Greed is a strong desire that makes someone want to own more things. In today’s story from Aesop's Fables short stories with moral, we will learn The Miser and His Gold, and how a man lost his treasure because of his greed.
The Miser Hides His Treasure
Once upon a time, there lived a miserly man who had many gold coins. He thought about a secret place to bury them and said to himself: If I put them in my house, they will be stolen.
After much thought, the miser decided to bury his treasure in a secret spot in his garden. He did not leave his treasure unattended, however. He would go to the burial place, dig the hole, and count his gold piece by piece, not returning it until he was sure it was all there.
A Dangerous Daily Habit
The man kept visiting his treasure until a thief noticed him. The thief went to the place where the treasure was buried, dug the hole in complete secrecy, then took the miser’s gold and fled to a faraway place.
The next day, the miser decided to visit his buried treasure, but he found the hole dug and the treasure gone.
The Miser’s Cry for Help
The miser began to shout loudly and pull out his hair. One of his neighbors heard him and came to check on him. He asked him about the reason for all the shouting and why he was pulling out his hair.
The miser replied: I buried a precious treasure here, and when I came to check on it as usual, I did not find it. No one but me had touched or seen this treasure.
The neighbor said: Why didn’t you hide it in your house?
The miser replied: I was afraid it would be stolen, so I decided to bury it so that no one would know about it.
A Wise Lesson from a Neighbor
The neighbor picked up a stone nearby, threw it into the hole, and said to the miser: You can bury that stone instead of your treasure, because you collected money and buried it without using it, while others have taken it and spent it.