Exploring POV with Zodiac Signs: Capricorn
The Goose That Laid the Golden Egg told through the eyes of a Sagittarius
This is an experiment in point of view and character voice. I’m using Zodiac signs—to explore how they shape the way a character tells their story.
For writers, it’s a tool to sharpen your characters voices and help increase their uniqueness.
For AI users, it’s a way to refine prompts and narrative tone… to make your AI-generated prose sound more human.
For readers, it’s just a bit of play and reflection—what happens when a familiar fable is retold through a different internal lens?
Let’s find out.
🥚 The Original Fable: The Goose That Laid the Golden Egg
A farmer discovers his goose lays a golden egg every day. He and his wife grow rich, but also greedy. They want more gold, faster. Convinced the goose is full of treasure, they kill it—only to find it’s just an ordinary bird inside. They’ve destroyed their fortune. Moral: Greed destroys the source of good.
📝 Retelling: The Farmer as a Capricorn
The first egg went straight to the scale.
Gold. Real. Verified.
Weight: 412 grams. Value: enough to fix the roof and buy time on the loan.
I didn’t celebrate. I drafted a plan.
By the fifth egg, I had spreadsheets. By the tenth, I had a five-year outlook and a security system.
Routine was key. Wake. Feed. Collect. Log. Lock.
I treated the goose like an asset—not a pet, not a blessing. An asset.
My wife asked if I ever said thank you. I told her compound interest doesn’t come from gratitude.
But I was grateful, in my way.
I reinvested. Paid our debts. Planted better seed. Bought the goose organic feed and a water purifier.
I even insulated the coop.
If she was the machine, I was her mechanic.
Efficient. Effective.
And then she skipped a day. No egg.
I told myself it was a blip. I checked her feed. Checked her stool. Checked the weather patterns.
Second day—nothing.
My gut turned like the sky before a storm.
Day three, she laid again. I should’ve been relieved. But I wasn’t.
Because now I knew: the system was fragile. Unreliable.
I’d built everything on a variable.
So I made the call.
Not out of greed. Not desperation.
Risk management.
We opened her together. I kept my hands steady. She didn’t fight.
And when the blood hit the floor, I saw what I knew I would: nothing special. Just organs. Tissue. Ends and means.
The eggs stopped. The plan collapsed.
I got a job after that.
Smaller. Simpler. Someone else’s ladder.
I don’t talk about the goose. But I still carry the numbers in my head.
And sometimes, late at night, I re-run the equation looking for the line I missed.
Compare this story to other signs:
📚 If You’re Enjoying These Fable Retellings…
You might love my speculative short story collections under the Echoes of Aesop series.
Each book takes one of Aesop’s ancient fables and explores its themes through original speculative fiction—experience these timeless stories from the viewpoint of mermaids, vampires, ghosts, and aliens while they struggle to survive in settings that include desert caravans, space stations, haunted mansions and alternate realities.
Available now on Amazon.
🌟 Zodiac Lens: Capricorn
Core Traits: Disciplined, status-driven, cold
Narrative POV Style: A Capricorn tells a story like documenting a mission report—dry, focused, and ruthlessly effective. Their voice is pared down but layered with quiet ambition and old pain. Expect restraint, strategy, and flashes of dark humor beneath the control.
♑ Capricorn POV Prompts for AI Writers
Your Capricorn character is disciplined, strategic, and legacy-focused. Ask: What happens when their plans collapse? What do they sacrifice to stay in control?
Write in the voice of a Capricorn: pragmatic, disciplined, and legacy-focused. The narrator values results over feelings. Use tight logic, dry wit, and internal commentary that sounds like a strategic checklist.
Rewrite this [line of dialogue] with Capricorn’s no-nonsense clarity. Make it dry, goal-oriented, or strategic. They cut straight to the point.
Shared with my daughter, a Capricorn. She has been telling me how to use a spreadsheet to help with my writing.