The Greylag Goose And The Mountain Biker

One great lecture at: http://tastethewind.blogspot.com/2010/12/major-problems-for-mankind.html

52 Stories in 52 Weeks: ## 44 The Greylag Goose And The Mountain Biker (A True Story)

By: Mr. George D. Patnoe, Jr.'s Ambidextrous Brain + Spiritual Mind.

In the year 1979, seventeen greylag geese stood together as one; until one by one, they disappeared from Angel Lake. They had arrived as a flock, but one by one, they slowly flew into to the airless tunnel of the afterlife. But before the era of the greylag goose had totally ended at Angel Lake, the last living goose was in for the surprise of her life.

Nevertheless, for the past 28 years, she had the companionship of the other identical gray feathered greylag geese as her friends at Angel Lake; even though her friends were slowly leaving her more and more alone over the twenty eight years; until that last moment when her all of her feathery greylag geese friends had vanished into the void of memories; into the void of airless and featherless flight.

Memories of hanging out at Angel Lake with the flock were so different than when a goose is all alone. Even though life at Angel Lake is relatively safe from danger; the life of nature, of the wild, is still full of dangerous uncertainties, from other animals, the weather, and humans and their dogs. As a group, there were seventeen pairs of eyes to watch for danger and seventeen pairs of ears to listen for danger. Alone, the greylag goose only possessed her single set of eyes and her ears to watch and listen for danger. But she had learned a lot when she lived with the flock, so she would somehow survive being alone. Being alone, the greylag goose still had a few things to learn. .

Before the moment of being alone, the seventeen had learned to live with the disappearances of each individual goose, as it disappeared from planet earth. With the slow disappearance of each individual of the flock of seventeen, each surviving individual greylag goose learned to increasingly separate themselves from flock of seventeen. With the passing of each individual goose, the other greylag geese learned how to be more of an individual they than could ever know, until that moment when one greylag goose stood alone, as an individual goose. As with many social creatures, the greylag goose somehow realized that she was the last one standing, in her world at Angel Lake. She did not understand where her friends had all disappeared to, she only knew that they were gone, and that she was alone. But life is for the living, so she began to live her life, alone from the flock..

After twenty-eight years of living with its kind, the greylag goose stood alone on the shore of time, between two universes, on the shore of Angel Lake. She could almost hear their squawks calling her over to the other side, but the greylag goose thought she had more to learn, so she ignored their invisible voices. Still living, the one and only lonely greylag goose slowly faced the world as a mad and angry creature because her geese friends were gone, but she kept up her normal habits of eating grass, swimming in the lake, begging for bread from humans.

What to do, except bicker, bicker, bicker by quacking, quacking, quacking for life; but she was mostly silent, reflecting Angel Lake’s silence. Still, bickering at dogs or bickering at the Canadian geese, or bickering at the hundreds of humans who would walk pass it everyday helped pass the time away. So there it was, her world was unchanged, but it was also different now. She learned how to chomp on grass alone, to swim alone, to watch people alone, to dodge dogs alone, to sit in the rain alone, to sit in the cold ocean winds alone. The greylag goose was forced to feel a part of her soul that she had never felt before. She felt the change of living in a flock to living alone even though she was free to fly anyplace she desired; free as an individual goose. Her soul was free to travel anyway in the world now, away from the flock. But instead, she stayed home, at Angel Lake.

Angel Lake has creatures of many qualities and abilities. Some animals like squirrels can only walked on the ground, while fishes can only swim in the water, while many creatures, like dragonflies can only fly with their wings from here to there. Many birds fly in the sky, floating around in circles as if they are clouds with wings. But the lucky greylag goose was able to walk on earth, or to float and swim on the waters of Angel Lake, or it could fly high in the sky with the grace of a ballet dancer.

Instead, the greylag goose, old for her years, became a zen master goose. Sitting still, she looked into the timelessness of Angel Lake, and she saw the nature of eternal life without knowing it. The greylag goose began to wonder about life away from the flock more and more. What did it mean to be an individual greylag goose? Do these human know anything about life? Why do they not sit still and listen to their own soul and that Cosmic Soul of the Universe talk to them?

