who came up with the joke why did the chicken cross the road
Why did the chicken cross the road? The riddle appeared in an 1847 edition of The Knickerbocker, a New York City monthly magazine:[1]
The Goose That Laid the Golden Eggs Avianus and Caxton tell different stories of a goose that lays a golden egg, where other versions have a hen,[1] as in Townsend: "A cottager and his wife had a Hen that laid a golden egg every day. They supposed that the Hen must contain a great lump of gold in its inside, and in order to get the gold they killed [her]. Having done so, they found to their surprise that the Hen differed in no respect from their other hens. The foolish pair, thus hoping to become rich all at once, deprived themselves of the gain of which they were assured day by day."[2]