The Cock and the Pearl

Master Rooster strutted up and down the farmyard with his chest stuck out and his red comb high. Up and down he went, in and out among the hens. Then he stopped. Something was shining in the straw.

"Ho! Ho!" he crowed. "That's for me!"

He kicked the straw to the left and he kicked it to the right. He dug and he rooted and sent it flying all over the yard, while the hens stretched their necks to see. Out rolled a small round thing, as pale as the moon. It was a pearl. Someone had lost it in the yard long ago, and there it had lain ever since.

Master Rooster gave it a peck. Tap! He gave it another. Tap! It was as hard as a stone. He looked at it for a while with his head on one side.

"You may be a treasure," he said, lifting his beak, "to men who care for such things. But as for me, I would rather have one barleycorn than a whole peck of pearls."

He turned his tail on it and strutted away.