The Goose That Laid the Golden Eggs

A poor farmer couple kept a goose at home. One morning, they were astonished to find it had laid a solid golden egg. Overjoyed, they sold the golden egg and, from then on, had a little more to live on each day.

Every morning, the goose laid exactly one golden egg — never more, never less. Over the following months, the couple grew steadily better off, but they also grew impatient to become rich much faster.

"If this goose can lay a golden egg every day, her belly must be full of gold," the farmer thought. He decided to cut her open and take all the gold out at once.

But when they cut the goose open, they found no gold inside at all — just ordinary flesh, like any other goose. Worse still, their goose was now dead, and there would never be another golden egg again.

The couple deeply regretted how their greed and haste had cost them something truly valuable. From then on, they lived simply, and learned to be content with what they had.