The chicken that lays the golden eggs

It was once a childless couple living in a small town inland. They were known to be very greedy and never satisfied with anything. If it was sunny, they complained about the heat; If it was cold and rain complained of living in a place where they could not even leave the house …
Besides, they were capable of everything for a gold coin!

One day, a playful goblin who was passing by listened to what was said in the city about this couple, and decided to prove if everything was said about them.

On an afternoon when her husband came from the wood-laden forest, the goblin appeared to him from within a tree trunk and said to him, “Hello, good man! Do you feel well? You look tired and sad … Are you hungry or sick?

The man, somewhat frightened by the presence of the goblin, replied, “No … I’m not sick or tired, and I’m not hungry either … nothing bad happens to me. I’m just sad because my wife and I are poor and we can not have many good things as we would like to have …

Then the goblin replied, “If you are not hungry or cold or ill, then rejoice because you are not poor!”
But the man insisted, “Yes, I am. A man who has no gold is poor! ”

The goblin laughed and said, “Look, you’re mistaken. If I want, I can have all the gold in the world, because I am a goblin and I know where all the treasures are hidden. But what I lack is the light of day, to have something to eat and a warm house where I can sleep peacefully. Besides, I need to be healthy and strong so I can walk and enjoy everything that surrounds me. And as I have all this I am very rich and happy!

“Disparate!” Said the man, and insisted, “Being poor means that you do not have gold. And since I do not have gold, I can not be happy. ”

“I’m sorry for you, man,” said the sprite, “and that you may be happy as you think you should be, I will give you a chicken that will lay a golden egg every day. You just have to wait and collect an egg every day. It will not take long, you will have all the gold you have always wanted, and you and your wife will be happy forever. ”

From the trunk where the goblin stood, a chicken came clucking happily. The man, shocked, put it quickly under his arm and ran down the slope straight down the house, while the elf laughed out loud.
As soon as he went into the house he showed his wife the chicken and told him everything that had happened.

Husband and wife stayed all night waiting for the chicken to put the much desired golden egg. Early in the morning the hen began to cluck, and shortly after, a huge, bright golden egg appeared beneath it!

When they saw the egg, the couple became radiant, but a few minutes later the woman commented, “What a bummer … we’ll have to wait until tomorrow to have another golden egg!” To which the husband replied: “Well … it’s bad luck. It will take many weeks before we have enough eggs to be the richest in town. That must be why the goblin laughed when he gave me the chicken. ”

Then the woman remembered: “I have always heard that the chickens already have all the eggs they will put inside them … If this is true, why do not we kill the chicken and take all the golden eggs at once? We’ll be a lot smarter than the goblin thinks! ”

The man agreed, and without hesitation, they took the poor hen and opened it so they could take out all the eggs.
But what was not the astonishment of the couple to see that inside the chicken there was no golden egg …
Husband and wife began to curse and weep, mourning for their fate, for out of greed they had lost forever the hen of golden eggs.

Peering out the window, the goblin laughed and shook his head, thinking that true happiness is not in having or not having gold but is in the heart of each one.