A terrible drought continued. The villagers watched with increasing fear as the stream that fed their homes with water was drying up. The land couldn’t produce crops any longer. There was less and less water each day. The only solution was to clear the stream by opening a dam that had blocked the flow of water. However, the dam was guarded by a fat gander that ordered to pay a heavy price with food for every drop of water. Due to the lack of it, the inhabitants of the village became poorer and poorer. They had no surplus food to pay the gander. The extended drought made them starve. Finally, they congregated and agreed that they would send their representative to the goose - the wise crane. The villagers brought the last stores. The crane packed it and headed upstream to the dam and the gander sitting on top of it. The goose was already so fat that it didn't have the strength to move. Nevertheless, he constantly demanded more food as a bill for water. Seeing approaching the scrawny crane with a bag on its back, he stood with arms akimbo. 

“What do you want, you fancy having water again? Can't you see there's drought? Less and less water.”

“Dear gander, I have come to ask you for mercy. We need this water because we are starving. We need it no longer for our gardens but for rice fields. We have already learned to live without beauty but we cannot live without food.”

“Because you eat too much. You cannot appreciate what you have.”

“We appreciate every drop.”

“That’s good because due to the extended drought, the price of each drop goes up. I also have to live off something.”

“We are aware of it. The people of our village dubbed up, allocating their supplies to pay for the water. We are only asking you to be kind enough to open the dam for longer so that the water has a chance to reach our rice fields.”

“Show me what your bag is hides inside. I started to be hungry from that conversation about hunger.”

With these words, the goose reached for a juicy fruit from a bowl full of food beside it. She bit it a bit and rejected as unwanted.

The crane swallowed and its stomach rumbled. Slowly he opened the bag and pushed it towards the goose.

“What is that?! You come to me with SUCH claims and you pay with SUCH absolutely nothing!” the goose got angry at the sight of the contents of the bag.

“That's all we have. If you share the water with us, I promise the next fee will be higher. We just ask for more water and more time to pay the next fee.”

“What?! I saw through you, I know your tricks! You want to deceive me and steal my water!”

“After all, water belongs to everyone. Yours is only the dam that blocks its flow.” The crane was irritated.

"Fools, you still don't understand that this dam is for your own good! Otherwise you would have squandered everything. Monitoring the river’s flow is such an important and responsible function that I do not have time to find food for myself. Therefore, for sharing water with you, you share food with me.”

“But without water, there will be no food for you either!”

“I will not allow to be blackmailed! It's your fault! You are not good in managing and you are trying to hold me responsible for your inefficiency. As punishment, I take this food but you will not get water. Take it as a lesson. The fee is very modest for such important knowledge I have passed to you.

The crane slouched. He had to go away with nothing.

Two days after this conversation, a deluge came. The water in the river so high that it smashed the dam. Its stream carried away and sank the goose, due to its fat was unable to rise on its wings. The wave that was crated cause the removal of the river blockage flooded the village.