The Cock and the Jewel

The story

Once, on a small farm behind a low wooden fence, the morning air was still cool with the night's dew. A proud red-brown cock led a few hens across the yard, scratching at the straw and loosened earth with his claws. Every so often he gave a short cluck to keep the hens close, for to him a grain of barley, a small bean, or a worm hidden in the soil was always a fine discovery worth celebrating.

As the sun climbed higher and the dew dried away, the cock's claw struck something hard. He stopped, surprised, and scratched harder at the earth around it. Buried in the dirt was a bright, sparkling jewel. In the sunlight it shone with a cold and dazzling light, like a tiny star fallen into the ground. The hens following behind stretched their necks to look, clucking in wonder.

The cock thought to himself that if a jeweler found such a stone, he would surely lift it with delight, polish it carefully, and lay it in a velvet box. If a wealthy person found it, he might set it in a ring or a crown for many eyes to admire. To someone who understood its worth, it might be traded for a great deal of gold.

But the cock tilted his head and studied the jewel for a long moment without any joy on his face. "You may be very precious," he said to it, "and worth much gold to someone who knows how to value you. But in front of me, you cannot fill my stomach, and you cannot feed the hens who follow me. I would rather find one grain of barley than have all the jewels in the world." The hens only tilted their heads at one another, puzzled that the cock was speaking to a shiny stone at all.

With that, the cock left the jewel where it lay and walked to the hay pile at the far end of the yard, scratching again at the ground. Before long he uncovered a few scattered grains and clucked happily, calling the hens over to share. They gathered at once, pecking eagerly and contentedly, and not one of them thought again of the jewel.

By midday the sun stood high overhead, and the jewel still lay glinting quietly in the corner, though no hen cared to look back at it. The cock led his hens slowly away, understanding in his heart that a bright and shining thing is not always a useful one — and that when a stomach is truly hungry, what can be eaten is the real treasure.