The golden egg Avianus and Caxton tell different stories of a goose that lays a golden egg, where

other versions have a hen,

as in Townsend: "A

cottager and his wife had a Hen that laid a golden egg every day. They supposed that the Hen must contain a great lump of gold in its inside, and in order to get the gold they killed it. Having done so, they found to their surprise that the Hen differed in no respect from their other hens. The foolish pair, thus hoping to become rich all at once, deprived themselves of the gain of which they were assured day by day."
[2]

The Goose That Laid the Golden Eggs, illustrated by Milo Winter in a 1919 edition In early tellings, there is sometimes a commentary warning against greed rather than a pithy moral. This is so in Jean de La Fontaine's fable of La Poule aux oeufs d'or (Fables V.13),
[3]

which begins with the sentiment that 'Greed loses all by striving all to
[4]

gain' and comments at the end that the story can be applied to those who become poor by trying to outreach themselves. It is only later that the morals most often quoted today began to appear. These are 'Greed oft oer reaches itself' (Joseph Jacobs, 1894)
[5]

and

'Much wants more and loses all' (Samuel Croxall, 1722). It is notable also that these are stories told of a goose rather than a hen. The English idiom, sometimes shortened to "Killing the golden goose", derives from this fable. It is generally used of a short-sighted action that destroys the profitability of an asset. Caxton's version of the story has the goose's owner demand that it lay two eggs a day; when it replied that it could not, the owner killed it. The same lesson is taught by Ignacy Krasicki's fable of "The Farmer": A farmer, bent on doubling the profits from his land, Proceeded to set his soil a two-harvest demand. Too intent thus on profit, harm himself he must needs: Instead of corn, he now reaps corn-cockle and weeds. There is another variant on the story, recorded by Syntipas (Perry Index 58) and appearing in Roger L'Estrange's 1692 telling as "A Woman and a Fat Hen" (Fable 87): A good Woman had a Hen that laid her every day an Egg. Now she fansyd to her self, that upon a larger Allowance of Corn, this Hen might be brought in time to lay twice a day. She tryd the Experiment; but the Hen grew fat upont, and gave quite over laying. His comment on this is that 'we should set Bounds to our Desires, and content our selves when we are well, for fear of losing what we had.' Another of Aesop's fables with the moral of wanting more and losing everything is The Dog and the Bone. The majority of illustrations of "The Goose that laid the Golden Eggs" picture the farmer despairing after discovering that he has killed the goose to no purpose. This was one of several fables applied to political issues by the American illustrator Thomas Nast. In this case his picture of the baffled farmer, advised by a 'Communistic Statesman', referred to the rail strike of 1877 and appeared in Harpers Weekly for March 16, 1878. Captioned Always killing the goose that lays the golden eggs, the farmer stands for the politically driven union members. His wife and children sorrow in the background.
[7] [6]

Cinderella Chapter 1 Once upon a time, there lived near the capital city of a large kingdom a very worthy gentleman and his beautiful and amiable young wife. They loved each other tenderly, and they had not been wedded long before there was a pretty little girl baby in the nursery. For

a time, both parents were very happy, but their joy did not last forever. Just as the daughter was growing up into a fair and lovely girl, the mother fell ill and died. After a while, the father married again. Unhappily, the choice he made this time was not a good one. The lady he married was very rich, but proud and ill-tempered, and she had two grown-up daughters of exactly her own disposition. Chapter 2 The marriage was no sooner over than the new wife began to be very harsh toward her step-child, whose gentle and loving disposition caused the behavior of her own daughters to appear even more detestable than before. She made her do all the hard work of the house; scrub the floor, polish the grates, answer the door, wait at table, and wash up the plates and dishes. But the poor child would not complain, even to her father, who always showed the most anxious affection for her. She knew how unhappy he, too, was in this second marriage, and how powerless to help her. When her work was done, she would sit for warmth in a corner of the chimney, among the cinders; and for this reason, and to show how much they despised her, the unkind sisters gave her the name of Cinderella. Chapter 3 One day the two sisters received an invitation to a ball that was to be given at the palace of the King, in honor of his son, the Prince, who had just come of age. An invitation to this ball being a great honor, the sisters were in high glee, and at once began making preparations to appear there in grand style. This meant a great deal more work for Cinderella. She had to do all the sewing and ironing, to starch and plait the ruffles, to run out three or four times a day to make purchases, and, when the day of the ball came, to help her proud sisters dress, even to the arranging of their hair; for they knew she had excellent taste in all these matters, although they would not deign to admit it openly. At last the time came to start, and the sisters rode off to the ball, being mean enough at the last moment to taunt Cinderella with not having been invited. The poor girl retired to her dismal kitchen, and could not help weeping as she sat there, thinking over her sisters' cruelty. Chapter 4 Suddenly she heard a tap at the door, and when she opened it there walked in an odd-looking little woman, who carried a wand in her hand. She was a Fairy who had been a great friend of Cinderella's mother while she was alive, and had been chosen as godmother for Cinderella when she was born. After telling Cinderella who she was, she asked her why she had been weeping. "I--I--should so much have--have liked--" sobbed the broken-hearted girl, but could say no more. "Do you mean, you would like to go with your sisters?" "Oh! yes, I should," cried Cinderella. "Well, well!" said her godmother, "be a good girl, and you shall go." Cinderella soon dried her tears; and when her godmother said, "Fetch me a pumpkin, she ran and got the largest she could find. The Fairy scooped it hollow, touched it with her wand, and immediately changed it into a magnificent carriage. Then seeing a mouse-trap in which were six live mice, she told Cinderella to open the door of it; and as each mouse ran out, she touched it with her wand; and so got as handsome a team of mouse- colored horses as were ever harnessed together. Then she made a coachman out of a rat, and six tall footmen out of six lizards from the garden. Another touch from the wand changed Cinderella's dingy clothing into a beautiful ball-dress, that sparkled with diamonds. Last of all, the Fairy gave her a pair of slippers made of glass, the smallest and prettiest ever seen.

