守財奴

 

　　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."

 

　　有個守財奴變賣了他所有的家產，換回了金塊，并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，趁他走后，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，問明原因后，說道：“喂，朋友，別再難過了，那塊金子雖是你買來的，但并不是你真正擁有的。去拿一塊石頭來，代替金塊放在洞里，只要你心里想著那是塊金子，你就會很高興。這樣與你擁有真正的金塊效果沒什么不同。依我之見，你擁有那金塊時，也從沒用過。”