Once upon a time there was a farmer. He was very poor. He had no food to eat. He went without food for many days. Then a miracle happened.
The farmer had a duck. It started laying egg. They were not plain eggs but golden eggs! The duck lay a golden egg every day. The farmer soon became a rich man by selling the golden eggs. All his problems came to an end. He bought new clothes, built a new house and furnished it. He purchased acres and acres of land.
Now, he had no complaints. He acquired lots of wealth for his future generations without working hard for it. But his greed for wealth did not lessen.
‘I have to wait for a golden egg every day. How can I survive like that?’ he thought. ‘I will cut open the duck and take out all the golden eggs from its stomach.’ The farmer excitedly cut open the stomach of the
duck.
A shocked farmer saw that there were no eggs inside the duck’s stomach!
The duck died!




Do you know what the duck stands for? Our village pond! Our village forest! Our village mine! Our groves and gardens! All these are like ducks which lay golden eggs - the golden eggs which can sustain generations and generations.
We have heard this story a number of times in our childhood.
‘Greed breeds sorrow’ is the moral told in the story.
This story actually tells us the essence of sustainable development talked by the environmentalists in the present times. The activities promoting development have to go on. At the same time, no harm should come to our natural resources. These resources have to satisfy our needs as well as be available for the future generations. Only then it can be called as true development.
This story tells us what the future will be like if we don’t take care of our resources. We should use resources to meet our needs and conserve them to last forever. We should not destroy resources to satisfy our greed.