The Monkey and the Turtle A Monkey, looking very sad and dejected, was walking along the bank of the river one day when he met a turtle. "How are you?" asked the turtle, noticing that he looked sad. The monkey replied, "Oh, my friend, I am very hungry. The squash of Mr. Farmer were all taken by the other monkeys, and now I am about to die from want of food." "Do not be discouraged," said the turtle; "take a bob and follow me and we will steal some banana plants."

So they walked along together until they found some nice plants which they dug up, and then they looked for a place to set them. Finally the monkey climbed a tree and planted his in it, but as the turtle could not climb he dug a hole in the ground and set his there. When their work was finished they went away, planning what they should do with their crop. The monkey said: "When my tree bears fruit, I shall sell it and have a great deal of money." And the turtle said: "When my tree bears fruit, I shall sell it and buy three varas of cloth to wear in place of this cracked shell." A few weeks later they went back to the place to see their plants and found that that of the monkey was dead, for its roots had had no soil in the tree, but that of the turtle was tall and bearing fruit. "I will climb to the top so that we can get the fruit," said the monkey. And he sprang up the tree, leaving the poor turtle on the ground alone. "Please give me some to eat," called the turtle, but the monkey threw him only a green one and ate all the the ripe ones himself. When he had eaten all the good bananas, the monkey stretched his arms around the tree and went to sleep. The turtle, seeing this, was very angry and considered how he might punish the thief. Having decided on a scheme, he gathered some sharp bamboo which he all around under the tree, and then he exclaimed: Crocodile is coming! Crocodile is coming!" The monkey was so startled at the cry that he fell upon the sharp bamboo and was killed. Then the turtle cut the dead monkey into pieces, put on it, and dried it in the sun. The next day, he went to the mountains and sold his meat to other monkeys who gladly gave him squash in return. As he was leaving them he called back: "Lazy fellows, you are now eating your own body; you are now eating your own body." Then the monkeys ran and caught him and carried to their own home. Let us take a hatchet," said one old monkey, "and cut him into very small pieces." But the turtle laughed and said: "That is just what I like. I have been struck with a hatchet many times. Do you not see the black scars on my shell?" Then one of the other monkeys said: "Let us throw him into the water." At this the turtle cried and begged them to spare his life, but they paid no heed to his pleadings and threw him into the water. He sank to the bottom, but very soon came up with a lobster. The monkeys were greatly surprised at this and begged him to tell them how to catch lobsters. "I tied one end of a string around my waist," said the turtle. "To the other end of the string I tied a stone so that I would sink." The monkeys immediately tied strings around themselves as the turtle said, and when all was ready they plunged into the water never to come up again. And to this day monkeys do not like to eat meat, because they remember the ancient story.[1]

[1] This tale told by the Ilocano is well known among both the Christianized and the wild tribe, of the Philippines, and also in Borneo and Java. However, the Ilocano is the only version so far as I known, which has the explanatory element: the reason is given here why monkeys do not eat meat. The turtle is accredited with extraordinary sagacity and cunning. It is another example of the type of tale showing the victory of the weak and cunning over the strong but stupid. See "The Turtle and the Lizard".