She learned to sit still, watching the world pass by her with its varied ducks, geese, squirrels, cats and dogs of all shapes and sizes, which applied to people too! Along with the changing weather patterns. She would watch the sun rise in the morning and then watch the colorful orange and yellow and sometimes blue sunsets at night, until darkness covered the earth, exposing the stars above. She noticed the stars high in the sky and she wondered what they were all about, maybe somehow realizing that other worlds were far away from planet earth.

And then there was the white aircrafts in the sky, with their long streaks of white tails crossing the sky. ‘What could those be?’ wondered the greylag goose. And during the summer months, the flocks of people would gather around the picnic tables. The greylag goose would watch them start their fires, and then she would smell the oddest of smells which only made her more curious than ever. And those sailboats in the water, she noticed the people on them and she ponder to herself, ‘I am lucky because I do not need a sailboat to float on the water.’ And then, she would hear the varied cultural music that roared from the music boxes. Sometimes, the music was to loud and so unbearable that the greylag goose simply slipped into the water to paddle over to the island in the middle of the lake.

The island was off limits to people, except the park rangers who needed to watch over the island’s inhabitants and care for them whenever they needed to. Away from the crowds of uncaring and noisy people, the greylag goose would find refuge from the chaotic human partying on the island. Alone on an island was better than hanging out with a bunch of partying humans. But as darkness covered the land, the people disappeared, and so did their noise and smells. In the night’s darkness, sitting still all night long in that darkness, on an island, the greylag goose became a creature of the night’s darkness, but also of its dreams; where she would feel her soul enlarge into new realms of memories, until the sun arose for another day of physical activity. So many memories for a twenty-eight year old greylag goose.

Still, the social greylag goose had no choice but to reach out to the lower feathery creatures like the ducks and Canadian geese for some feathery companionship, but it also began to reach out to the seemingly higher intelligent creatures called humans who walked on two legs. But as they walked passed her by the thousands, most of them just saw a plain and ornery dumb greylag goose. The greylag goose made the correct and safe choice. She reached out to the lower creatures such as ducks and their ducklings, and to the local Canadian geese who already knew her. But she also reached up for bread from the many friendly people who feed bread to the geese and ducks. She wondered about those humans and their usual stale bread or rolls.

But the greylag goose was about to experience a few human delights besides the plain and usually stale bread the unthoughtful people gave her for their personal pleasures. She was about to meet an intelligent creature who knew something about the metaphysical nature of life, of Angel Lake, of communication, and yes; even the life of a mother goose. Most humans believe that only humans can communicate with humans, and the other so-called lower earthly creatures might communicate with each other in a more simplified manner. The greylag goose was about to met a metaphysical human who knows something about the metaphysical nature of communication, even between a human and a mother goose.

The very lucky the greylag goose would meet a human friend who would give more than boring stale bread. This special friend had a way with creatures with wings, seen and unseen. He also knew something about communication; that it comes in different forms for different purposes. When the biker saw the angry greylag goose, he knew that she missed her buddies. He also knew that the greylag goose needed something special to make up for the lost of her sixteen friends.

The biker knew she was angry for many reasons, because she felt alone, that she was old, that she did not knew where her greylag geese buddies had disappeared to. If she was a hundred year old human, people probably would still not treat her with any kind of respect in our throw away society. The biker knew even an old greylag goose needed some special attention.

So in one decisive moment, the human biker friend decided to help the greylag goose by healing it from its loneliness. The biker did not discuss his mission with anyone because he knew how people would not understand why a human would care for an old greylag goose. One afternoon, the biker slowed down his mountain bike to stop next to the greylag goose. He opened the plastic bag of bread and he handed a slice of ordinary bread to the ornery greylag goose just to get acquainted. She snapped her head up to grab the slice of wheat bread with her peak. By that time in her twenty-eight year old life, she had eaten thousands of slices of breads.

But the biker had a few trick up his sleeve to make his bread slices special from all the thousands of other slices of bread. After the greylag goose had finished eating the bread, the biker bent down and he started to whistle a long romantic serenade to the greylag goose. As the biker whistled towards the greylag goose, the greylag goose looked at him with her ears attentive to the sound. She knew that the biker was whistling for it, as the sun was setting behind the lake’s darkening skyline of trees. No human had ever whistled to it before. It was the first of many new memories for the old greylag goose.

