“The Goose That Laid the Golden Eggs”

Cultural  

1. A story found in many forms in world literature. In one common version of the story, the owner of a goose finds that the goose can lay eggs of pure gold and cuts the goose open to find the gold inside her. The goose turns out to be like any other goose inside and, being dead, will lay no more golden eggs.

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Example Sentences

So we continue to have Goodell at the top of America’s most popular sports league, handing out fines for players twerking in the end zone, strangling the goose that laid the golden eggs, and blaming the ratings decline on ... well, who really knows?

From The Guardian

But I don't want to kill the goose that laid the golden eggs.

From BBC

But meanwhile, the game was being hollowed out from the inside by the actions of those who might yet end up killing the goose that laid the golden eggs by robbing international football of its power and primacy.

From The Guardian

The prime minister used to refer to Bletchley Park as the goose that laid the golden eggs for the way in which it produced a daily stream of intelligence that helped guide his decision making.

From BBC

The fable of the Ant and the Grasshopper; also the fable entitled One Swallow does not make Summer, and the fable of the Man who Killed the Goose that laid the Golden Eggs.

From Project Gutenberg