The miser's gold [short story]

Title

Creator

H.G.K

Language

English

Year

1941

Subject

Short stories, Philippine (English)

Philippine fiction (English)

Rights

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

Abstract

[In the forest, there's a greedy old miser-who lived alone in a hut. All his life this old man had saved all his money. When he had saved enough coppers, he would exchange them for a gold piece. One night, a robber stole all the miser's gold, but run away and left the gold as he thought that someone was chasing him. A fairy came up and decided to turn these gold into something which a lot of people would enjoy.]

Fulltext

APRIL, 1941 THE YOUNG CITIZEN 133 READING TIME FOR YOUNG. FOLKS THE MISER'S GOLD An Old Legend By H. G. K. THERE was once a greedy old miser-who lived alone in a hut in a forest. All his life this old man had saved all his money. When he had saved enough coppers, he would exchange them for a gold piece. Then he would hide the gpld piece away in an iron kettle that he buried in the ground. One night a robber, who had heard of the greedy old miser and of his many gold pieces, crept into the woods. When the old man had blown out his candle and gone to sleep, the robber. crept to the hiding place of the i r on kettle of gold money. He began to dig in the earth, and soon found the k et t 1 e. He pulled it out of the ground and took off the lid. By the bright moonlight that shone down through the trees, the robber could see the gold pieces shine. "How rich I shall be!" said the robber. He put the lid back onto the kettle and started for the edge of the woods. Just as he was almost out of th.e woods, he thought he heard a twig crack behind him. "Someone. is trying to catch me/' he thought, and so he started to run. And at that moment he caught his foot on a · big root that stuck up from the ground. Down went the robber. The kettle flew out of his hand, the lid came off, and the gold pieces were scattered ov_er . the ground. Before he could get up and hunt the gold pieces, it was dawn, and the robber was glad to run away into the town without being caught. Soon after, a good, beautiful fairy floatecl by. She saw the gold pieces lying about on the ground, and guessed at once that some one had _been trying to rob' the greedy old miser who lived in the hut in the forest. "This go 1 d must not stay here," the fairy. said. "If I leave it the old miser will find it and will hide it away again. I will see if I cannot put it away where everyone call enjoy it." So the good fairy bent down, gathered up the gold pieces,_ and put them back into, the iron kettle. · Then she left the forest and floated out over the green meadows. As the fairy floated along she reached into the iron kettle for gold pieces: She tossed them down one by one into the grass of the green meadows. In each spot where a gold piece. fell, there blossomed in a moment a shining .(Please turn to page 147.) APRIL, 1941 THE YOUNQ CITIZEN 147 MISER'S GOLD NIGHT IN A HUT During the night a leop( Continued from page 13]) (Continued from page 137) ard had sneaked through golden yellow flower. Soon were able to kill them. the fence to get one of the all the meadows in ·all the We were tired and soon goats. He had killed two land were filled ~ith beau- we went to sleep, although of th~m and had begun ~o tiful golden flowers, the our beds were not very eat his prey. The cattle m good fairy's golden yellow comfortable. I do not know t~e corral h~d be~ome. exflowers which everyone how.long I.had been asleep, cited. . This n01~e h~d could enjoy. And they have when I was sudden 1 y aw~kened the natives m bloomed there ever since. awakened by a loud scream- their huts, and they knew Thus. the good fairy ing and yelling. outside. at. once that there was a changed the miser's ~old We got up at once. We wild beast around. Two ~f into something beautiful could clearly hear the ex- the men ha~ taken their which everybody would . d . f . d spears and shields and gone eni'oy. cite yo1ces o men outs1 e. outside quietly. We did not know what had k · h d I k . 1 It was dar ou.ts1de, but appene . too a p1sto h . d QUESTIONS . h d d f . d t ese natives are accustome m my an an my nen · · h d k I. What is. a legend? t k f th boa d to seemg m t e ar ness. 00 some 0 e r s The two men quick! y found (See the dictionary.) down.. We c?uld not see the leopard. The animal 2. What is a . miser? anythmg outside and the then tried to get out of the (Again see the dictionary.) noise ha~ stopped. We corral. He leaped at the 3. How did the miser in cal~ed twice and one ?f th~ two men, and they killed this story secure his "gold natives answered: Tu 1 h. . . Pl .eces? b . h P b ,, 1m with their long spears. m a1a sana a a, wana. A d · · d I d 4. Where did he hide (I h v kill d a leo ard.) me rnm size eopar th ? · a. e .. e P lay before us. The claws em . . . This k1l.lmg of a leopard of the beast were long and 5. What ey1l ~erson went did not interest us- very sharp, and looked' very to the old m1~er shut? much, we .were so accus- strong. I raised his lips and 6. What did the robber tomed to 1t at our farm. saw his great fangs which do?. Therefore we went to bed were about three inches 7. What happened to the ~gain and slept until morn- long: kettle of gold? mg. The leopard still had the 8. What did the fairy The naiives were talking spear in his side. Several see? noisily when we came out wounds showed us that both 9. What did the fairy of our hut the next morn- spearsmen had fought him. decide to do? ing. There was a corral The natives do not like too 10. Tell the rest of the near the huts where the cat- many holes in the skin of a story. tie and the goats .were kept leopard. They sell the 11. ·What do you think of at ·night. The fence of this yellow and brown spotted hoarding money and not corral was about nine feet skin, and they will get more using it? high and was built from money for it when there are 12. Do you know any branches of .red thorn trees. not many h-;,les in it. They fairy stories? Could you It was effective for keeping usually dry the skin in the tell one?· the wild animals out. (Please, turn to page 149.)

pages

133, 147

Media