KILL THE GOOSE THAT LAYS GOLDEN EGGS: Keywords: Wealth Tax, American communism, Rohanna, AOC, Mamdani, Bernie Sanders, DSA Democratic Socialists of America, Blue Tsunami, envy, immigrant entrepreneurs.
For some twenty-six centuries,
Aesop’s “The Goose That Laid Golden Eggs” has been one of his most
famous fables. It illustrates the destructive power of greed and the risks of instant
gratification. Fables are moral lessons taught to children in simple terms
hoping they will remember them as adults when the challenges of every day are
made easy to face with the right guidance. This story has been discussed in
economics, business strategies, and environmental controversies as a warning
against short-term thinking that sacrifices long-term considerations. Immature
children have a natural tendency towards immediate satisfaction. But the story only
highlights the bad influence that greed and impatience can have on the common
sense of any of us. There is more to it.
Aesop’s most common version
follows:
“Once upon a time, a farmer
discovered a wild goose nesting in his pen with all his chickens. She possessed
the most wonderful ability anyone can imagine. Every day when he visited the
nest to feed his chickens and collect eggs, the goose had laid a beautiful,
glittering, golden egg.”
“The farmer took the eggs to
market and sold the golden egg to the jeweler. Soon he began to get rich
selling the eggs. His wife and children were happy with all the new things they
could buy. But it was not long before he grew impatient with the Goose because
she gave him only a single golden egg a day. He was not getting rich fast
enough to buy all the things they wanted.”
“Then one day, after he had
finished counting his money, the idea came to him that he could get all the
golden eggs at once by killing the Goose and cutting it open. But when he did,
not a single golden egg was to be found, and his precious Goose was dead.
“When those who have plenty
want more, they may lose all they have.”
Aesop is likely not author of any
fable with which he is credited. Like many ancient literary figures, such as
Homer, Virgil, and Sophocles, he was writing down the older myths and legends that
had been transmitted orally by storytellers for many centuries before. That
explains why there are many versions of the same story, even appearing in diverse
cultures. The fact that those stories remain current, in print, in movies, and are
imitated frequently by disguised versions prove their value as everlasting
common sense lessons. “The Goose That Laid Golden Eggs” has been found
with several versions; some longer, and others with different endings. The
French author Jean De la Fontaine (1668) included his condensed version in a
collection of fables with a slight change. The marvelous bird that lays golden
eggs is a hen. Much less known is a Medieval story found in the archives of an
old Monastery in the delta of the Donau River.
![]() |
| The delta of the Danube, ancient location of Wallachian and Moldavian Kingdoms Wildlife sanctuary for many migratory fowl, including the endangered Red Breasted Geese |
In 1933, archaeologists working on
an island in Lake Snagov, near Silistea Snogovului, deep in the forests of
Romania, dug out an ancient travelling chest. It was found within the ruins of
a medieval Greek Orthodox monastery. The church had been a royal necropolis in
the twelfth century and an inscription on the chest read “Dragomir Constantin”.
Among the personal possessions found inside the chest was an old leather bound manuscript
in ancient Cyrillic. The writing on most of the parchment pages was legible although
the edges were moldy and crumbling. It has not been determined if Dragomir was
the author of just the owner. The book contained twelve short stories. Only one
has been translated to modern Greek and the following is an English
interpretation.
I-Hina’s Magic
The Siberian geese were coming south as the first
frost began to cover the autumn leaves on the ground. At dawn, the lagoons and
marshes of the mother Donau were invaded by low rhythmic honking and barking
only to be interrupted by the explosions of gray, black, white, and red lifting
to the sky as the sunrise began its daily voyage. They would return at sunset
after foraging the fields. The annual winter migration of red breasted geese
had started. I-Hina did not fly today; she snagged in a snare.
Hidden behind the reeds, I-Hina waited silently, hoping the trapper would miss her. But Vlad was an experienced hunter who knew exactly where he had set his traps. When he reached for her, his sack already had two ducks and a young gander gutted and cleaned. He grabbed her and realized one of her feet was damaged. I-Hina remained quiet and waited to be released from the trap looking at Vlad into his eyes. He took her alive wrapped in a cloth. His family did not need more food right away. He would fatten her for the future.
| A Romanian farm and barn on the Danube delta |
Vlad returned
to his farm and gave his catch to his wife Oana to prepare a meal. He took
I-Hina to a pen in the chicken coop. The next day, he went in to collect eggs,
and he saw the goose calmly nesting with the other birds. After a few days, she
was walking again among the others and returning to the nest she had adopted. On
the seventh day, Vlad discovered she possessed magical power. When he visited
the coop to feed the birds and collect eggs, the goose had laid a beautiful, shiny
egg. Upon inspection, he knew it was pure gold.
