"The Farmer's Three Wishes" - An ancient Jewish parable

One night, an angel of the Lord awakened a poor farmer.  The angel said, “God has found favor with you, so he would like to reward you as he did for your ancestor Abraham.  As a reward, God will grant you three wishes.  There is only one condition: your neighbor will get a double portion of everything that is given to you.”

The farmer was, of course, amazed by this news, so he woke up his wife and told her all about it.  The farmer’s wife insisted that they test this promise to see if it was actually real and not just a dream.  So, they prayed that God would give them a herd of 1,000 cattle so that they would no longer be poor.