The Old Woman and her Fat Hen

45. THE OLD WOMAN AND HER FAT HEN. There was once an old woman who had a beautiful hen. Every morning the hen used to lay an egg, and this pleased the old woman very much. But by and by she thought, "It would be very nice to have two eggs a day instead of one. Surely if I give my hen twice as much barley for her breakfast, she will lay twice as many eggs."
So the old woman began to feed the hen with twice as much barley as she had given it before, but ere long it grew so fat and sleek that it left off laying any eggs at all. [more info]