There are two kinds of geese: wild geese, which fly in order high in the sky; and domestic geese, which live in villages, clamor, and maintain themselves with their beaks. Geese mark the night watch by repeated cackling; geese thus warned the Romans of the attacking Gauls. Geese can smell the odor of man better than any other animal can.

The goose can signify men who are prudent and look out for their own safety. As the cackling of a goose saved the city of Rome, so the warning voice of a brother warns his community of disruption by the wicked. The sense of smell of geese represents the wise man who knows of other men by their good or bad reputation.

Geese are valued for their livers, considered to be a great delicacy, and for their feathers, especially the down. A medicine can be made by mixing cinnamon with goose fat in a bronze bowl, then covering it with snow and leaving it to steep; what this medicine is used for is not explained.

Hildegard von Bingen says : "A person whose eyes are clouded or painful should take its bile and add twice as much pure wine to it. He should place this in a copper jar and, at night, smear it around his eyes with a feather, so that it even touches the inside of his eyes. If he does this often, they will become clear and healthy, and neither leucoma nor scum nor abscess will easily grow there." (Throop translation)