# The Cock and the Jewel

- Source: The Aesop for Children (aesop.gutenberg.org), Public domain, Aesop, pictures by Milo Winter, 1919, via Project Gutenberg
- Reading level: Grades 3 and 4
- Subjects: Stories, Animals
- Topics: cock, find, jewel, lost, precious, barleycorn
- Length: 87 words, about 1 min
- Original: <https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/19994>
- Page: <https://sprout.rootsofreason.org/r/aesop/aesop-40-the-cock-and-the-jewel>
- Open in Sprouts: <https://sprout.rootsofreason.org/?read=aesop/aesop-40-the-cock-and-the-jewel>

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A Cock was busily scratching and scraping about to find something to eat for himself and his family, when he happened to turn up a precious jewel that had been lost by its owner.

"Aha!" said the Cock. "No doubt you are very costly and he who lost you would give a great deal to find you. But as for me, I would choose a single grain of barleycorn before all the jewels in the world."

Precious things are without value to those who cannot prize them.

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