The Unfortunate Miser by Caspar Friedrich Göd

Once, during the Thirty Years’ War, people hid all their gold and wealth in the underground cellars of Quedlinburg Castle to protect it from soldiers. It was said that the treasure was still there, guarded by ghosts.

One day, a poor villager went exploring near the ruined castle. After pushing through bushes, he found a dark passage leading underground. Inside, he saw a faint light shining through a hole. Suddenly, a ghost wrapped in a cloak appeared and the room lit up. The villager saw huge copper barrels filled with shining gold—just as his great-grandmother had told him.

The ghost told him: “You may take one piece of gold each day. But only one at a time.”

The ghost disappeared. The man took one gold piece, made a mark to remember the spot, and returned home happily.

He returned every day and collected one gold piece. Slowly, over a year, his life changed.His small hut became a big house, he bought many fields, and animals grazed on his land. He became rich—but also greedy.He hired servants and stopped working. His only concern became visiting the treasure daily.

Soon he thought: “Why work for one small piece a day? The whole treasure is mine! I should take more!”

So he started taking two pieces a day, then more. But that was still not enough.

At last he decided: “I’ll carry all the gold away in one trip.”

He brought many bags and climbed the hill, now fat and tired from his rich life. He imagined the life he would enjoy: becoming a great lord, riding a carriage, dining with important knights. When he finally reached the treasure, he plunged both arms into the gold and tried to fill his bags.

But the moment he tried to take too much, a terrible sound came. The treasure sank deep into the earth, fire and sulphur burst around him, and he fell unconscious.

The gold vanished forever.He never found the treasure again.

He could have lived a happy life with one piece of gold every day, but he didn’t know how to be satisfied.

Moral

1. Greed destroys what we already have. If we are not satisfied, we can lose everything.

2. Observe your mind. It trick you to become greedy.

3. Greedy never satisfied.