The Grasshopper and the Ants In a field one summer's day a grasshopper was hopping about, chirping and singing to its heart's content. A group of ants walked by, grunting as they struggled to carry plump kernels of corn. "Where are you going with those heavy things?" asked the grasshopper. Without stopping, the first ant replied, "To our ant hill. This is the third kernel I've delivered today." "Why not come and sing with me," teased the grasshopper, "instead of working so hard?" We are helping to store food for the winter," said the ant, "and think you should do the same." "Winter is far away and it is a glorious day to play," sang the grasshopper. But the ants went on their way and continued their hard work. The weather soon turned cold. All the food lying in the field was covered with a thick white blanket of snow that even the grasshopper could not dig through. Soon the grasshopper found itself dying of hunger. He staggered to the ants' hill and saw them handing out corn from the stores they had collected in the summer. He begged them for something to eat. "What!" cried the ants in surprise, "haven't you stored anything away for the winter? What in the world were you doing all last summer?" "I didn't have time to store any food," complained the grasshopper; "I was so busy playing music that before I knew it the summer was gone." The ants shook their heads in disgust, turned their backs on the grasshopper and went on with their work.

The lion and the rat Once, as a lion lay sleeping in his den, a naughty little mouse ran up his tail, and onto his back and up his mane and danced and jumped on his head ... ...so that the lion woke up. The lion grabbed the mouse and, holding him in his large claws, roared in anger. 'How dare you wake me up! Don't you know that I am King of the Beasts? Anyone who disturbs my rest deserves to die! I shall kill you and eat you!' The terrified mouse, shaking and trembling, begged the lion to let him go. 'Please don't eat me Your Majesty! I did not mean to wake you, it was a mistake. I was only playing. Please let me go - and I promise I will be your friend forever. Who knows but one day I could save your life?' The lion looked at the tiny mouse and laughed. 'You save my life? What an absurd idea!' he said scornfully. 'But you have made me laugh, and put me into a good mood again, so I shall let you go.' And the lion opened his claws and let the mouse go free. 'Oh thank you, your majesty,' squeaked the mouse, and scurried away as fast as he could.

A few days later the lion was caught in a hunter's snare. Struggle as he might, he couldn't break free and became even more entangled in the net of ropes. He let out a roar of anger that shook the forest. Every animal heard it, including the tiny mouse.

'My friend the lion is in trouble,' cried the mouse. He ran as fast as he could in the direction of the lion's roar, and soon found the lion trapped in the hunter's snare. 'Hold still, Your Majesty,' squeaked the mouse. 'I'll have you out of there in a jiffy!' And without further delay, the mouse began nibbling through the ropes with his sharp little teeth. Very soon the lion was free. 'I did not believe that you could be of use to me, little mouse, but today you saved my life,' said the lion humbly. 'It was my turn to help you, Sire,' answered the mouse. Even the weak and small may be of help to t Simile hose much mightier than themselves. Simile

A simile is a figure of speech that directly compares two different things, usually by employing the words "like" or "as".

[1]

Unlike a metaphor, a simile can be as precise as the user needs it to be, to explicitly predicate a single feature of a target or to vaguely predicate an under-determined and open-ended body of features. Empirical research supports the observation that similes are more likely to be used with explicit explanations of their intended meaning; this offers some support to the claim that similes are preferred if a user wants to associate an unusual or out-of-the-ordinary property with a target. Simile
[clarification needed [2]

In literature Similes are widely used in literature for their expressive nature:
[3] [4]

  

Curley was flopping like a fish on a line.

The very mist on the Essex marshes was like a gauzy and radiant fabric. Why, man, he doth bestride the narrow world like a Colossus.
[5]

Dickens, in the opening to 'A Christmas Carol', says "But the wisdom of our ancestors is in the simile." Using 'like' A simile can explicitly provide the basis of a comparison or leave this basis implicit. In the implicit case, characterised by the use of 'like' to connect the two ideas, the simile leaves an audience to determine for themselves which features of the target are being predicated:

  

She is like a dynamo. For he is like a refiner's fire. Her eyes twinkled like stars.

More detail can be present, but it is still a matter of inference what features are actually predicated of the target:

  

He fights like a lion. He runs like a cheetah. He drinks like a fish.

Using 'as' The use of as makes the simile explicit, by clearly stating the feature predicated of the target:

  

She walks as gracefully as a cat. He was as brave as a lion in the fight. He was as tough as a bull.

