The Little Purse with Two Half-Pennies

Once upon a time, in a small, quiet village, there lived an old man and an old woman. The old woman had a hen that laid two eggs every day. She enjoyed eating the eggs and never shared them with the old man. One day, the old man asked her, "Can you give me some eggs? I want to try them too."

"No!" replied the selfish old woman. "If you want eggs, make your rooster lay them! My hen lays eggs because I gave her a good beating!"

The old man, also stubborn, hit his rooster and shouted, "Lay eggs for me or leave!" The rooster, scared, ran away but soon found a small purse with two coins on the road. Happy, the rooster started heading home.

On its way, it saw a carriage carrying a rich man and his family. The rich man saw the purse in the rooster’s beak and told his driver to take it. The driver took the purse and gave it to the rich man, who kept it. Angry, the rooster followed the carriage and cried out:

"Rooster-a-doodle-doo! Give my purse back to me!"

The rich man became annoyed and told his driver to throw the rooster into a well. The rooster fell in, but it drank all the water and flew out of the well. Again, the rooster followed the carriage, asking for its purse.

Tired of the rooster, the rich man ordered the driver to throw it into a fire and cover the fire with a stone. But the clever rooster spat out the water from the well, put out the fire, and escaped. It tapped on the rich man’s window and demanded its purse again.

"Get rid of this annoying rooster!" yelled the rich man. "Put it with the bulls; maybe one will kill it!" But the rooster swallowed all the bulls, its belly becoming huge. It returned to the rich man’s window and said:

"Rooster-a-doodle-doo! Give my purse back to me!"

The rich man was running out of ideas. He locked the rooster in his treasure room, hoping the gold coins would choke it. But the rooster ate all the gold! Finally, the rich man gave the purse back. The rooster, happy, walked away with its purse and all the gold it found.

When the rooster returned home, it gave the old man the gold. The old man was overjoyed, and the old woman was jealous.

"Can you give me some gold?" she asked.

"Just like you gave me your eggs? No!" replied the old man. "Maybe you should hit your hen again; it might give you gold!"

The old woman angrily beat her hen, and the hen ran away. It came back with a shiny bead. The old woman thought it was a precious jewel, but it was only a glass bead. Furious, she hit the hen again, and this time the hen died.

The old man lived happily with his new wealth, while the old woman stayed poor. The rooster, now wearing a golden collar and boots, lived like a king, teaching everyone a lesson about being kind and not greedy.