Vlad went to
town and sold his treasured egg to the jeweler whom he knew to be a discreet
and honest man. As she did every day, his wife took the eggs to market after
swearing she would not say anything about the goose that laid the golden egg. The
goldsmith was curious and was told the gold was found buried in the field while
plowing. As he exchanged the gold for 30 Grosz coins of King Petru and 16 old
Roman silver denarii by weight, he warned Vlad about making his money too visible.
Their isolated region had been spared by the plague, but there were many
robbers and vagrants roaming around.
![]() |
| A Medieval money-lender/goldsmith business financier |
Before
returning home, Vlad and his wife stopped at the church of Saint Andrei Apostol
to pray and dropped 3 Gz in the almoner’s box. They were grateful for the
blessing received and asked for wisdom. They began to plan how to spend their
new wealth and talked about it for the next few days. Meanwhile, they hid the
small leather sack with the silver under the hearthstone. They had some needs
and many more desires, but could not agree on where to start. Vlad wanted a cow
and a new plow, and Oana wanted new winter clothes for everyone before the end
of the year’s festivities. They talked about a butter churner. The children
were not told about their treasure.
![]() |
| Grosz (Big) silver coins made from the Carpathian silver mines, almost equivalent to the Roman Denarii (one ounce) |
Vlad checked
the coop for eggs each day, but the goose just slept on her nest. Seven days
after the first egg, she honked repeatedly, and Vlad was delighted to find
another golden egg. Vlad and Oana had agreed to save their money and just buy
what they needed. Vlad visited the goldsmith again and gave back 25 of the
original Grosz and the new egg. He decided to keep the Roman coins and some Gz.
The jeweler was incredibly surprised, but he quickly agreed to buy the new egg.
He offered to keep Vlad’s money in safeguard, and to pay him an increase of one
Gz every month for every 100 he kept safe. Vlad accepted and agreed to bring a
golden egg every week, as he knew the goldsmith’s brother was a money lender.
![]() |
| Beautifully preserved Emperor Trajan's silver Denarius made from Carpathian silver mines. Traian (Trajan conquered and colonized the Balcans and Eastern Europe. Romania comes from (Rome) |
Soon his
money was put to use by the miller who bought two new grinding stones; the
baker was able to build a new oven, and the Syrian carpet and silk importer
left on a new buying trip with funds from the moneylender. Unbeknownst to Vlad
and his family, his new wealth was making many others in town better off. The
beneficiaries saw no link between their new expenditures and the humble
farmer’s treasure. Even the mayor was able to buy a new tile roof for his house
with a loan. Soon, all the employees and customers of the businesses would be
enjoying the benefits of the improvements. Vlad and Oana had decided to save as
much as they could to buy more land to farm, but they bought a young cow and
the butter churner.
I-Hina loved
all the attention paid her, not only by the other birds, but also by Vlad, Oana
and the children. She kept laying one egg every seventh day, and the humble
farmer and his family soon began to get rich and save for the future. They
bought the cow, a new iron plow, and festive winter clothing. They were
thinking about buying a wagon. His wife and children were happy with all the
new things they could buy. But one indiscretion from Oana had consequences. It
was not long before the gossip of the market vendors spread the word about the
treasure found in the fields of Vlad’s farm. Oana found many new friends she
had not met before, and Vlad suspected he was being watched when he went to
work on the fields he sowed with winter wheat. He rested when the green of the
germinating plants began to appear.
![]() |
| Historic small Greek Orthodox church in the Romanian lowlands |
The Advent
celebration in the town began with all solemnity. Vlad’s family wore their new festive
clothes and arrived in town on their new decorated wagon pulled by the cow. He
had a new alpine hat adorned with a fancy feather pin crafted by Oana with I-Hina’s
precious red feathers and snowy down. Doina, their oldest child, was becoming a
woman and had braided her hair with pink and white ribbons. The children had
shoes. The congregation noticed.
