A Miser man who loved to hoard money and spent as little as possible had accumulated a gold stack. He buried his gold in a secret place in his garden.
Every day he went to the spot, dug up this treasure and counted it piece by piece to make sure it was all there. A thief was observing the Misers trips, could easily guess what the Miser had hidden.
One night the thief quietly dug up the treasure and ran away with it.
When the Miser went to his treasure the next day, he discovered his loss, and he was overcome with grief and despair. He groaned and cried and tore his hair.
A passer-by heard his cries and asked what had happened. "My gold! O my gold!" cried the Miser, wildly, "someone has robbed me of my gold!" "Your gold! There in that hole? Why did you put it there? Why did you not keep it in the house where you could easily get it when you had to buy things?" "Buy things!" screamed the Miser angrily. "Why, I would never touch my gold. I couldn't even think of spending any of it." The stranger picked up a large stone and threw it into the hole. "If that is the case," he said, "cover up this stone. It is worth just as much to you as the gold you lost!"
"But that's not gold it’s a stone?" Exclaimed the Miser. The Man Said, "You would never use it, so how does it matter if it’s a stone or Gold."
Moral: A possession is worth no more than the use we make of it.
