The Geese Who Kept Guard

I ancient Rome, at one time the people were so complacent that they sent their army to fight far away, and left the city itself without defences. Then an invading army of barbarians, called Gauls, attacked the city and captured it. Only a few young men retreated to the rock of the Capitol, where the treasures of the city had been taken, and there they prepared to defend it, until the return of the Roman army.

Many times, the Gauls tried to climb the steep sides of the rock, but they were always driven back and they had to content themselves with laying siege to the Capitol. But, in the end, they found a secret path up the side of the hill, and decided to attack by night.

It was so dark that the Roman sentries did not see them, but the alarm was raised by the geese on the Capitol, which were kept there for sacrificing to the gods. The geese heard the Gauls and began to honk loudly. The Romans awoke, seized their arms, and replied the attack.

Later, when Rome was saved by the returning army, it was decided that the geese should never again be scarified to the gods, in recognition of their services as sentries on the Capitol.