Vlad and Oana
quietly contributed generously to the offering, and after the mass they were called
by the almoner. He had also heard gossip from his wife and wanted to know more
about the treasure. The old priest had never shown any compassion when they
lost one of their children to the fevers, nor offered any prayers at the
funeral. But Vlad was a good man and gave him another silver Gz for the widows’
fund.
One cool night
before the new year, when the leaves had turned yellow, orange, and red, and
began to fall, I-Hina’s honking and barking agitated all the animals and the
house. Vlad cracked the shutters on a window to see what was happening. He
became frightened, put the last candles out, calmed the others, stoked the fire
out, secured the shutters on the two windows, and barred the door. He whispered
to Oana describing the scene of terror he had seen; ghosts with many torches
moving around the field; shapes stopping and moving again; a few clanging
sounds and muttering. After a long while, everything became quiet again. Nobody
slept in the house. I-Hina quieted down.
At dawn, Vlad
ran to check the chicken coop. It was all quiet, but it was evident there had
been a lot of commotion. I-Hina greeted him as he let them all out after
throwing some grain on the ground. The cow was in her pen, and he let her out
in the pasture. He walked to the field of winter wheat. As he got closer, he
realized what had happened. His crop was destroyed. The field had been dug up,
almost plowed over. There were holes everywhere. It had taken many people to do
that much digging and damage. He was sure they had come to look for more
silver. But his treasure was safe; some at the goldsmith’s brother, some in the
leather pouch for coins under the hearthstone and especially nesting in the
coop. Vlad reported the incident to the mayor, but nothing ever came out of it.
A month after
the incident of ghosts with torches, a captain of the guards of the Voivode of
Wallachia showed up leading a small platoon. Their fort was two days away and
they had a written order to locate the precious mine, confiscate any nuggets or
rocks that had been illegally taken, and take over the land. Everybody knew
that all mineral wealth belongs to the crown since Roman times. Nobody wished
to find gold or silver on his land. The captain had received a report from the
mayor about a treasure find. Thinking quickly, Vlad took the soldiers to where
the ghosts with torches had dug up his field destroying his winter crop. He
explained that the property had been in his family for many generations and
that while plowing he had found an old pouch buried near a tree. It contained a
few old silver coins; some he had already used to pay for his cow and his plow.
He took the captain to his house while the soldiers looked for the mine
inspecting the many holes already opened. There were no rocks or mineral
deposits of any kind; the farm was on the rich alluvial plain of the delta.
Oana sent the
children to play outside, and fed the captain their meal while Vlad moved the
hearthstone and took out the leather pouch with money. Vlad had decided to keep
only the Roman denarius, and he showed the captain the 16 worn and tarnished
silver coins with the image of Emperor Trajan, likely made with silver from the
Carpathian mines. Vlad offered the captain the heaviest coin for having
travelled all the way for nothing, as it was expected he would inform his
superior. He offered to report on the trespassers and the damage to the crops. With
a pretended formality, the captain accepted, but indicated he would be taking 3
more denarii, as the one fifth portion that is taxed by the crown. As the
platoon was leaving, the soldiers caught three chickens for their evening meal.
I-Hina had witnessed all that took place, staying quietly inside the henhouse. She
had just laid the tenth golden egg. Vlad and Oana realized their secret was in
danger, but still felt safe.
February
turned into March. The vernal equinox had passed. Waterfowl had gotten fat feeding
in the harvested fields. As the days grew longer, they began to fly in circles
over the marshes and lagoons, fishing and gorging with the tender new reeds. Their
time to return to their distant nesting homes was approaching. I-Hina knew it.
Doina was
sent to fetch the eggs from the coop. Not knowing anything different, she looked
into all the nests. The shiny egg she found in I-Hina’s caught her attention;
she had never seen any other egg like it. She put it inside her apron pocket,
and finished her chore. She went to the market with her mother, and while Oana
negotiated the eggs, Doina went to look for her friends that had gathered by
the baker’s stand. He had prospered since he built his new oven and the miller
could now provide more and better flour and grist. She proudly showed them the
shiny egg and they passed it around. A girl noted how heavy it was and
accidentally dropped it on the cobbled floor where it got wedged between two
stones; another said it was hard as a rock as she pounded on it trying to take
it out. One of them said it was gold! But, by then it was soiled, banged,
scratched and not as shiny. They asked what it was. Not knowing how to answer,
Donia said her pet goose had laid it that morning. They laughed and did not
believe her. The baker only overheard the word gold and ran to call the mayor.
