Sam was a greedy and a selfish man. He always desired to have lots and lots of money and never
hesitated to cheat others to make 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 used to calculate each and every small aspect. He paid very little amount of wages to his servants. Where ever he went, he calculated a lot to save money by deceiving others. He also told a lot of lies to protect his wealth. Simply, Sam was the antonym for the word; HONESTY.
However, he was taught a nice lesson by his own act.
One day, he missed a small bag, which contained 50 gold coins. He was searching for the bag of gold coins, day and night. He sent his workers in search
of the bag, but none could find it. He told his friends and neighbors that he had lost a bag of gold coins and requested them to inform him, if they found it. Sam was so sad that he had lost so many gold coins.
After a couple of days, a ten year old girl, who lived near Sam’s house, told her father that she had found a small bag and that it had 50 gold coins. Her father worked in Sam’s land and he told his daughter that the bag belonged to his master. He had lost it two days ago, and added that he would return the bag to his master.
They weren’t very rich, and the father could have easily retained the gold coins, and hide the fact of finding the bag. He was so honest that he felt that he should return the valuable coins to his master, as he was the rightful owner.
He gave the bag back to his master Sam, and asked him to check whether the bag had 50 gold coins. Sam who was literally 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 the worker’s story, and decided to take the issue to court.
The judge heard both the sides. He questioned 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 m’lord, I had 75 gold coins in my bag, and they gave me only 50. Hence, it is quite obvious that they have stolen the balance 25 coins!’
Judge then asked, ‘Are you sure you that your bag had 75 coins?’ and Sam nodded his head in acceptance.
The judge then made his judgment, ‘Since Sam lost a bag of 75 gold coins and the bag found by the girl had only 50 coins, it is obvious that the bag found, didn’t belong to Sam, and it was lost by someone else. In addition, if anyone found a bag of 75 gold coins, I will declare that it belongs to Sam. As there are no claims against the loss of 50 coins, I order the girl and his father to take those 50 coins as a token of appreciation for their honesty!’
