The Boy & The Eggs

A boy walked to the market with a basket full of lovely eggs to sell. He was very hungry and sat down under the shade of a tree to rest a while. He started daydreaming of the money once he sold his goods. If he got ten cents for an egg he would soon have enough money to buy a hen. If all went well the hen would soon lay him some eggs and once they hatched he would sell the hen and all of her splendid chicks to buy himself a goat or two. The goats would graze on his mother’s lawn and soon he would see them multiplying and would then quickly exchange them for a beautiful cow with long and slender horns. If he had a cow how rich he would be, he said happily and danced around all over the place. If he had a wonderful cow, he thought as he danced happily all about, he would…just then he dropped the basket full of eggs and they all broke and went to spoil on the hard ground below. Now he had no eggs and nothing left to sell. He would never be rich this way. It was the bad thoughts of becoming rich quickly that had led to this. What would he do if he was richer than all of his friends? Surely he would have no friends at all. It was far better being poor and still having all your friends and loved ones nearby. Everything happened for a reason he smiled happily to himself as he returned home at last. He was surely older but wiser for it all it seemed, he said to himself and smiled. Maybe one day he would grow rich and famous after all. 

(The African Story.)