The jar of gold

There once lived a poor farmer and his wife, who led a very quiet life in the countryside. Every morning at dawn, they would get up and toil in their fields until dusk. The farmer's father had done the same, but the farmer did not think of the past. For him, the important thing was to complete each day's task within the allotted time. So he lived one day at a time, unconcerned with the ambitions of other men.

One morning in his field, his foot struck something hard. He scraped the dirt from around the object and was surprised to uncover an earthen jar. It was extremely heavy. He pried open the lid and was surprised to see not one, not two but hundreds of gold coins inside. He buried the jar where he had found it and went home.

His wife was elated upon hearing the news, but became concerned when her husband told her he had buried it again.

"Why didn't you bring the jar homer" she asked. "It is a gift from heaven and if you don't bring it home for safe-keeping, someone might steal it from under our noses."

The farmer was unconcerned. "If it is really a gift from heaven," he said, "no one will take it. If on the other hand it is not a gift from heaven, then I don't want it."

During this argument, two thieves happened to be passing the farmer's house. Upon hearing the tale of the gold, they took precise notes and hurried to the spot the farmer had described. They turned over the freshly-dug soil and found the jar the farmer had reburied. The thieves carried the jar to their evil lair and opened it.

Inside the jar they found, much to their surprise, not gold coins but a family of snakes. Furiously, they closed the jar again and threw it away.

The following morning, the poor farmer returned to his fields and immediately discovered that the jar was missing. He worked until dusk, returned home and told his wife that the gold had been taken.

"Of course," she said sarcastically, "who except you would leave a jar of gold coins in an open field."

It so happened - perhaps not surprisingly - that the two thieves had returned to the farmer's house that night.

The mere mention of gold aroused some latent evil in them and they plotted to get revenge on the farmer for his trick.

They brought the jar back to the field and buried it, hoping the snakes would bite the man when he opened it again.

The man arrived at the field in the morning and was surprised to see that the jar had returned. But he felt no desire to open it and thus left it where it was. That evening he told his wife the jar had been returned.

"One day you find a jar of gold coins, the next day you lose it and now you tell me you have found it again. What am I to believe?" she wailed.

The husband assured her that he was speaking the truth.

"Then go back to the field and bring home the jar," she demanded. "Then I know that you are a man of your word. It must be a gift from heaven - it has returned to the field."

"No," replied the husband, "if it is a gift from heaven, it will find its own way here without our help."

The two thieves listened to this conversation intently and their desire to get revenge grew.

They were certain that the farmer and his wife had deliberately made fools of them and thus intended to teach them a lesson.

So they went to the field, dug up the jar and carried it to the farmer's hut, placing it neatly on the farmer's doorstep. Then they hid behind a clump of bamboo to see what would happen.

The next morning, the farmer opened the door and saw the jar on the doorstep.

His wife came running upon hearing the news. She picked up the jar of gold and tipped it upside down. A stream of gold coins poured onto the ground.

The two thieves realized that they had been dealing with a higher power and thus stole away.

The farmer and his wife were now wealthy. The woman bought a new wardrobe of clothes and assumed superior airs.

But the advent of wealth did not alter the farmer's disposition. He continued to labour at the tasks that life has assigned him in the same way until the day he died.