Aesop’s Fable, The Miser

A Miser, to make sure of his property, sold all that he had and converted it into a great lump of gold, which he hid in a hole in the ground, and went continually to visit and inspect it.

The Miser’s Gold.

The Miser on Guard.

This roused the curiosity of one of his workmen, who, suspecting that there was a treasure, when his master’s back was turned, went to the spot, and stole it away.

What the Miser Didn’t Know.

When the Miser returned and found the place empty, he wept and tore his hair.

But a neighbor who saw him in this extravagant grief, and learned the cause of it, said, “Fret thyself no longer, but take a stone and put it in the same place, and think that it is the lump of gold; for, as you never meant to use it, the one will do you as much good as the other.”

Moral: Enjoy your life and whatever you have while you have it, for tomorrow may never come.

Born a slave in the age of Pharaohs, Aesopus, between the 5th and 6th century before Christ, experienced the life of Wise Men and Prose. Freed from slavery, he travelled through Corinth, Athens, and Delphi making the politics and morals of the day his study, using his imagination through the written word and the recitation of his parables known the world round as Aesop’s Fables. In Delphi, Aesopus was murdered for speaking in public what he felt was true.

Fable 139, The Miser, The Fables Of Aesop, Third Edition, 1911, Printed in Great Britain by Hazell, Watson & Viney, Ld., London and Aylesbury.

Amirrorself.com. All Rights Reserved. Ivette Ebaen, Photo Montages, 2018.

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