The Cock and the Pearl
Once upon a time, in the yard of a wide farm where golden ears of grain waved, there lived a cock whose feathers shone brightly. Every morning as the sun rose, this cock crowed with a loud voice that reached who knows what lands and woke everyone around him. He spent his days in peace, scratching the damp soil and looking for tasty grains of wheat and tiny insects. The lofty oak trees rising behind the fences of the yard accompanied him with their sweet whispers whenever the wind blew. One hot morning when the sun was shining brightly, he began to scratch the earth eagerly to fill his belly. With every stroke of his beak on the soil, the cock hoped to find some tasty food. All of a sudden he noticed a dazzling brightness among the dung and the mud.
Coming closer in curiosity, he cleaned the soil away with his foot and brought out a smooth, white object. It was a perfect pearl, shining as if it had fallen from the treasury of a kingdom. As the sunlight struck the pearl, enchanting rainbow colours scattered all around. The cock tilted his head to one side and looked for a long while at this precious stone shining brightly. "How bright and delicate you look," he murmured in wonder. "If a jeweller had found you, he would probably have leapt for joy and thought you beyond price." "But I have need neither of ornate jewels nor of glittering stones."
The cock drew his eyes away from the pearl, lifted his nose slightly into the air and gave a deep sigh. "Instead of a treasure beyond price like you, I would choose a single grain of corn under the muddy earth," he said. For to a hungry stomach all the jewels in the world were not worth even a handful of feed. Leaving the bright pearl just as it was in the mud, the wise cock took his steps towards the other side of the farm. Before long he found a fresh grain of wheat, ate it with relish and went on crowing merrily. True worth lies not in a showy appearance but in meeting a need directly. The worth of gold is known by the goldsmith.