GREED IS A CURSE

Many, many years ago, there lived a crotchety old miser in a tumbledown shack, who was as stupid as he was greedy. He never spent a single penny unless he had to, and he never lost a single opportunity of amassing more and more and still more wealth.

He had only one servant �" a poor hunch-backed spindle-legged fellow who hardly ever received his meagre wages. One day, he tore his last shirt on a nail. Wringing his hands in despair, he went to his master.

“P-please, sir, may I have some money to buy a new shirt?”

“What?’ cried the old miser. “You’ve torn the shirt I gave you only five years ago? Wretch! Dolt! Are you trying to eat me out of house and home? Eh? You shall pay for this, I tell you! You’ll get no money at all for the next six months!”

Grind the worm too hard into the earth and he does inevitably turn. The servant decided this was the last straw. If there was one thing he absolutely insisted on having, it was a shirt. He was seething with resentment at years and years of injustice, and he planned a truly spectacular revenge.

From an old history book he tore out a map, drew a dark red circle in the centre and labeled it ‘TREASURE’ in bold black capitals. Next morning, when he took the old miser his breakfast �" half a slice of mouldy bread and brackish water in a rusty jug �" he pretended to study the map secretly behind his master’s chair.

“What? What’s that?” demanded the miser, gnawing at his miserable toast. “It’s a plan to steal my money! Scoundrel!”

“N-no, no, sir!” stammered the servant. “It’s nothing, nothing at all …”

“Bring it here! AT ONCE!” roared the miser, and the servant gave it to him with a very great show of reluctance.

“Aha!” said the miser jubilantly. “Treasure! And you wanted to hide it from me? My treasure, my precious treasure! I must have it!”

“Well,” said the servant, snatching away the map. “Give me my wages first, or I’ll put this paper �" the key to the treasure �" in the fire!”

“No! Please! Mercy!” Willy-nilly, moaning and groaning as he counted out each coin, the greedy old man gave him a million in exchange for the map.

Now this treasure obviously did not exist. The old miser was so blinded by his greed that he never even thought that the map might be a forgery. He sold his house, hired a hundred workers, and set out to look for the treasure.

“I’ll be the richest man in the world!” He gloated. “I’ll be so rich and powerful all the countries of the world will bow before ME! I will rule the world! Muhahaha! Muhahaha!”

“Start by buying yourself a new pair of trousers,” muttered the servant, as he left with his sacks of gold. “Stingy old wretch!”

While the greedy old man spent all his time and money searching for the non-existent treasure, the servant went to the City and set himself up in business. He became very rich.

In the middle of the African Jungles, all the old miser’s workers deserted him, because he refused to let them buy enough food and equipment.

“We ain’t eatin’ no more rotten bread!” They exploded. Then they put him in a crate and sent him all the way to Timbuktu.

But the old man went back. He kept on hunting for his precious treasure. In the end, he slipped on his torn trousers and died.

The old moral remains as true as ever: Greed is a curse.

  

Reviews

[Shay]

creative, i like it

[Sarusai Hiryu]

Very droll ... lol...

[Katharine Eilene]

This story was very creative. Just as silver threaded queen has said, this reminds me a little bit of a Grimm Fairy Tale kind of thing. Good job.

[silver threaded queen]

Amazingly creative, with a sort of Brothers Grimm twist... loved it!

[Enigma]

Honestly, this was a really creative story that got me smiling st the end. The choice of word was perfect for this and it's well written aswell. I loved the moral behind the story and how it played out! Very nice :)