The girls disbanded.
As Oana and
Doina headed home, back in the town, a tumult of shouting and screaming broke
out in front of the mayor’s house. The baker yelled gold all the way. The
treasure had been found! The children spread the news about the goose with
magic power. The news about gold spread even faster. Those who had dug Vlad’s
field destroying his winter crop were angry. “Where is the gold? Who found
the treasure?” Nobody believed the story of the goose that laid the golden
egg. The vendor that sold their eggs shouted “Witchcraft!”. The priest
testified about the farmer’s suspicious wealth. The seamstress claimed she had
lost the gold jewel and wanted it back. The mayor offered to find the truth and
led the crowd to Vlad’s home. Distant honking followed their path. A tight
wedge of geese cut across the sky; one bird at the point and the rest fanned
out cleanly behind. The migration had started.
The crowd
surrounded the house, the barn, the coop, and the pens. A group of old, black
garbed widows shouted for their share of the gold. A guard went to search for
the goose while the mayor went inside to question the family. When asked about
the egg, Doina took it out of her apron and gave it to the mayor. The soiled,
shiny and scratched rock did not look like an egg, but the mayor had seen gold
before and knew what he had in his hand. He asked the girl about its origin,
and she told the truth. Her parents said they believed her, and they did. The
guard walked in with I-Hina under his arm. She was agitated but calmed down as
soon as she saw Doina. The mayor put the gold rock in his pocket and examined
the goose. She was beautiful with her colorful plumage, but she looked like any
other red breasted goose from the wetlands. The mayor suggested facing the
crowd outside. He was hoping someone would tell the truth about the gold
nugget.
The mayor
ordered the guard to exhibit the goose. She did not look magical to anyone.
Everybody had seen red breasted geese. The mayor repeated Doina’s explanation,
but no one believed it. The crowd began to chant “Where is the gold?”. The
butcher suggested cutting the goose up, getting all the gold out and distribute
it to every household. Doina screamed and kicked the guard as hard as she
could.
I-Hina bit
the guard holding her, and as he let go, she flew as high and as fast as she
could. She made a circle over the screaming crowd and disappeared quickly into
the gray, black, white and red cloud that was honking and barking as the geese flew
back to their nesting grounds. The angry crowd threw rocks and sticks at the fugitive
goose, but it was too late. They turned their anger towards the guard, insulted
the mayor, and threatened Vlad’s family. Someone shouted with joy, “if we
cannot have the golden eggs, neither can you!” Friends of Vlad’s children begrudged their
loss and gloated screaming “now you are as poor as we are”. Even the almoner
had sinful thoughts considering his loss. The mayor ordered everyone to return
to their chores. Many threats were shouted. Once the angry crowd dispersed, Vlad’s
terrorized family went inside their home. From the distance, the goldsmith had
quietly observed the angry mob. He had seen it before and went home but not
before talking to Vlad.
![]() |
| A historic Medieval farm wagon |
The night had
fallen and, in the distance, they could see their farm, house, barn and fields
ablaze. They did not stop. The cow was slowly pulling the cart loaded with the sleeping
children, the few possessions they valued most, and some hens in a cage. Vlad
and Oana walked silently behind. They were grateful to the goose that brought
them fortune, and to the goldsmith for protecting them. He gave them back
enough money to travel and resettle. They also had a letter with his instructions
to a relative that would settle their account in the big town. Much relieved
upon seeing peace return to the village, the mayor went to the goldsmith and
ordered a gold pendant for his wife and a gold signet for himself.
Envy is strongest
in communities where people consider themselves equals and resent anyone who
rises above them. Calls for redistribution are loudest when there is little to share.
