La Cupidité Aveugle, Mais La Prospérité Grimpe

Collecting his traps from the local pond, it upset him that'd they kept getting stolen, tossed on the banksides, and having their catches pilfered. Even placing them immediately after dusk to retrieve before sunrise wasn't helping.

Before heading home, one last trap needed retrieval. Reaching its location, he discovered it was washed up, but with a better catch than he could've hoped for. Sighing a breath of relief, he returned home happily.

"Any luck t'day, Gaspar?"

"The best ever, Élodie."

"Bluegills, bass, catfish, or crawdads?"

"Goose," he presented the water fowl.

"Oh my!" She gasped. "Clip its feathers, I'll prepare some vegetables for a stew tamarrah."

"Sure ting." Sitting in their rocking chair with the goose on his lap and shears in hand he clipped away until something heavy landed on his lap. "Huh, I tink she's a hen."

"What makes you say that?"

Reaching underneath the goose, he pulled out something heavy, "Cause she just laid an e- holy sheeit!" It was stunningly beautiful.

"Is that," Élodie tapped it, "solid gold?"

"Even if it's not, it's still worth its weight."

"What should we do now?"

"Simple," placing the goose down he went to the kitchen, "we extract her gold reserves," he brandished a knife.

Slapping Gaspar before removing the knife from his hands, Élodie chastised him. "Do ya' think she's just filled with eggs? No! Like any hen, she needs time to lay them. If you want an omelet you break a few eggs, not the chicken!"

Rubbing his cheek, he came to his senses, "Well, what daya' propose?"

"A hen can lay eggs, but a brood can lay more, especially if-"

"She has brood! Eureka! You're a genius, Élodie."

"You know what they say, Gaspar. 'A cow needs a bull as a mare needs a stallion.'"

"So, a hen needs a cock!"

"Precisely, now go lay more traps! Get a gander for her so we can start a gander!"

When Gaspar returned the hen had a mate for life. Though it took a few months, their place was chirping with hatchlings. The hens laid eggs, and the ganders passed on the trait to their chicks too.

It wasn't a mine, but they struck gold.

Thavien's Token:

This idea about "The Goose & the Golden Egg" was living rent free in my head for days. L.C. Schäfer's "Fucked Up Fairytales - An Unofficial Challenge" gave me the perfect opportunity to evict it.

Peace.