The Woman and Her Hen

Every morning, the woman went out to the henhouse, and every morning there it was: one warm brown egg.

One day she stood with the egg in her hand and frowned at it. "Why one?" she said. "Why not two?"

She thought about it while she swept, she thought about it while she cooked, and she lay awake and thought about it in the dark. Then she sat up in bed. "Barley!" she said. "One scoop of barley gives me one egg, so two scoops will give me two!"

In the morning she poured out two scoops, and the hen gobbled up every grain. The next morning she poured out two scoops more, and the hen gobbled that up as well.

The hen grew round and sleek. Her feathers shone, and she waddled when she walked.

Every morning, the woman went out to the henhouse and looked in the nest. There were not two eggs. There was not one. The hen, fat and shining, looked up and waited for her barley.