The Miser and His Gold

Once there was a miser who sold all his possessions to buy a single lump of gold. Fearing it might be stolen, he buried it in a hole by an old wall and visited it every day to gloat over his treasure. One of his workmen, noticing the frequent visits, followed him and discovered the secret. That night, the workman dug up the gold and made off with it. When the miser returned the next day and found the hole empty, he began to tear his hair and lament loudly. A neighbor, hearing his cries and learning the cause, said, 'Why grieve so? Go and find a stone, place it in the hole, and imagine it is your gold. It will do you quite as much good, for when the gold was there, you never used it anyway.'