Redistribution neither creates wealth nor encourages production; instead, it
discourages investment in the future. Continued poverty is assured. Kindness
only deepens an envious person’s resentment. “For where you have envy and
selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.” – James
3:16
WHY THESE STORIES MATTER
Immigration has many angles. It
is true the United States of America is a country of immigrants, but not a
nation of immigrants. Immigrants come from other nations. It should be a nation of Americans. For more than 300
years, immigrants began to come to this country from many parts of the world. Initially
the many nationalities of Europe were evident. The rest of the world is now
represented. But just their nationalities
do not tell their story. Emma Lazarus’ poem has a better, yet incomplete list: the
liberated from prisons, the exiled, the tired, the poor, the wretched refuse,
the homeless and the huddled masses yearning to breathe free. She was born in
New York in 1839, a descendant of Sephardic Jews that in colonial times had finally
settled in America’s New Amsterdam after their exile from the Spanish Inquisition
and the many European wars on religion. Lady Liberty, on whose pedestal Emma
Lazarus’ poem greets the travelers entering New York harbor, only promises
liberty, not wealth. Liberty is freedom of action and choice between the limits
of the law. Lady Liberty holds the book of law in her left hand. What she promises
is opportunity: the American Dream.
In
the economic system that is just an extension, or an expression, of our natural
liberty, the force that creates the opportunities available to the others in Lazarus’
list is the foresight and risk taking that entrepreneurs provide. They have come to "breathe free".Their wealth
in our system can only result by people voluntarily and happily giving their money
to them in exchange for a benefit they valued more.
I
don’t know of any American billionaire or multi-millionaire that made his
wealth by being crooks. There may be some. Every other wealthy entrepreneur that has
made his wealth, has benefited in the process all those that bought his product or service, and
also his partners and investors including pension funds, and his employees and their families. In
the old days, Scottish Andrew Carnegie (US Steel) and Serbian Nicola Tesla (AC
current all over the world, Westinghouse/GE) can be mentioned. But the current
list is amazing. Take a seat and count your blessings. They have changed and
improved your life.
NVIDIA — Jensen Huang — Taiwan; Google (Alphabet) — Sergey Brin — Soviet Union/Russia; Tesla/SpaceX — Elon Musk — South Africa; Procter & Gamble (P&G) — William Procter; James Gamble — England and Ireland; Uber — Garrett Camp — Canada; Intel — Andrew Grove — Hungary; AT&T (Bell System origins) — Alexander Graham Bell — Scotland; Pfizer — Charles Pfizer — Germany; DoorDash — Tony Xu — China; PayPal — Peter Thiel; Max Levchin — Germany and Ukraine; Kraft (Kraft Heinz legacy) — James L. Kraft — Canada; Moderna — Noubar Afeyan — Lebanon; Stripe — Patrick Collison; John Collison — Ireland; eBay — Pierre Omidyar — France; Cloudflare — Michelle Zatlyn — Canada; Zoom — Eric Yuan — China; Robinhood — Vlad Tenev — Bulgaria; Instacart— Apoorva Mehta — India; Levi’s — Levi Strauss — Germany; Etsy — Rob Kalin — Canada; Duolingo — Luis von Ahn — Guatemala; Dropbox — Arash Ferdowsi — Iran; Chobani — Hamdi Ulukaya — Turkey; Panda Express — Andrew Cherng; Peggy Cherng — China and Myanmar; Goya Foods — Unanue family — Spain; YouTube — Jawed Karim; Steve Chen — Germany; Taiwan; Oscar Mayer — Oscar F. Mayer — Germany; etc…etc…etc…etc…
Notice that almost every
country mentioned as the place where they escaped from is ruled by a communist,
a socialist, or a totalitarian regime (I include Canada, England, France,
Germany and Spain as socialist).
A National Foundation for
American Policy (NFAP) policy brief reported immigrants founded 55% of U.S.
startup companies valued at $1 billion+ in their dataset. Immigrants are more
likely to have earned a U.S. patent than U.S.-Born Americans. Nearly 46% of
2026 Fortune 500 companies (229 companies) were founded by immigrants or their
children.
Why do so many Americans want
to kill the geese that lay golden eggs?
Today, many people,
particularly young first time voters, recent immigrants, or first-generation
Americans should be having buyer’s remorse. You were duped! You have gone by the way of the first fable.
BOOK TO EXPAND ON THIS TOPIC:
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A treatise on communism, its roots and its current status around the world. Provides all the answers needed to the current questions about the new rise of communism in the United States. Chapters on the totalitarian roots of radical Islam and the current situation in China. Marxism is dead, but not buried yet. The last holdout of Marxist devotees are the formerly respectable American colleges. Guess where the daughter of Xi is going to school: Harvard. Guess where DEI spread from: Harvard.






















