145. The Poor Man's Pot of Honey

Laura Gibbs · 145. The Poor Man's Pot of Honey

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A poor man had gathered some honey. He suspended the honey-pot from a rafter and sat beneath it, daydreaming.
"When I sell this honey, I'll buy some chicks. They'll grow into chickens, lay eggs, more chicks, more chickens. With that money, I can buy land. Then I'll get a fine wife. We'll have a fine son. But if he ever disobeys me, that bad boy, I'll strike him with my cane…"
And as he lifted his cane to thrash the boy, he broke the honey-pot, spilling the honey all over himself.
Thus the man ended up more poor than before.

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Inspired by: The Tortoise and the Geese, and Other Fables of Bidpai by Maude Barrows Dutton.
Notes: Different versions of this famous story have oil in the pot or honey or rice, etc. For a collection, see: Air Castles.

Here is an illustration from a 15th-century Panchatantra:

And here is an illustration by John Batten: this man is spilling a pot of rice.