Read the fable here: The Miser
A Summary of the Miser and His Gold Story
A Miser buried his gold in a secret hole in the ground where he could go and count his treasure. A thief saw him digging up the treasure one day and stole the gold. The Miser came and saw the gold was stolen. Someone passed by to ask what happened. When the Miser explained that his treasure was stolen from the hole, the passerby asked him why he didn’t keep it in the house to spend it when he needed it. The Miser couldn’t think of anything to buy with the money, so the passerby threw in a plain rock and said, “If that’s the case, bury that stone instead. It’s worth just as much as the treasure you lost.”
The Moral of the Miser Fable
According to Aesop, the moral of the story is “a possession is worth no more than the use we make of it.”
Questions about the Fable of the Miser
- Why did the passerby say that the regular stone was worth just as much as the gold?
- Do you have any special or expensive possessions that you hide away or keep safe somewhere? Why is this so important to you?
- Based on the lesson of this fable, what would you say to someone who had saved a lot of money without any reason to spend it?
- If you had to spend the money that you had today, what would you buy and why?
- Instead of spending money, you could give it away to someone who needs it. What charities do you or could you support with money your family has earned?
