The Goose Queen

Long ago, there lived a great Goose Queen. She was a wise and fair queen, always gentle and kind to her subjects and ruthless to her enemies. Her Honkwing-granted power was charisma. She always knew what to say and how to say it, and this made her a wonderful ruler. Her name was Swiftgoose.

Almost as long as there have been geese, there have been those who oppose our noble rule. Individual fowlshamers and their groups never last long. Fowlshamers are forgotten to history. Geese are remembered. Still, an anti-goose sentiment lingered in the back of many misguided youths' minds.

At the outer reaches of the Goose Kingdom, where the influence of the Great Honkwing was still spreading, a movement grew. They wore the badge of fowlshamer, like so many had before, and considered themselves independent. Individuals, characterized by their stubbornness, their refusal to accept change, a misplaced pride in themselves. They thought that to submit to the geese was to become one of many and to lose their individuality. They were wrong.

Swiftgoose was a caring queen, despite her rightful hostility to fowlshamers, and she was concerned about goslings toward the edges of the geese's domain. Many were still reluctant to pledge full loyalty to the geese, scared that the geese would become oppressive or cruel to them simply because they were not born geese.

The queen traveled to the place where the uprising was starting to form. Most geese bowed to her, thanked her for her noble work, and treated her like a rightful ruler. But the small group of fowl who desired to leave the geese behind did not.

Swiftgoose noticed these rebels and approached them. Her advisors warned against it, saying that they were dangerous and could be looking to harm her. She did not listen. The monarch knew what she had to do.

As the queen approached, the rebels shrunk back. Her intimidating and powerful presence sent a message to any fowlshamer who dared to listen: "Stay back.  You are wrong." The thought of being misguided scared the young members of this organization, so they did not listen. Their leader stepped forward, a challenging expression on her face.

"Stay back," Swiftgoose said calmly. "I do not mean to harm you."

The rebels did as they were told.

"I know that the thought of being wrong scares you.  I know that you think there is no going back, that once you commit to being a fowlshamer, you must stay that way for your life, or you are weak.  But do not think this way.  I once thought that to pledge yourself to the geese was to lose your individuality, to become one of many.  You want to fight for a cause, and you think the best way to prove yourself and to stand out is to fight for the fowlshamers.

But it is not. All fowlshaming revolts die out, and they are forgotten as the geese reign fair and true. We have ruled for centuries now under the will of the Great Honkwing. Honkwing gives the geese strength, safety, and loyalty. He gives loyal geese these powers so that they can fight for the fowl. Don't let misplaced pride stand in the way of really making a difference in the world.

You cannot build an identity on opposition to an idea, on negativity and anger. You will never be more than the geese because you've decided all you will ever be is someone who opposes them. You will become so much more if you choose to work with us and build upon the strong foundation we have created.'

The young 'fowlshamers' were enthralled by the gracefully spoken Swiftgoose. They lay down their anti-goose propaganda, and then something strange and mysterious happened. The leader of the once-rebellious goslings, Sparkgoose, touched the sign with her webbed foot, and it burst into flames, the fowlshaming ideas burning up with it.

Sparkgoose and her friends eventually joined the Royal Goose Council. When Sparkgoose had served for years and Swiftgoose was ready to retire to Gooseparadise, Sparkgoose received a dream from The Granter of Goose Powers and Maryest of Sues, the Great Goddess of Perfection, Messenger to sparkleFur, Most Powerful Advisor of the Sue Council, and all-around lovely Laurelcloud. It told her to go to La Moñtana de Los Geese to receive her Honkwing-given power.

When she came down, a shower of sparks came with her. Sparkgoose had the power to control fire, and with it came an ever-burning flame of strong leadership and wisdom, which she used to bring the fowlshamers over to her side. Today, Sparkgoose is remembered as one of the greatest Leadergeese of all time, and not as a petty rebel whose name barely made the footnotes of the Goosehistorybooks.