The Miser 守財奴
A MISER sold all that he had and bought a lump of gold, whichhe buried in a hole in the ground by the side of an old walland went to look at daily. One of his workmen observed hisfrequent visits to the spot and decided to watch his movements. Hesoon discovered the secret of the hidden treasure, and diggingdown, came to the lump of gold, and stole it. The Miser, on hisnext visit, found the hole empty and began to tear his hair andto make loud lamentations. A neighbor, seeing him overcomewith grief and learning the cause, said, "Pray do not grieveso; but go and take a stone, and place it in the hole, and fancythat the gold is still lying there. It will do you quite thesame service; for when the gold was there, you had it not, as youdid not make the slightest use of it."
有個守財奴變賣了他所有的家產，換回了金塊，並秘密地埋在一個地方。他每天走去看 看他的寶藏。有個在附近放羊的牧人留心觀察，知道了真情，趁他走後，挖出金塊拿走了。 守財奴再來時，發現洞中的金塊沒有了，便捶胸痛哭。有個人見他如此悲痛，問明原因後， 說道：“喂，朋友，別再難過了，那塊金子雖是你買來的，但並不是你真正擁有的。去拿一塊石頭來，代替金塊放在洞裡，只要你心裡想著那是塊金子，你就會很高興。這樣與你擁有真正的金塊效果沒什麼不同。依我之見，你擁有那金塊時，也從沒用過。”
這故事說明，一切財物如不使用等於沒有。
