Today’s Excerpt:

There are many stories from around the world. Here is one first told in India over one thousand years ago.

The Story of the Goose With the Golden Feathers: An Ancient Buddhist Folk Tale

“Once upon a time there was a very poor woman, who had two daughters.

A goose that had beautiful golden feathers saw the woman and her daughters. “If I give them one after another of my golden feathers,” the goose thought, “the mother can sell them, and with the money they bring she and her daughters can then live in comfort.”

So the goose flew to the poor woman’s window. Seeing the goose, the woman said, “Why are you here? We have nothing to give you.”

The goose gave her one of its feathers, and then flew away. From time to time it came back, each time leaving another feather. The mother and her daughters sold the beautiful feathers for enough money to begin to live in comfort.

One day the mother had an idea. “Let’s not trust this goose,” she said. “Some day it may fly away and never come back. Then we’ll be poor again. The next time he arrives, let’s pluck all his feathers at once.”

The daughters said, “That will hurt the goose! We won’t do it.”

But the mother was overcome by greed. The next time the golden goose arrived, she grabbed it with both hands, and pulled out every one of its feathers.

Suddenly, the goose’s feathers changed from gold to plain white in the mother’s hands. They were worth nothing.

With that, the goose flew away to his home and never came back again.”

Discuss:

• Can you find wisdom in that story?