Aesop's Fable 87: The Goose that Laid the Golden Eggs

There was once a man who had a marvelous goose that laid golden eggs. Each and every day, without fail, the goose laid an egg that was made of solid gold. You would think the owner of the goose would consider himself very lucky, but one golden egg each day was not enough to satisfy the man. He wanted to have even more gold without waiting for the eggs!

"If the goose is able to lay these golden eggs," he said, "then the inside of the goose is probably filled with gold. I will cut open the goose and get all the gold at once!" The greedy man then grabbed an axe and cut the goose in half. Much to his surprise, the goose was just like any other goose inside; there was no gold.

"Woe is me!" the man exclaimed. "Instead of being satisfied with my good fortune, I have now lost everything."

The moral of the story is that you should not be greedy. If you try to get more, you may end up with even less than you started with.

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(image by Richard Heighway)