On a small farm deep in the American southwest there was a poor farmer. He had lost everything but the farm and his house in a game of cards. First he bet all the money he had, then he bet the geese, then the chickens, and so on until he had bet everything from the tractors to his horse's shoes. When he went to leave his neighbor's house he realized he had lost his car. So he set out to walking and after some time he arrived at his farm to find it all but abandoned. There was not an animal or plow to be found, only the house and the barn remained. The farmer was crushed, his entire life's savings was in that farm, everything but his emergency money that is.

When he went to digging for his money he struggled, for his map was in his mattress which he had gambled away. When he finally found it he counted it is was around a hundred dollars. After he found it he had his friend drive him into town to see what he could buy at the local livestock sale. Of the pitiful amount of animals that went through the sale that day the farmer could only afford two animals, a retired dairy cow and a single young hen. When this was all said and done the farmer had about five dollars left, barely enough to feed him a meager dinner that night. When he arrived back at his farm he thanked his friend, put the animals in the barn and laid down on the carpeting of his vacant bedroom. He went to sleep that night wondering if he would ever recover from this setback.

The next day when he woke up the farmer went to tend his animals. He collected the chicken’s egg and the cow’s meager half pail of milk. The farmer then made himself breakfast out of the food he had left in his pantry, the egg, and some of the unpasteurised milk. He began to pasteurize the rest of the milk and let the cow and chicken out of their pens to graze. After about an hour the farmer was snoozing on the grass with nothing to do. He had already cleaned the barn, fixed the fence, and cleaned the fireplace. When he finally woke up a few hours later the chicken had laid another egg and the cow needed to be milked. This routine continued until the farmer had stockpiled enough milk and eggs to sell some. He only received around fifty dollars for the low quality of the goods. However fifty was enough for him to get some groceries and save some of the money for later use.

After about a month the farmer had saved enough to rebuy his favorite horse and tack. The farmer was happy after this, both to get his pet back and so he didn’t have to walk or hitchhike everywhere. The horse and the cow got along well, the chicken didn't even seem to notice they just kept eating and laying eggs. The next couple of weeks the farmer was saving money until he had enough to buy another couple of chickens. With his egg production tripled it was only a matter of time before he expanded his coop further and before long he had a dozen chickens all laying twice a day. After that he saved up and started buying back his livestock starting with his dogs and foul. He then proceeded to buy back his cows and horses. Ending finally with his pigs, goats, and sheep.

Once it was all said and done the farmer had regained all of his livestock and property. He was sitting on his porch admiring all his prized animals. He admired his young racehorse and her colt.  He was proud of his prized rooster and his boar. But as he leaned down to pet his old bloodhound, he remembered his two favorites. The old cow and chicken that got him back on his feet.