Fable · 声匠改编 · 3:42
The Goose That Laid the Golden Eggs
A poor farmer's goose lays one golden egg every day. Soon one is not enough, and he hatches a greedy plan. Aesop's fable about greed, retold.
Narrator
Farmer Hob
Martha, Hob's wife
Goldie the GooseOther languages · 2 languages
About this story
The Goose That Laid the Golden Eggs is one of Aesop's Fables, the short moral tales handed down from ancient Greece; some old versions tell it about a hen instead of a goose. In the traditional fable the greedy owner kills the bird, hoping to find a heap of gold inside, and finds nothing. This VoiceSmiths retelling keeps the lesson but spares the goose: Goldie overhears the farmer's plan and flies away for good, in a gentle full-cast audio story.
What it teaches
Greed can make you lose the good things you already have. Be thankful for a gift that keeps coming, and don't throw it away by grabbing for everything at once.
Suits
Ages 4–9
Tips for telling it
- Pause when Hob plans to catch Goldie and ask: is that a good idea? What might happen next?
- Count the golden eggs together each morning, then talk about why one a day was already plenty.
- Ask what Hob could have done instead, and share one thing each of you is thankful for every day.
Questions people ask
- What is the moral of The Goose That Laid the Golden Eggs?
- Greed destroys the very thing that brings good fortune. The owner wants all the gold at once and loses the goose that gave him a golden egg every day.
- What does "killing the goose that lays the golden eggs" mean?
- It means ruining a steady source of money or good things because you want too much, too fast. The saying comes from this fable, in which the owner kills his goose to get at the gold he thinks is inside, and finds none.
- Who wrote The Goose That Laid the Golden Eggs?
- It is one of Aesop's Fables, traditionally credited to Aesop, a storyteller said to have lived in ancient Greece around the sixth century BCE; some early versions have a hen instead of a goose. This version is a VoiceSmiths retelling for ages 4–9 in which the goose flies away instead of being killed.
More Fables
All Fables episodes →The Tortoise and the Hare
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A boastful hare laughs at a slow tortoise, so the tortoise challenges him to a race. The hare naps halfway. An Aesop fable told as a full-cast story.
The Monkeys Who Fished for the Moon
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Little Monkey sees the moon in the well, so the monkeys hang down in a long chain to fish it out. It breaks and comes back, until Grandpa Monkey looks up.
The Fox Who Borrowed the Tiger's Might
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A tiger catches a fox, but the fox claims Heaven made it king of the beasts. Every animal runs, but who are they really afraid of? The idiom hu jia hu wei.
The Milkmaid and Her Pail
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Polly carries her milk to market, planning eggs, chickens and a new dress. Then she tosses her head. The fable behind 'don't count your chickens'.
The Frog at the Bottom of the Well
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A frog thinks the sky is the size of his well, until a great turtle from the Eastern Sea tells him about the ocean. The story behind jing di zhi wa.
The Lion and the Mouse
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A mighty lion spares a tiny mouse and laughs at her promise to repay him. Then hunters catch him in a net. The Aesop fable about small kindnesses, retold.
