A Woman, Her Hen, and Her Cow

 

by Billie Pritchett

raw milk

 

A woman had a hen that laid an egg every morning. Every weekend the woman sold all the eggs at the market. The eggs were so good, of such fine quality, that the woman always made a high profit.

One day, she figured if she gave her hen more barley, the hen would produce twice the eggs. But after she gave the hen the extra barley, the hen got so fat she stopped producing eggs altogether. That was the end of the woman’s egg-selling business.

She was grateful, though, she still had her cow. She went to the cow, grabbed the udders, and started squirting the milk into the pail. Then, bouncing her knees, making the change jingle in her pockets, she said to herself, “It’s no good messing with a good thing, is it?”

 

About the author 

Billie Pritchett is an assistant professor of English at Kyungnam University in Masan, Korea. He has an MFA in Creative Writing from Murray State University. His work is forthcoming in Concho River Review, Delmarva Review, Drunk Monkeys, and Pensive.