Fables of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists/Fable CCXLVII
Fab. CCXLVII.
A Hen and Golden Eggs.
A Certain Good VVoman had a Hen, that Laid her Golden Eggs, which could not be, she thought, without a Mine in the Belly of her. Upon This Presumption she Cut her up to Search: ie Hidden Treasure: But upon the Dissection found her just like Other Hens, and that the Hope of Getting more had betray'd her to the Loss of what she had in Possession.
The MORAL.
REFLEXION.
THEY that would still have more and more, can never have Enough; No, Not if a Miracle should Interpose to Gratify their Avarice; for it makes Men Unthankful to the Highest Degree, not only in General, for the Benefits they Receive, bur in particular also to the very Benefactors Themselves. If the Nearest Friead a Covetous Man has in the World, had really a Mine in his Guts, he'd Rip him up to Find it: For his Bus’ness is to make the Most of what he has, and of what he can get, without any regard to the Course of Providence, or of Nature: And what's the End of All These Unreasonable Desires, but Loss, Sorrow, and Disappointment? The True Intent of This Fable is to Possess us with a Just Sense of the Vanity and Folly of these Craving Appetites. If the Woman could have been Contented with Golden Eggs, the might have kept That Revenue on slill; but when Nothing less then the Mine it self would serve her, she lost Hen, Eggs and all.