To say Jeff was down on his luck would have been a misstatement.
He would
have had to have some luck to start
with.
Let’s start
again…
Jeff was in
a bad way.
Better…
He was down
to his last penny. His rent was due on his ramshackle little cottage…
And his
goose, Jenny—who laid him one large egg every morning and was the only reason
he had anything to eat at all—needed feeding.
But there
wasn’t a scrap of food fit for man or goose in the house.
And you
have to know that geese are not at all particular. In fact, they have been
known to eat many things that a more discerning animal (ie. a pig) would turn
their nose up at.
One day,
poor Jeff was sitting on his front stoop, feeling more than a tad dejected at
his circumstances. (see above)
Who’s with
me in thinking Jeff needs to do a little less sitting and lamenting and a little more lagettingupandfindingsomethingconstructivetodo?
Anyways…
He heard
Jenny give her usual morning ‘squawk’, and he got up and went to Jenny’s
nesting box to get his once-a-day egg.
But the egg
sitting there, though it was the correct size and shape, proved to be…inedible.
No amount
of whacking would open it. Boiling did even less to help.
In
consternation, Jeff turned and threw what should have been his breakfast at the
wall.
Just as his
landlord—let’s call him Sam—walked in.
Okay, this
is highly improbable.
I mean, the
guy didn’t even knock.
But I
digress…
The
wretched egg rolled to Sam’s feet and stopped.
Sam blinked
a couple of times, then slowly stooped and picked it up. “Um…Jeff?”
Jeff just
glared at him.
“Where did
you get a lump of gold?”
It was Jeff’s
turn to blink. Gold? The egg was gold? Fortunately, he wasn’t quite as mentally
slow as the beginning of the story would suggest. “Oh, I’ve been saving it,” he
said, casually, reaching for the egg.
“For today!”
Sam said, holding the egg just out of Jeff’s reach.
Jeff looked
at his landlord, his mind working busily. “Well…I couldn’t just hand you a lump
of gold, could I?” he said slowly. “I was about to…go into town and sell it to the…erm…man
that buys gold.”
“I’ll take
you!” Sam said.
Fortunately,
Sam was an honest man and, after the local banker happily changed Jeff’s gold
into filthy lucre, Sam took only what he was owed.
Hey. This is a fairy tale. I'll tell it how I want...
And that
left Jeff with…extra.
Which he
immediately spent on such luxuries as: food.
With a
heaping helping of corn for she-who-had-gotten-him-out-of-this-mess.
Later, Jeff
again was sitting out on his stoop.
But what a
difference from only that morning!
With a full
belly and a month’s lease paid on his lodgings, Jeff was experiencing a new and
strange sensation.
Happiness.
A feeling
that increased exponentially over the next weeks as Jenny daily continued to turn
corn into gold.
So to
speak.
As his wealth
increased, so did Jeff’s holdings.
Soon his
little shack was replaced by a large and fairly grand house.
His larder
was full.
He was able
to hire a housekeeper who cooked and cleaned.
A boy to do
chores.
And a
gardener to, you know, garden.
And,
instead of Shank’s Pony, he had a real horse to ride.
Imagine.
And all of
it due to Jenny.
And her oh-so-special
eggs.
This went
on for some time.
After a
year or so, Jeff started to slide into familiar territory.
Dissatisfaction.
As Jeff’s
wealth grew, so did Jeff’s desires.
No longer
was he satisfied with his three servants and a horse to ride. He wanted a
houseful of servants—he would have to get a bigger house—and more gardens. A
coach. And a bigger closet so he could buy more clothes. And…
I know what
you’re thinking.
‘Jeff, you dumb-dumb! Why are you such an…erm…dumb-dumb?!’
Okay, you’re
probably thinking better and more descriptive terms.
But I wander…
At first,
he just started to, you know, suggest
things to Jenny. Like, “Jen, my girl. Why don’t you lay more than one egg a
day?” – or – “Jen, you have to up your game.”
This moved
on to, “Jen, you silly goose! Lay more eggs, for Pete’s sake!!”
And
finally, “JENNY! DO BETTER!!”
Or
something similar…
But Jenny,
she of the steady work ethic, continued producing one-golden-egg-a-day.
And as Jeff’s
worth continued to rise, so did his dissatisfaction.
One day,
fed up at last with Jenny’s disregard of Jeff’s greed, and thinking he could
just get all the eggs if he overtook fabrication, Jeff went to her and said, “Jenny,
you are failing to grow the production end of our business. And everyone knows
that when production doesn’t keep up with demand, heads roll!”
And that’s
exactly what happened.
Moments
later, Jeff was eagerly cutting open his goose.
I’m sure
you know what he found there. Nothing.
Not one
single golden egg.
Just regular
goose innards.
Jenny had
given him one last gift.
A goose dinner.
What do we
learn from this?
Greed gets goose
guts?
Ewww…
Impatience
is imprudent?...impractical?...injudicious?...irresponsible?...ill-advised?
Better…
And a little
gratitude goes a looong way.
When you get to catch a glimpse into what's been happening in the homes, minds and hearts of me and my sister bloggers, Karen and Marcia!
You've read mine.
Now go and see what they've been doing!
You'll be glad you did!