Character Index | Proverb Index
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| Character Index | Proverb Index |
A Cock was searching for food in the farmyard when suddenly he spied something shinning amid the straw. "Ho! ho!" said he, "that's for me," and soon rooted it out. It turned out to be a Jewel that had been lost in the yard. "You may be a treasure," said the Cock, "to men that prize you, but for me I would rather have a single barley-corn than a peck of Jewels."
Townsend version
A Cock, scratching for food for himself and his hens, found a precious stone and exclaimed: "If your owner had found thee, and not I, he would have taken thee up, and have set thee in thy first estate; but I have found thee for no purpose. I would rather have one barleycorn than all the jewels in the world."
Moral
He that's industrious in an honest calling, shall never fail of a blessing. It is the part of a wise man to prefer things necessary before matters of curiosity, ornament, or pleasure.
L'Estrange version
As a cock was turning up a dunghill, he spy'd a diamond. Well (says he to himself) this sparkling foolery now to a lapidary in my place, would have been the making of him; but as to any use or purpose of mine, a barley-corn had been worth forty on't.
Moral
He that's industrious in an honest calling, shall never fail of a blessing. 'Tis the part of a wise man to prefer things necessary before matters of curiosity, ornament, or pleasure.
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Tom Simondi, All Rights Reserved