Renu is a milkmaid who lives in a village with her mother. She sells milk to the villagers. Through this, she and her mother live happily. By selling milk, Renu fulfils her mother's needs and also her own needs and wishes. She has her dream world where Renu wishes for every new thing that she dreams. Every time she gets money from selling milk, she dreams of things like fairy dresses, jewellery, candies, etc.

But one day, her dream breaks down and she realises the reality.

Every time Renu sells milk, she dreams about the things she could buy from the money she gets from selling the milk. Renu thought about buying the new sandals matching her fairy dress. Along with that, she thought about having her new shiny milk pitcher which would attract new villagers to buy milk from her.

One day, Renu went out to sell milk with her pail on her head. She walks around and thinks about what she can buy with today's money that she will earn from selling milk. Suddenly, she saw a chicken and lost herself in Dreaming.

Renu looked at the chicken and thought: “I will to buy a chicken's with the money I get today. The chicken will lay eggs. Then she can sell milk and eggs at the same time and earn more money to spend. With more money, she can buy a bicycle and everyone will be jealous of me. Oh, I can't wait to buy chicken.”

While thinking about these things, she became more excited and got lost in her thoughts and forgot about the milk she was carrying on her head. She started skipping on the road and the milk started spilling over the edges. Soon Renu was covered with milk and her pail became empty. She became very sad to see her empty pail. She said, “Oh no! Now I would not be able to sell milk and buy chicken.” Mother will surely angry at me.

She took the empty pail and went back home. Her mother saw her and asked: "What happened to you?” Renu explained to her mother the whole thing that she was dreaming about and got lost in her thought that milk fell down and her pail became empty.
Her mother screamed at her, “How many times do I need to tell you don't count your chickens before they are hatched!”

Renu asked, “What does it mean, mother?” Her mother replied, “It means that you should focus on what you have rather than making plans based on what might be.” Renu knew her mother was right. She realised her mistake and wanted to return to reality. She loved to dream but, finally, she remembered to focus on her work. From then on, she sells the milk without thinking about the money and the things she can buy.

Moral of the Story
The moral of the story is that Do not count your chickens before they are hatched. It means that we should not day dream about things that have not happened.