The Goose With the Golden Eggs

There was once a countryman who had a pet Goose that laid eggs. The man would go to the nest every morning, collect the eggs and sell them at the market place, thus making his daily living.

One morning, a shiny, yellow egg appeared in the nest among the white.

“This is a trick!” said the man on finding the strange egg. He was sure that someone had tried to cheat him. The egg was heavy as lead and hard to crack. He was about to throw it away, but thought again that it might be a very precious metal. “It is gold – I’m rich!” said the man delighted now at his discovery.

The magical pet laid a golden egg of pure gold everyday while the simple countryman grew rich selling the precious eggs he collected. Every morning the same thing occurred, and he soon became rich by selling his eggs.

As he grew rich he grew greedy; He thought, "If I cut up the Goose I will collect all the eggs at once and make my fortune in one swoop.”

And that is exactly what he did, only to find that not only were there no golden eggs in store, but the bird was now dead and unable to lay a single golden egg for him from then on.

Moral

One should learn to be contented instead of pursuing after endless desires.