That long serenade whistle became a trade mark for the biker. He might whistle on the other side of the lake; and by the time he had arrived at the greylag’s goose’s special spot, people would ask, ‘Does that goose know you; because as soon as she heard your whistle, she stood up on her feet, spread her wings, and she started quacking loudly. The biker would always answer, ‘Sure she knows me. What kind of question is that? We are lake buddies.’ People would walk away from the biker and goose realizing that animals and humans can be friends.

In no time at all, the angry greylag goose tilted its head down and relaxed its eyes as it slowly paused for a musical moment. She had never heard a slow mellowing whistle before, especially a whistle pointed straight at her ears. Of all of the tens and possibly hundreds of thousands of people she had seen during her twenty-eight years at Angel Lake, she had never heard the sound such as the biker’s soft serenade. She feel into a trance, as she seemed at peace for the first time since greylag goose number sixteen had disappeared. As the sky darkened into night, the greylag goose was close to falling asleep when the biker waved goodbye as he peddled away. Maybe she was wondering if the musical moment would ever return to her ears, as the hundreds of people who passed her daily during the summer time.

Of course, the biker would return many times to visit the goose at Angel Lake. Although he did not whistle every time he gave the goose a slice of bread. But one day, before his ride, as the biker was making a couple of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for himself, the biker looked down on the jar of peanut butter and he thought to himself, ‘I bet that goose would love the taste of peanut butter.’ So he stuck a knife into the jar and he pulled it out to cover the slice of bread with a thin cover of peanut butter. When he approached the greylag goose, he started his whistle to get her attention. And what a response did the greylag goose give him. She stood up tall and spread her wings.

The biker stopped and handed the greylag goose the peanut buttered bread slice. He watched as she grabbed the bread, thinking it was exactly like every other boring slice of bread she had been given everyday for the past twenty-eight years. She paused and stood up tall and spread her wings wide again. The biker thought she was showing him a sign of thanks; instead of a defensive maneuver, as some humans would guess. He later learned the goose could communicate in many forms.

The next time the biker visited Angel Lake, he gave the greylag goose a slice of bread with grape jelly on it; just to find out how she would react to grape jelly instead of to peanut butter. Again, the greylag goose showed her appreciation for grape jellied bread; she stood up tall and spread her wings wide. The biker felt happy knowing that he was beginning a special relationship with a seemingly simple and dumb goose. Before he left the lake, he again, whistled the exact serenade for the greylag goose; and for all creatures who enjoyed an angelic tune.

For two weeks, the biker changed the topping of the bread from grape jelly to peanut every other day he visited Angel Lake. He would smile and laugh as the boring people watched him feed the greylag goose because little did they know that he was making a connection with the greylag goose that ordinary humans could never dream of. Such a simple act of making a boring slice of bread come alive with special flavors seemed to be a heavenly treat to the greylag goose.

Little did the biker know how much the greylag goose loved her special treatment and attention he gave to her. A human was actually treating the greylag goose as a higher form of intelligence, instead of dumb simple goose. The greylag goose began watching for the biker more and more from dawn to dusk.

The biker began watching for the greylag goose every time he visited Angel Lake. He began to notice many things about the greylag goose that he had not noticed before. She was in fact a very caring, loving, and interesting creature to observe. People saw only as a bunch of angry feathers that were always hungry for slices of bread. One day, the greylag goose was preoccupied with a new life. She was following a mother duck who was caring for her ducklings as they all floated on the water. The greylag goose, who was much bigger than the duck and her ducklings, looked down at the ducklings, helping them along, guiding them along the water’s edge. When another duck or creature tried to get next to the ducklings, the greylag goose defended them as much as possible.

The biker would look down from his mountain bike as the greylag goose looked down on the ducklings that were not aware of the danger surrounding them; but the greylag goose knew the dangers; in and out of the water. The biker saw a greylag goose who could be compassionate towards other creatures. An angry at times, but a also loving goose beyond the biker’s imagination, even if though the passing people did not realized the whole story of the greylag goose. No one really cared about the goose who reflected qualities of any true grandmother who was almost a hundred years old.

