The Brick of Gold

There was a miser in Akbar’s kingdom. His wife would say, “You are rich, but you never spend a penny. You never give me anything.” The miser turned a deaf ear to her complaints. One day, he went to the goldsmith and bought a brick of gold. When he got home, he buried it under a tree in his garden. Every morning, he would wake up and dig out the brick of gold. Then he would bury it again and go about his daily duties. One day, his servant saw him doing this. At night, the servant stole the gold and ran away. Next morning, when the miser found out that the gold was missing, he rushed to Akbar’s court and narrated his plight. Birbal advised, “Go home and bury a stone under the tree. Think that it is the gold brick, because when you had it, you never used it.”