The Miser And His Gold
- ️Wed Aug 14 2024
"Miser and his gold" is one of Aesop's Fables.
A miser had his gold buried in a secret spot. Every day he went to the spot to check if it was all still there. A thief had been observing him and was curious about what the miser had hidden, and one night dug up the gold and ran off with it. When the miser discovered his loss in the next day, he grieved in despair. A passerby heard him and asked what the matter was. The miser told him about his loss, and the passerby asked why he did not keep his gold in his home to easily get it when he had to buy things. The miser admited he never intended to spend it. Then the passerby picked up a stone and put it in the gold's former place, and told the miser the stone is worth just as much to him as the treasure he lost.
Tropes:
- Driven to Suicide: Some later variants have the gold found in a wall by a man who went broke and decided to hang himself. Of course, the man isn't so eager to die once he gets the treasure... the miser, however, once he finds the gold missing, can only console himself with the fact that the rope is free.
- Minimalist Cast: The miser, thief and the passerby are the only characters in this tale.
- Nameless Narrative: No one is named in this tale.
- The Noun and the Noun: It is called "miser and his gold".