Once there was a miser who was very rich.
He was very stingy, wanted more and more money. So, he asked his neighbors for money asking, “Can I borrow some money? I will give it back next month.” And saying that he took all the money from everyone. All he did was hid the
money in a secret place!
After one month, when everyone asked him for their money back, he said, “I will give it back next month.” The next month when the neighbors asked him for money he gave the same reply. This happened for a whole year.
Finally, the neighbours got fed up of the miser’s excuses, so they went to the king. When they reached the palace, they told the king, “Your majesty, there is a miser in our town who borrowed money from us. Whenever we go and ask him to return our money, he replies that he will give it the next month. The same thing happened for a whole year and now we are fed up of him. So we have come to you so that you can solve our problem.”
The king was very clever, so he sent one of his men, dressed as a servant wanting to work for someone. The servant went to the miser, and asked for a job. When he saw that the miser was reluctant to pay him money, the King’s spy immediately said that he would work for free if he was fed and given a space to sleep.
Hearing this the miser became greedy and immediately agreed to employ him. The miser thought that the servant was very dumb and he could employ him to guard his wealth. He asked him to guard a place without telling him that his wealth was hidden inside.
But the clever King’s spy guessed that the money he took from everyone was hidden inside. That night, the servant crept out of bed and went to the King and told him the secret place.
So, the next day the King sent his guards to arrest the miser.
The guards arrested him and took all the borrowed money to the King. The King returned all the money to everyone from whom the miser had borrowed and the miser was thrown into the dungeons. Everyone went home and lived happily ever after.
Takeaway: Never be too greedy or else you will get into trouble.