bought an old, empty lighthouse. It stood at the mouth of a river and
was in the middle of marshland. It was a wild and lonely place where no one lived, and the only sound s
were made by the many birds that built their homes there.
The man’s name was Philip Rhayader. He was a handicapped young man. His back was bent, and
his left arm was thin and twisted. He was twenty seven years old when he bought the abandoned
lighthouse and lived in it. Before he came to buy the abandoned lighthouse, he had traveled much and
taking part as a man, fighting valiantly in a war. He had tried hard to make friends with people he met, but
because of his mis-shapen body, with a thin and twisted wrist shaped like a claw of a bird everyone
always turned their eyes away when they saw him. If they had tried to know him better, they would have
found out that he was a gentle and kind man, he loved all things that lived. Man, women and natures
alike.
Philip loves the marshland. He watched birds and painted pictures of them. Aside from his
paintings of birds, he owned a sixteen-foot sailboat which he sailed with wonderful skill. Alone, with no
eyes to watch him, he managed well with his thin and twisted left arm, and he often used his strong teeth
to hold the ropes instead of using his weak left arm if the weather was very windy. He would sail the tidal
waves of sea, and would be gone for days at a time, looking for new species of birds to photograph or
sketch, and add it into his collection of birds painting.
One November afternoon, three years after Philip had come to the lighthouse, a girl named Fritha was
walking in a town, carrying a bird with gunshot wound and she stopped for a second to hear a strange
story from two villagers.

Villager A : “Have you ever heard about the man that lived in the abandoned lighthouse?”
Villager B : “Yes, the man who has mis-shapen body and twisted left arm, right?”
Villager A : “He has a body with a shape of bird claws, its creepy”
Villager B : “Aside from his creepy body shape, he could make wounded and sick birds better”
Villager A : “Is that true?”
Villager B : “I don’t know, its just a rumor though”

After Fritha hear the conversation of the villager she runs to the abandoned lighthouse. The thought of
knocking at the door filled her with fear, because of strange stories that she heard from the villagers in the
village, but the only reason she came here is that this lonely man at the lighthouse could make wounded
or sick birds better.
She knocked the door. Slowly it opened. When she saw Philip, she nearly ran away. But when he spoke,
he had a kind voice.
Philip : “What do you want, little girl?”
Fritha : “I found it, sir. Its hurt, can you make it better?”
Philip : “Yes I think so, where did you find it, girl?”
Fritha : “It is in the marsh sir, where the bird hunter had been. What is it, sir?”
Philip : “It’s a snow goose from Canada, but how it could came here?”
The name means nothing to Fritha, but she still concerned about the injured bird
Fritha : “Can you heal it, sir?”
Philip : “Yes, yes we will try. Come girl, you shall help me”
Philip walked to a table, followed by Fritha and put the bird on the table. There were scissors and
bandages on the table.
Philip : “Ah she has been shot, poor thing. Her leg has been broken and the wing tip, but not badly.
Fritha : “How is it now, sir?”
Philip : “We will bandage the wounds in the wing, in the spring she should be able to fly again”
Fritha : “O-okay, thank you sir”

Fritha’s fears forgotten, she’s glad that the injured birds got better now. The bird was a young one, no
more than a one year old. She was born in a northern land far, far across the seas, a land belonging to
England, she flied to the south to escape the snow and ice bitter cold. But too bad when she was flying to
the south, a hunter’s shotgun blasted her wing.

Philip : “Such a bitter reception for the lost princess, we will call her the Lost Princess. And in a few day
she’ll be feeling better”
Fritha laughed with delight, and then suddenly she reminded of her fears, and without a word she turned
and fled out of door
Philip :”Wait, wait!”
Fritha stopped and looked back
Philip : “What is your name?”
Fritha : “Fritha”
Philip : “Fritha, I suppose. Where do you live?”
Fritha : “Fisherman’s folk at Wickaeldroth”
Philip : “Will you come back tomorrow, or the next day to see the princess?”
Fritha turned back and her thin voice answered Philip’s question
Fritha : “Yes”
And then she was gone, running as fast as she can.
The snow goose got better very quickly. Fritha often walked to the lighthouse to see the princess. With
each visit to the lighthouse, her fear of Philip became less and less.
Then one morning in a June, the Princess left them. At that time, Fritha was in the lighthouse.
Fritha : “Look! Is she leaving us?”
Philip : “Yes, she is going home”
Fritha : “She bid us farewell”
Fritha did not come to the lighthouse after the snow goose had gone. Philip was once again alone in the
marshland. With the departure of the snow goose ended Frihta’s visit s to the lighthouse, Philip learned all
over again meaning of the word “loneliness”
In mid October, a miracle occurred. Suddenly, Philip heard the high, clear call of a bird. He turned his
head and looked to the sky. What he saw made his eyes fill with tears, tears of joy. It was the Lost
Princess.
At once Philip thought of Fritha. He knew that she must be told. So the next day, when he went to
Chelmbury for some supplies, Philip met a postman and left a message which sounds “Tell Frith who
lived in the Fisherman’s Folk at the Wickaeldroth that the Lost Princess has returned”

Philip : Could you please send this message?

