In one of the stories in Aesop’s Fables, a villager and his wife owned a hen that laid a golden egg every day. They presumed that the hen must contain a great lump of gold in its womb, and in order to get the gold, they killed her. Having done so, they found, to their surprise, that the hen was no different than other hens — and that there were no golden eggs.
The pair, thus hoping to become rich all at once, deprived themselves of the gain of which they were assured day by day.
The fable might have been written in ancient Greece, but it could offer lessons in contemporary times as well. In India, a classic example of this age-old adage coming true could be the government’s divestment plan of oil marketing company — Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL).
