The Goose With the Golden Eggs
The Goose With the Golden Eggs
Available in the public domain through Gutenberg Project
One day a countryman going to the nest of his Goose found there an egg all yellow and glittering. When he took it up it was as heavy as lead and he was going to throw it away, because he thought a trick had been played upon him. But he took it home on second thoughts, and soon found to his delight that it was an egg of pure gold. Every morning the same thing occurred, and he soon became rich by selling his eggs. As he grew rich he grew greedy; and thinking to get at once all the gold the Goose could give, he killed it and opened it only to find nothing.
Greed oft o’er reaches itself.
Those who have plenty want more and so lose all they have.
Don’t kill the goose that lays the golden egg.
The idiom above means, don’t destroy something which is beneficial.
New words and expressions
- countryman: someone who lives in the country rather than a city or town
- glittering: shining like gold
- lead: a soft heavy gray metal that is poisonous
- trick: ploy, joke, prank
- delight: pleasure, happiness, enjoyment
- pure gold: 100% gold
- occurred: happened, took place
- lay an egg: put an egg
Another version of the story
The Goose That Laid the Golden Eggs
There was once a Countryman who possessed the most wonderful Goose you can imagine, for every day when he visited the nest, the Goose had laid a beautiful, glittering, golden egg.
The Countryman took the eggs to market and soon began to get rich. But it was not long before he grew impatient with the Goose because she gave him only a single golden egg a day. He was not getting rich fast enough.
Then one day, after he had finished counting his money, the idea came to him that he could get all the golden eggs at once by killing the Goose and cutting it open. But when the deed was done, not a single golden egg did he find, and his precious Goose was dead.
The moral of the story is that when you have achieved something, be patient and don’t go too fast, otherwise you can lose everything you deserve or have achieve
Rozita
As you correctly and wisely mentioned, avarice or greed can put us in danger.
Feedback
you deserve or have achieve = you deserve or have achieved
Hello d.r what does (pure gold) means?
Hi Soroosh,
Pure gold means 100% gold, and nothing else mixed with it. As a result, it must be exceptionally precious.
The central theme of this story is that one should be patient with his/her progress and give it a time, and impatience and greediness only make it worse.
Excellent remark!
I can also add that ingratitude and avarice could lead to more accumulated misery and reduce the overall level of one’s happiness in life. We’re advised to note that there’s technically no limit to one’s greed.