The biker usually wore a yellow vest or jacket to Angel Lake and the greylag goose could spot it no matter how many people were walking in front of him. As soon as the biker was within her sights, she would start to squawk loudly with a quack, quack, quack; quack, quack, quack.

Sometimes the biker would voice a few quacks back at the greylag goose, just to say hello or goodbye to the greylag goose. That would really draw attention from the common people. As soon as the biker stopped next the greylag goose, anyone within speaking distance would ask, ‘Does that goose know you?’ The biker would always smile as he responded with a, ‘Sure she knows me. Isn’t that a funny question.’ The crowds would stare when the biker and the goose would put on a show for them. He would rip off a slice of bread and put it into his mouth. He would bend down and the greylag goose would stick her neck up towards his mouth, grab the ripped off bread without ever nipping his lips or face. People would take pictures when they repeated the show for them to watch.

One very hot summer day, the biker wore only his white tee shirt to Angel Lake. When he approached the greylag goose, she started biting his sneakers. The biker asked himself, ‘Why is she biting my sneakers?’ He could not figure it out. But before he started his bike ride home, he pulled out the yellow vest and put it on. The greylag goose stood up tall and spread her wings. She really loved that yellow vest. Of course, the biker knew that people would not believe the relationship between the greylag goose and the biker, but they should because it is a true story.

All of the park’s visitors who looked upon the human / goose relationship were surprised that a human could relate to a goose or that a goose could relate to a human. Of course those humans only saw a creature with a bunch of feathers and a small brain who only wanted a slice of bread from any human who was friendly enough to hand over a slice of bread to the goose; but they are not smart enough to know that the goose was a multi-dimensional creature who lived in a multi-dimensional universe. How could a two different creatures on earth communicate with each other when one had feathers and the other knew the gift of angel’s wings? In a multi-dimensional universe, multi-dimensional communication is possible!

But the biker also knew something about the metaphysical and scientific law of identity, where the same thing can be the same and yet it can still change into a different form. The biker knew that water could be solid ice, liquid water, or steamy fog; yet it was always water. Well, true intelligence is always intelligence, even if it appears as a true thinking human mind, or a Divine Mind called God, or the mind of a greylag goose who wanted something higher than a slice of bread to feed its soul. The biker knew that there was more to the greylag goose than what meets the human eye or brain.

On an earthly level, all creatures seem to be connected by earth’s gravity, but that does not mean that they are truly connected. In the web of life, sometimes we choose who we are connected to and at other times, we do not choose. The biker choose, because he was guided by the angels to help a lonely goose overcome its loneliness, even if people do not believe in angels or the divine and Infinite Intelligence called God. Those people who are lucky enough to experience angels and the Infinite Intelligence called God know that the seemingly impossible is possible.

The biker knew that he would be buying bread and fruit for the greylag goose because no matter where he had biked around Angel Lake, he was bound to see his goose friend. It was not a burden most of the time, unless he was on a time constraint; but even then, the biker would stop for a few minutes to say, ‘Hi there buddy. What is up today?’ as he handed the greylag goose a slice of bread, give her a pat on her head, or a rub on her wings. So the biker and the greylag goose knew that they shared a few moments at Angel Lake, but a few precious moments were better than no moments at all.

One day, when the town was celebrating its 50th anniversary, a lousy and very loud band was rocking and rolling on the green grass, only twenty feet for the lake’s edge. The biker was a walker that day, to observe the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the town. He was wearing different clothes, nor did he have a slice of bread. He was walking behind the band to avoid its bad choice of noise, when he saw a lady he knew. He asked the lady, ‘Hey, how are you doing?’ and all of a sudden, out from behind the lakes water bushes, came paddling the greylag goose, squawking louder than the band. The lady said, ‘She must know your voice because there is no way she saw you from where she was hiding from the band.’ The biker responded with, ‘Yes, the goose does know my voice as he laughed at the moment.

Just to prove the point further, he reached into his pocket and pulled out an apple. As the lady watch, he sliced the apple into a bit slice for the greylag goose and he put it into his mouth. He bent down and the greylag goose approached him and took the apple out of his mouth. The lady was so impressed that she said, ‘Could you do it again so I can get a picture of the goose taking the apple slice out of your mouth?’ The walker said, ‘Sure, no problem.’ So he repeated sticking apple slices into his mouth as the greylag goose kept grabbing the apple slices out his mouth, over and over again, without ever nipping his lips or touching his face.