Without 'like' or 'as' Similes are sometimes made without using the words "like" or "as". This often occurs when making comparisons of differing values:
[6]

  

"Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate:" - William Shakespeare, Sonnet 18 "I'm happier than a tornado in a trailer park." - Mater, Cars "We're in the stickiest situation since Sticky the stick insect got stuck on a sticky bun." - Captain Edmund Blackadder, Blackadder Goes Forth

See also

Types, terms and categories Metaphors are comparisons that show how two things that are not alike in most ways are similar in one important way. A metaphor is more forceful (active) than an analogy, because metaphor asserts two things are the same, whereas analogy implies a difference. The metaphor category also contains these specialised types:

   

allegory: An extended metaphor wherein a story illustrates an important attribute of the subject. catachresis: A mixed metaphor used by design and accident (a rhetorical fault). parable: An extended metaphor narrated as an anecdote illustrating and teaching a moral lesson, such as Aesop's fables. A "dead" metaphor: a metaphor so common that most speakers no longer think of its original referent and instead think only of the metaphorical meaning.

Both metaphor and analogy can usefully be distinguished from metonymy as one of two fundamental modes of thought. Metaphor and analogy both work by bringing together two concepts from different conceptual domains, whereas metonymy works by using one element from a given domain to refer to another closely related element. Thus, metaphor creates new links between otherwise distinct conceptual domains where metonymy rely on existing links within them.

Common types

A dead metaphor is one in which the sense of a transferred image is absent. Examples: "to grasp a concept" and "to gather what you've understood" use physical action as a metaphor for understanding. Most people do not visualize the action dead metaphors normally go unnoticed. Some people distinguish between a dead metaphor and a clich. Others use "dead metaphor" to denote both.

An extended metaphor (conceit) establishes a principal subject (comparison) and subsidiary subjects (comparisons). The As You Like It quotation is a good example, the world is described as a stage, and then men and women are subsidiary subjects further described in the same context.

A mixed metaphor is one that leaps from one identification to a second identification inconsistent with the first. "I smell a rat [...] but I'll nip him in the bud" -- Irish politician Boyle Roche. This form is often used as a parody of metaphor itself: "If we can hit that bullseye then the rest of the dominoes will fall like a house of cards... Checkmate." -- Futurama character Zapp Brannigan.
[2]

Per Hans Blumenbergs metaphorology, absolute metaphor denotes a figure or a concept that cannot be reduced to, or replaced with solely conceptual thought and language. Absolute metaphors, e.g. light (for truth) and seafaring (for human existence) have distinctive meanings (unlike the literal meanings), and, thereby, function as orientations in the world, and as theoretic questions, such as presenting the world as a whole. Because they exist at the pre-predicative level, express and structure pragmatic and theoretical views of Man and the World.

Use outside rhetoric The term metaphor is also used for the following terms that are not a part of rhetoric:

     

A cognitive metaphor is the association of object to an experience outside the object's environment. A conceptual metaphor is an underlying association that is systematic in both language and thought. A root metaphor is the underlying worldview that shapes an individual's understanding of a situation. A therapeutic metaphor is an experience that allows one to learn about more than just that experience. A nonlinguistic metaphor is an association between two nonlinguistic realms of experience. A visual metaphor provides a frame or window on experience. Metaphors can also be implied and extended throughout pieces of literature.

History in literature and language

In historical linguistics In historical onomasiology or, more generally, in historical linguistics, metaphor is defined as semantic change based on similarity, i.e. a similarity in form or function between the original concept named by a word and the target concept named by this word. ex. mouse: small, gray rodent small, gray, mouse-shaped computer device.
[7] [6]

Some recent linguistic theories view language as by its nature all metaphorical; or that language in essence is metaphorical. Nonlinguistic metaphor Metaphors can also map experience between two nonlinguistic realms. In The Dream Frontier, Mark Blechner describes musical metaphors, in which a piece of music can "map" to the personality and emotional life of a person. Meyer demonstrated how purely rhythmic and harmonic events can express human emotions.
[14]

Musicologist Leonard

[15]

There can also be a metaphoric

mapping between other art forms and human experience. The art theorist Robert Vischer argued that when we look at a painting,

we "feel ourselves into it" by imagining our body in the posture of a nonhuman or inanimate object in the painting. For example, the painting "The Solitary Tree" by Caspar David Friedrich shows a tree with contorted, barren limbs.
[18] [19] [16][17]

In looking at that painting, we

imagine our limbs in a similarly contorted and barren shape, and that creates a feeling in us of strain and distress. Nonlinguistic metaphors may be the foundation of our experience of visual, musical, dance, and other art forms.

Hyperbole Hyperbole (exaggeration or "hype") is a figure of speech in which exaggeration is used for emphasis. Here are a few examples: It is going to take a bazillion years to get through Medical School. I ate the whole cow. He's 900 years old. I am so hungry I could eat a horse. There are millions of other things to do.

y y y y y