The Woman and Her Hen

A Woman possessed a Hen that gave her an egg every day. She often thought with herself how she might obtain two eggs daily instead of one, and at last, to gain her purpose, determined to give the Hen a double allowance of barley. From that day the Hen became fat and sleek, and never once laid another egg.

Covetousness overreach itself.

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The Hen and the Golden Eggs

A Cottager and his wife had a Hen, which laid every day a golden egg.

They supposed that it must contain a great lump of gold in its inside, and killed it in order that they might get it, when, to their surprise, they found that the Hen differed in no respect from their other hens.

The foolish pair, thus hoping to become rich all at once, deprived themselves of the gain of which they were day by day assured.

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The Fisherman and the Little Fish

A Fisherman who lived on the produce of his nets, one day caught a single small fish as the result of his day's labor.

The fish, panting convulsively, thus entreated for his life: "O Sir, what good can I be to you, and how little am I worth! I am not yet come to my full size. Pray spare my life, and put me back into the sea. I shall soon become a large fish, fit for the tables of the rich; and then you can catch me again, and make a handsome profit of me."

The fisherman replied: "I should be a very simple fellow, if I were to forgo my certain gain for an uncertain profit."

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