One morning, as he did every morning, a farmer went to collect the eggs from his chickens and geese. In the goose's nest, much to his surprise, instead of an ordinary goose egg, he found an egg that was rock hard and very heavy.

"That rotten neighbor of mine," the farmer thought. "He stole my egg, and left a stone in its place." He bent over and grabbed the egg, meaning to throw it back over the fence and maybe through his neighbor's window. But when he picked it up, he noticed that not only was it heavy and hard, it was yellow, and quite shiny. He rushed to the house in great excitement to show it to his wife.

"Look what I found in the goose's nest! Is this what I think it is?" he asked his wife.

"That egg sure looks like it's made of gold!" exclaimed his wife. "I bet it's worth a lot of money."

"Oh boy, what a wonderful goose," said the farmer, and he took the egg to the local goldsmith to find out its value.

"How remarkable! This egg is pure gold," said the goldsmith. "As you can imagine, I'm always looking for gold in my line of work. I'll buy it from you. I can make some lovely jewelry out of it." And he paid the farmer a lot of money for the egg. The farmer bought a new wheelbarrow that he had always wanted and went back to his farm.

Each day the goose laid a golden egg, and each day the farmer would sell the egg to the goldsmith and buy something new. At first, he bought all the things he and his family needed but couldn't afford before. Things like a new plow, better feed for the horses, and new shoes (because their old ones had holes in them). And he and his family were happy. But after a while, he grew greedy.

"I am now one of the richest men in the whole county," he said, "but I do wish the goose would lay more than one egg a day. I've got a lot of things that I want to buy. I simply must have finer and bigger horses for my carriage so that I can go faster. In fact, I want a new carriage, too. And I don't see why I should have to wait."

And his wife said, "I really must have a new dress everyday. Why should I have to wear the same thing more than once when I'm rich?"

And the farmer's son said, "Well, Mom and Dad, I didn't want to mention it before, but I insist on eating steak and lobster and chocolate royal cream pie every day. After all, I'm a growing boy."

So the farmer and his family talked it over. "I know that goose has plenty more golden eggs inside, and I will not wait one more day to get them," said the farmer. "I will kill the goose, open it up, and get all the eggs all at once. That way we can get everything we want right now."

"What a great idea," agreed the farmer's wife and son.

So the farmer killed the goose and opened it up. But you know what he found? The goose was just like any other goose on the inside. (You know, guts and stuff.) He didn't find any golden eggs, not even one.

- From Aesop's Fables.