Reading Time: 2 minutes
The Miser and His Treasure
There once lived a man in a small village. He was famous for being a miser. Everyone knew that he hated to spend his money. His wife and son often tried to convince him to give up his miserly ways but to no avail. He refused to go to work and gave his wife only a little money every month to run the house. He believed that God would help him to get money some way or the other. His wife and son finally, grew fedup of his miserly and lazy habits and left him alone.
The miser lived in a huge house with a big garden infront of it. The house had belonged to his father and the miser inherited it upon the death of the old man. He often planted flowers and trees in his garden. One day as he was digging, his spade hit something hard. Excited, the miser used his hands to dig deeper and uncovered a pot. His eyes were filled with tears of joy when he saw what was inside it. The pot was filled with gold coins, rubies, and precious stones. Never in his life had the miser seen so much wealth. It almost drove him to madness.
“Thank You God!” the miser cried. “I will never need to work another day in my life. I will use this treasure sparingly and give the rest over to my son when I die.” Instead of working hard to increase the wealth that he had been blessed with, the miser grew even lazier and spent his days doing nothing but eating and sleeping.
The miser never told his wife and son anything about the treasure out of fear that they would force him to spend it. He buried it back in the ground and used only a little at a time.
One day, on his way back home from the market, the miser met with an accident and was crushed to death by a speeding truck. His wife and son, were devastated. The miser had left them no money, neither did they know about the treasure in the ground. They decided to sell the house to make some money. With a heavy heart, the miser’s wife and son sold the huge house and began living in a hut nearby.
The house was bought by a hard-working man who planned to grow an orchard in the huge garden. He thought of planting lime trees and selling the limes to make a living. He began digging in the garden every day and soon came across the pot of treasures. He spent a good sum of the gold and bought a nearby field as well to expand his orchard.
After months of digging, the hard-working man discovered that not only the miser’s garden but also the nearby field was filled with many such pots. He invested most of his new found wealth in many more businesses and soon became the richest man in the village. Instead of growing lazy, he worked harder to increase his fortunes. He began using his money to build schools and roads in the village. The villagers grew to respect and love him.
The miser’s wife and son soon heard about the gold that was buried in their garden and gnashed their teeth when they realized that all that wealth could have been theirs had they not sold the house. The miser’s son, however, was wise and began working hard instead of growing jealous. He soon made a lot of money for himself and lived a happy life too.