Paul was a very rich man, but he never spent any of his
money. He was scared that someone would steal it. He
pretended to be poor and wore dirty old clothes. People
laughed at him, but he didn’t care. He only cared about his
money.
One day, he bought a big lump of gold. He hid it in a hole by a tree. Every night, he went
to the hole to look at his treasure. He sat and he looked. ‘No one will ever find my gold!’
he said.
But one night, a thief saw Paul looking at his gold. And when Paul went home, the thief
picked up the lump of gold, slipped it into his bag and ran away!
The next day, Paul went to look at his gold, but it wasn’t there. It had disappeared! Paul
cried and cried! He cried so loud that a wise old man heard him. He came to help. Paul
told him the sad tale of the stolen lump of gold. ‘Don’t worry,’ he said. ‘Get a big stone
and put it in the hole by the tree.’
‘What?’ said Paul. ‘Why?’
‘What did you do with your lump of gold?’
‘I sat and looked at it every day,’ said Paul.
‘Exactly,’ said the wise old man. ‘You can do exactly the same with a stone.’
Paul listened, thought for a moment and then said, ‘Yes, you’re right. I’ve been very silly.
I don’t need a lump of gold to be happy!’