Gold Coins and a Selfish Man

Sam was a greedy and selfish man. H wanted lots and lots of wealth and never hesitated to cheat others to earn money. Also, he never wished to share anything with others. He was so selfish that he would like to own everything for himself. The selfish man was rather stingy. He paid paltry wages to his servants. Where ever he went, he deceived people in order to save money. He also lied to protect his wealth.

One day, he lost a small bag containing 50 gold coins. He searched for the bag day and night. He also sent his workers in search but none could find it. He told his friends and neighbours that he had lost the bag and requested them to inform him if they found it. Sam was dejected.

After a couple of days, a ten year old girl, who Sam’s neighbour, told her father that she found a small bag and it had 50 gold coins. Her father worked in Sam’s land. He told his daughter that it was his chief’s money and he had lost it before two days and added that he would return the bag to his master. The family was rather poor and the neighbor could have easily kept the bag to himself. But the honest man decided to give the bag to its rightful owner.

He gave it back to his master Sam and asked him to check whether the bag had 50 gold coins. Sam who was only happy to get the coins, decided to play a trick. He shouted at his worker, ‘There were 75 gold coins in this bag and you gave me only 50! Where are the other coins? You have stolen them!’

The worker was shocked to hear this and he pleaded to his master that he gave whatever his daughter had found. Selfish and greedy Sam did not accept it and they decided to take the issue to court to get the right judgment. The judge heard both the sides. He examined the daughter and the worker about the number of coins they had found in the bag and they assured it was only 50!

He cross-examined Sam and Sam replied, ‘Yes lord, I had 75 gold coins in my bag and now they gave me only 50! They have stolen my 25 coins!’ Judge asked, ‘Are you sure you had 75 coins?’ Sam nodded his head. Then the judge made his decision, ‘Since Sam lost a bag of 75 gold coins, the bag found by the girl which had only 50 coins doesn’t belong to Sam and it was lost by somebody else.

In addition, if anyone found a bag of 75 gold coins, I would declare it belongs to Sam. Also, there were no claims against the loss of 50 coins and I order the girl and his father to take those 50 coins as a token of appreciation for their honesty!’