Postman : To where, sir?
Philip : Fritha, at the Fisherman’s Folks at Wickaeldroth
Postman : Wickaeldroth, sir?
Philip : Yes, and thank you
Postman : Okay, sir

Three days later, Fritha come to the lighthouse. She was taller. She stood at the door, her hair blown by
the wind.
The years passed by. The snow goose came and went. While the goose was at the lighthouse, Fritha often
visited Philip. She learned many things from Philip. He taught her everything about wild birds.
Sometimes, she cooked for him.
But when the snow goose left in the summer. Fritha did not come to the lighthouse. For some reason she
did not feel that she could visit Philip when the bird was not there.
In the Spring of 1940 the birds migrated from the marshland, they were afraid of the whine and roars of
the German’s bombers. The first day of May, Fritha and Philip stood shoulder to shoulder on the sea wall
and watched the snow goose. They thought that the bird is going to fly away. But after circling a few
times, she landed back to the marshland.
Fritha : “She’ll stay. The princess is going to stay”
Philip : “Yes. She’ll stay. She’ll never fly away again. The Lost Princess is not lost now. This is her home
and she decided to stay”
As he said these words, Philip thought: “Fritha is like the snow goose. She, too, will be staying at the
lighthouse”. She was a young woman now. Turning and looking at her, he knew that he loved her. But the
words he wanted to say were locked in his heart. He just smiled as if nothing had happened inside him.
Fritha saw a gentle, sad smile in his face. This made her feel unhappy. She did not know what to say.
Fritha : “I must go. I’m glad that the princess is going to stay. Now you’ll not be so lonely. Goodbye”
Fritha did not come to the lighthouse for three weeks. One day, she wanted to know whether the snow
goose was really staying. Evening coming on, she came to the lighthouse. She saw a yellow light at the
place where Philip kept his boat. She hurried down the river. The boat was moving gently from side to
side. Philip was putting drinking water, food, clothes and another sail into the boat.
Fritha : “Philip! Are you going away?”
Philip : “Fritha, I’m pleased you’ve come, yes I must go away”
Fritha : “But where you must go?”
Philip : “I must go to Dunkirk, it’s a hundred miles across the channel, A British army was trapped in a
beach, under constant fire from German’s army, the port was in flame and their position hopeless. On the
radio, the government in London asked for those who owned boats to cross the channel. It wanted them to
bring back as many soldiers as possible from the beaches, bringing them to the Transport and Destroyer
ships which couldn’t reach the shallow waters.
Fritha : “Philip, must you go? You won’t come back!”
Philip : “The soldiers, are like the birds we have cared for. Many of them are wounded like the Lost
Princess, Fritha. For once, I can be a man and play my part”
Fritha : “Then, I’ll come with you!”
Philip : “Fritha, if you come you’ll cause a soldier to be left behind, and another, and another. I must go
alone. Good bye. Will you look after the birds until I return, Frith?
Fritha : “I will take care of the birds. Godspeed, Philip”
It was night now, in the moonlight, she watched the boat sail out to the sea, suddenly there was a sound of
beating wings in the darkness behind her. As she looked up, she could see the snow goose flying into the
night sky.
Fritha : “Watch after Philip, princess”
Fritha whispered to the snow goose and then the snow goose flew out to the sea after the little boat.
Across the channel, Philip sail his boat towards the beach of Dunkirk but too bad a machine gun bullet hit
him and killed Philip instantly, following the death of Philip, the snow goose fly above Philip’s boat,
circling three times just like giving Philip a salute and fly to the west. Back to the lighthouse.
The rescued british soldiers are sheltered in the British Destroyer ships. The legend of the snow goose
spread among these soldiers
Soldier A : “Hey, did you heard a legend about the snow goose?”
Soldier B : “Yes, it flew above a small boat”
Soldier A : “You know it?”
Soldier B : “Yes, the snow goose flew above a small boat whom its owner was killed by machine gun
bullet”
Soldier A : “And then?”
Soldier B : “The snow goose flew above the men, circling its dead body three times just like giving a
salute and flew to the west”
Soldier A: “ Its odd that there’s a tame goose in a beach like this”

One evening, as Fritha was standing by the lighthouse, she heard the call of the snow goose. She ran to
the sea and looked up the sky. When she saw the snow goose, she looked down the river toward the sea.
There was no little sailing boat. The snow goose was alone. At that moment Fritha knew that she would
never see Philip again.
Tears filled her eyes. As she watched the snow goose, she thought that she could hear Philip’s voice
calling to her: “Fritha my love. Goodbye, my love”

Fritha : “I love you, Philip”

Fritha said aloud to herself.

For a minute Fritha thought that the snow goose was going to land on the marshland. But, after coming
down very low, she flew up again into the sky. She circled the lighthouse once and then climbed higher
into the sky. As Fritha watched the snow goose, she did not see it as a bird. She saw it as the soul of
Philip, coming to say goodbye before disappearing forever.
She stretched her arms up into the sky, crying: “ Goodbye, Philip! Goodbye!”