Friendly, ever-helpful simpleton Till is his carpenter brothers Paul and Peter's dogsbody and all town's laughing stock. Generously having shared his lunch with an old beggar, actually a sorcerer, he is rewarded with a living golden goose. Till wants to offer it to the ever-sad princess Louise, whose aunt and strict governess Edeltraud wants to marry her off to haughty prince Amandus and dreams of succeeding king Eduard herself, to cheer her up. The greedy town-folk, including the curate, find that anyone who attempt to steal the goose sticks to it, while the bully brothers get their comeuppance in and from the forest.