Story: A Greedy Farmer

Easy Version

Once / Once upon a time, there lived a poor farmer in a village. He had a wonderful goose. It was a magic goose. It used to lay a golden egg every day. The farmer sold it in the market at a good price. Within a short time he became quite solvent. But he was not happy. He became very greedy and wanted to be very rich overnight. He dreamt of living in a large palace like a king. He became too impatient to wait for an egg every day. He said to himself, “Surely, there are a good number of eggs in its stomach. So, there is no use of getting one egg every day. I can get all the eggs by cutting the belly of the goose.” Thus, he planned to cut the belly of the goose open to have all the eggs at a time. Then he told his wife about his plan. But his wife was wise. She was not so greedy as he was. She said to her husband, “Be happy with what we have.” She also reminded her husband of the wise proverb, “Grasp all, lose all.” But the farmer did not give ear to her advice. On the contrary, he said to her, “No risk, no gain.” However, one day in the absence of his wife, he killed the magic goose with a sharp knife and cut its belly open. But alas! there was no egg inside. The goose died. The farmer went mad with grief. Thus it is for his greed that he lost his useful and wonderful goose and became poor again within a few days. So, we should not be greedy. We should remember that greed leads to destruction.

Medium Version

Once upon a time, there lived a poor farmer in a small village. He owned a magic goose that laid a golden egg every day. The farmer sold the eggs at the market for a handsome price, and within a short time, he became quite prosperous. Yet, he remained unsatisfied. Driven by greed, he wanted to become immensely wealthy overnight and dreamt of living in a palace like a king. Growing too impatient to wait for a single egg each day, he said to himself, 'Surely there are many eggs inside its stomach. Getting one egg a day is useless when I can have them all at once by cutting open the goose.' He shared the plan with his wife, but she was wise and far less greedy. 'Be happy with what we have,' she urged, reminding him of the proverb, 'Grasp all, lose all.' The farmer turned a deaf ear to her advice, declaring, 'No risk, no gain.' One day, in his wife's absence, he killed the magic goose with a sharp knife and cut its belly open. To his horror, there was not a single egg inside. The goose died, and the farmer was left heartbroken. Through his own greed, he lost his wonderful bird and returned to poverty within days. Greed leads to destruction.

         

[Moral: Greed leads to destruction. / Grasp all, lose all.]