Library:The Hen with Golden Eggs

V, 13

A grasping miser looses all again;

I seek no further proof to make it plain

Than what the fable of his Hen has told,

A Hen that daily laid an egg of gold.

He thought her body did a treasure hold,

So killed her, opened her, but did not find

That she was different from the common kind,

And lost the source from which he riches drew.

A lesson, misers, this is for you.

In days of late we've seen, and not a few,

Beggars become 'twixt morn and noon.

In seeking to be rich too soon.