One day a ragged beggar was creeping along from house to house. He
carried an old wallet in his hand, and was asking at every door for a
few cents to buy something to eat. As he was grumbling at his lot, he
kept wondering why it was that people who had so much money were never
satisfied, but were always wanting more.
“Here,” said he, “is the master of this house--I know him well. He was
always a good business man, and he made himself wondrously rich a long
time ago. Had he been wise he would have stopped then. He would have
turned over his business to some one else, and then he could have spent
the rest of his life in ease. But what did he do instead? He began
building ships and sending them to sea to trade with foreign lands. He
thought he would get mountains of gold.
“But there were great storms on the water; his ships were wrecked, and
his riches were swallowed up by the waves. Now his hopes all lie at the
bottom of the sea, and his great wealth has vanished like the dreams
of a night. There are many such cases. Men seem never to be satisfied
unless they can gain the whole world. As for me, if I had only enough
to eat and to wear I would not wish anything more.”
Just at that moment Fortune came down the street. She saw the beggar
and stopped. She said to him: “Listen! I have long desired to help you.
Hold your wallet and I shall pour this gold into it. But I shall pour
only on this condition: All that falls into the wallet shall be pure
gold, but every piece that falls upon the ground shall become dust. Do
you understand?”
“Oh, yes, I understand,” said the beggar.
[Illustration]
“Then have a care,” said Fortune. “Your wallet is old; so do not load
it too heavily.”
The beggar was so glad that he could hardly wait. He quickly opened his
wallet, and a stream of yellow dollars was poured into it. The wallet
soon began to grow heavy.
“Is that enough?” asked Fortune.
“Not yet.”
“Isn’t it cracking?”
“Never fear.”
The beggar’s hands began to tremble. Ah, if the golden stream would
only pour forever!
“You are the richest man in the world now!”
“Just a little more,” said the beggar; “add just a handful or two.”
“There, it’s full. The wallet will burst.”
“But it will hold a little more, just a little more!”
Another piece was added and the wallet split. The treasure fell upon
the ground and was turned to dust. Fortune had vanished.
The beggar had now nothing but his empty wallet, and it was torn from
top to bottom. He was as poor as before.
--_From the Russian of_ IVAN KRILOFF.