Buried Treasure (An Old Tale)

4.8

An old peasant had a large garden with many fruit trees. He was also the father of three strong, but lazy sons. They helped him very little in his work. Every morning before the sun was hot the peasant began to work in his garden. And every afternoon he had a rest in his garden under a tree.

There came a time when the peasant could no longer work among his trees, for he was very, very old.

One day his three sons gathered in his room to hear the reading of the will.

“I leave to my sons my garden and the treasure which lies buried there.”

The three sons looked at one another. “Treasure!” they exclaimed. “Treasure buried in the garden! If we hire others to dig there, they may steal our treasure from us. We must work in the garden until we find it.”

So the sons divided the garden into three parts and began to work harder than ever before. They dug from one end of the garden to the other, but they could not find the treasure.

That year, however, the fruit-trees brought so much fruit, that when the three sons sold the fruit each received what seemed to him a fortune.

When they divided the money, one of them said, “Indeed our digging has brought us a treasure. Our father was very wise.”

And so each year the three sons dug in the garden, and each year their digging brought them a treasure.