A Man and his Wife had the good fortune to possess a Goose which laid
a Golden Egg every day. Lucky though they were, they soon began to
think they were not getting rich fast enough, and, imagining the bird
must be made of gold inside, they decided to kill it in order to
secure the whole store of precious metal at once. But when they cut it
open they found it was just like any other goose. Thus, they neither
got rich all at once, as they had hoped, nor enjoyed any longer the
daily addition to their wealth.

Much wants more and loses all.




THE CAT AND THE MICE


There was once a house that was overrun with Mice. A Cat heard of
this, and said to herself, "That's the place for me," and off she went
and took up her quarters in the house, and caught the Mice one by one
and ate them. At last the Mice could stand it no longer, and they
determined to take to their holes and stay there. "That's awkward,"
said the Cat to herself: "the only thing to do is to coax them out by
a trick." So she considered a while, and then climbed up the wall and
let herself hang down by her hind legs from a peg, and pretended to
be dead. By and by a Mouse peeped out and saw the Cat hanging there.
"Aha!" it cried, "you're very clever, madam, no doubt: but you may
turn yourself into a bag of meal hanging there, if you like, yet you