During the summer months, the greylag goose and other birds, like ducks, Canadian geese and seagulls, and swans, usually received more attention than they could believe. Her small tummy is only so big, so it would fil up with food fast. But during the threes seasons of autumn, winter, and spring, sometimes the park and Angel Lake would be as empty as the darkest of winter nights. People would be home, staying warm and dry. Summer was the busy time of the year.

But the biker was always prepared for any cold winds and rain by dressing up in wind-proof and waterproof biking clothes so he could peddled around Angel Lake during the fall, winter, and spring seasons. Sometimes the sunshine would disappear in a matter of moments as the rain clouds would show themselves after arriving from the ocean. At other times, the winter rains would drench the ground with so much water, that people would stay away from Angel Lake.

But the rain or puddles did not matter to the waterproof biker. He would peddle his bike to Angel Lake just for the fun of it. He knew that the greylag goose would be standing at or around her special place that she designated as her special place, just waiting for some people action. She had chosen the place between the sidewalk around the lake and the lake itself. This way, she could avoid danger by flying into the water or she could beg for food from unsuspecting strangers. Or she would simply snap her head around and chase either people or dogs away for whatever reason.

One February day , the biker rode over to Angel Lake at St. Valentine’s Day. He was sitting on bench when the greylag goose walked over to him. He was not prepared to feed the greylag goose that day, but she walked over to him anyway, expecting a treat. He did have a peanut butter / chocolate snack in his pocket. He ate it as the greylag goose watched him, but before he finished the snack, he handed the last piece to the greylag goose. He guessed that she had never tasted chocolate and peanut butter before. She snapped it quickly and paused. She stood up tall on her feet and spread her wings. Wow, she was a happy greylag goose on St. Valentine’s Day.

Later on in the season, the biker who is also a runner had some favored sports drink with him. He spilled some of the sports drink on a slice of bread and the greylag goose stood up tall again and spread her wings. She stood up tall again and spread her wings wide. The biker did not make a habit of giving the mother goose favored drinks, but he learned that she enjoyed a clean water because she had learned to drink water out of his water bottle. The biker would hold it up in the air, and he would squeeze the water bottle and the goose would open her mouth for the water. People were amazed at that too.

The biker knew that the mother goose loved new flavors, so one day he tried something new. He had some coffee and he poured an ounce of coffee on a slice of bread before he handed it to her. The greylag goose tasted her special treat and she stared at the bread as she licked it. Standing up in her feet tall and spreading her wings as a sign of thanks.

A few weeks later, he greylag goose was gone from Angel Lake. It was a sad life moment for the biker, so the biker bought some wide yellow ribbon and he wrapped it around the greylag goose’s tree. He took out a black magic marker and he wrote, ‘GOOD BYE GOOSE: A GOOD 30 YEAR LIFE AT ANGEL LAKE.’ He did this so her other people friends would know that the greylag goose was not hiding on the island, but that she too, had disappeared into the silent void.

The day after the biker put the yellow ribbon on her tree, the biker sat on the bench next to the tree and while sitting on the bench, he looked out over the lake’s surface, he notice something different. It was something he had never seen before in all his years at Angel Lake. There were twenty one Canadian geese and all of the smaller ducks such as the pure white ducks and the ‘Chinese ducks’ and even some smaller birds floating on the water, in front of the bench, where the greylag goose called home. They were gathered together as one to say goodbye to the greylag goose.

There was complete silence and all eyes were on the biker, as if his special friendship would make the greylag goose appear from her hiding. The biker realized that the greylag goose’s feathery friends were also missing their buddy, the quacking greylag goose. The biker thought to himself, ‘They are looking for that quacking greylag goose or trying to hear its quack or just saying goodbye to it. But they all know that the greylag goose is gone.'

The biker still rides around Angel Lake and sometimes he can still her squawking to him: QUACK, QUACK, QUACK. QUACK, QUACK, QUACK!


Book By: Konrad Lorenz: The Year Of The Greylag Goose 1979