The Miser
吝嗇鬼
A miser sold all that he had and bought a lump of gold, which he buried in a hole in the ground by the side of an old wall and went to look at daily. One of his workmen observed his frequent visits to the spot and decided to watch his movements. He soon discovered the secret of the hidden treasure, and digging down, came to the lump of gold, and stole it. The Miser, on his next visit, found the hole empty and began to tear his hair and to make loud lamentations. A neighbor, seeing him overcome with grief and learning the cause, said, "Pray do not grieve so; but go and take a stone, and place it in the hole, and fancy that the gold is still lying there. It will do you quite the same service; for when the gold was there, you had it not, as you did not make the slightest use of it."
一個(gè)吝嗇鬼把自己所有的東西都賣掉了,換來(lái)一大塊金子。他把金子埋在一堵舊墻邊上一個(gè)洞里面面,然后,每天都過(guò)去看一看那塊金子?!『髞?lái),吝嗇鬼的一個(gè)工人發(fā)現(xiàn)他老是跑到一個(gè)地方,于是留心觀察,很快就發(fā)現(xiàn)了地下藏寶的秘密,于是,挖開(kāi)了那個(gè)洞,把金子偷走了?!‘?dāng)吝嗇鬼再一次去看他的金子的時(shí)候,他發(fā)現(xiàn)金子沒(méi)了。吝嗇鬼傷心得捶胸頓足。 一個(gè)鄰居看到吝嗇鬼傷心得快不行了,在了解了事情的原由后對(duì)吝嗇鬼說(shuō),“求你別那樣傷心了,去找塊石頭放到那洞里面吧,就把石頭當(dāng)成你的金子吧,這能有什么區(qū)別呢,反正金子躺在那里,對(duì)你一點(diǎn)用都沒(méi)有,跟一塊石頭一樣”?!?/p>