Poetry · Chapter
Golden Egg explained
The poem reflects on the ancient fable of the goose that laid golden eggs, then pivots to a modern tale of miners in California who find gold in the craws of hens, celebrating the hen's value in both fable and rural Ontario life.
What happens
The poem reflects on the ancient fable of the goose that laid golden eggs, then pivots to a modern tale of miners in California who find gold in the craws of hens, celebrating the hen's value in both fable and rural Ontario life.
Themes in this chapter
Agriculture and Rural Economy
The poem celebrates the hen as a source of both eggs and gold, linking rural poultry farming to economic fortune.
Moral Lessons and Domestic Virtue
The fable warns against greed and impatience, while the modern tale praises the hen's domestic utility and the miner's reward.
Key passages
“In ancient times we have been told / A goose did lay an egg of gold, / She did produce one every day, / So regular this goose did lay.”
Long ago, a goose laid a golden egg each day without fail.
Introduces the classic fable of the golden goose.
“But her stupid foolish master / Wanted her to lay them faster, / And he at last the goose did kill, / Gold grist no more came to his mill.”
The greedy owner killed the goose trying to get more gold, but then got nothing.
Moral lesson about the folly of greed.
“Then they are slain and you behold / In their craw the shining gold, / Made up of particles so fine, / The purest gold in all the mine.”
When the hens are killed, miners find fine gold particles in their crops.
Describes the California practice of finding gold in hens.
“And in Ontario the hen / Is worthy of the poet's pen, / For she doth well deserve the praise / Bestowed on her for her fine lays.”
The hen in Ontario deserves poetic praise for her excellent egg-laying.
Ends with a tribute to the hen's value in local agriculture.