His first instruction was to put the chickens into the house. They did, and the wife kept complaining. So they kept going back to the wise elder who told them, in turn, to put the geese, ducks, goat, pig and finally the cow in the house.
Finally, the wife figured out the game and explained that they were making do, but don't know how they would handle things if the family came to visit. The wise elder told her they could now turn the chickens back to the coop.
They so appreciated the extra room thus created, that on subsequent visits, the wise elder told them, in turn, to take the geese, ducks, goat, pig and, finally, cow out of the house. From then on, the farmer's wife genuinely appreciated how much space they had.
We especially liked that book because there was six of us kids plus a Mom and Dad living in a small house.
My fathers version of this came when I complained about the house being cold. He told me that I would be warm if I went outside and walked 100 paces around the house. Of course, when I came back in, the house was much warmer.
Took me a while to figure that one out.
I remember a children’s chapter book about a woman who lived in a little falling down house and her husband had just finished building a great barn for the animals. And she moved the entire family into the barn. The townspeople were amused but it was a great home.