Why do we say it?

Southland Times, Issue 21090, 23 May 1930, Page 8

Why do we say it?

“Killing the Goose that Laid the Golden Eggs.” When we hear of anyone who, through greed, has lost a benefactor, or who, through excessive over-charging has lost a good business connection, we may say: “Silly ass! He has killed the goose that laid the golden eggs.” This fault of over-anxiety to take advantage of good fortune has been common all through the ages, and the phrase which so aptly summarises the result of over-reaching has been handed down to us from the mists of pre-historic obscurity in the form of a myth or fable. One can hardly pick up a book of fairy stories—which are, of course, only the ancient myths retold—without coming across the tale of the man to whom the gods gave a goose that laid golden eggs. This gentleman, desiring to "get rich quick,” killed the goose that he might get all the eggs at once. He found, however, that the goose contained no eggs at all. In the old myth the goose typified Mother Earth, who only yields her riches by degrees while she is carefully tended.