有一對夫婦非常幸運，他們有一隻每天下一枚金蛋的母鵝。儘管非常幸運，可他們很快就覺得財富增加得還不夠快，不僅如此，他們還以為這隻鵝的內臟肯定也是金的。於是，他們決定殺掉它，這樣就能立刻得到全部珍寶了。然而，他們把鵝開膛破肚之後，卻發現和其它鵝沒什麼兩樣。如此，他們既沒有像當初希望得那樣一夜暴富，也不能再享有財富與日俱增的好運氣了。

【下金蛋的鵝的寓意】人們應該滿足於現有的東西，切不可貪得無厭，“殺雞取卵”是愚蠢的行為。

A Man and his wife had the good fortune to possess a Goose which laid a golden egg every day. Lucky though they were, they soon began to think they were not getting rich fast enough, and imagining the bird must be made of gold inside, they decided to kill it in order to secure the whole store of precious metal at once. But when they cut it open they found it was just like any other goose. Thus, they neither got rich all at once, as they had hoped, nor enjoyed any longer the daily addition to their wealth.