Once upon a time, there lived a man.
The man was a miser.
He loved gold, but he hated to spend it.
One day, the miser decided to bury all his gold.
He dug a hole in his garden.
Then he carefully put his gold into the hole.
"You are all mine!" the miser said to his gold.
"No one knows where you are, except me!"
The miser laughed and did a funny dance.
Every day, the miser went into his garden.
He dug up his hole.
The miser wanted to see his gold.
He wanted to touch it.
Each time the miser said the same thing.
"No one knows where you are, except me!"
Then he laughed and did a funny dance.
One day, a man was passing by the miser's garden.
He heard the miser laughing loudly.
"Why is that miser so happy?" the man asked himself.
The man looked over the fence.
He saw the miser hide his gold.
"I know where your gold is too!" the man said.
He rubbed his hands together greedily.
Later that night, the man returned.
He was wearing a mask.
He came to take the miser's gold.
Yes, that man was a robber.
The next day, the miser went to look at his gold again.
He dug and dug, but found nothing.
"What? No! This cannot be!" shouted the miser.
The hole was empty.
His gold was gone.
Some people heard the miser shouting.
"What happened?" asked one old woman.
"My gold! Someone took my gold!" cried the miser.
"Where was your gold?" asked the woman.
The miser explained how he buried his gold in the garden.
He also told them he used to come and look at his gold every day.
The village people shook their heads quietly.
They knew the man was a miser.
"Did you ever take any of it out?"
asked a man wearing a hat.
"No, I only came to look at it!" answered the miser.
"Then you can come and look at this empty hole every day," the man said.
"If you don't spend your riches, it is the same as having no riches at all!"