Once upon a time there was a poor family and a rich neighboring family. One day the wife of the rich family said to her husband, “My darling, you see, our neighbor looks so happy. You can hear him singing loudly and his laughter evey day.” The man of the rich family did not reply but kept thinking himself. Some days later the wife of the rich family talked to her husband again. “Darling, it is unusual. You see, our neighbor lost his laughter and stopped singing now. Why?” The man of the rich family replied, “Well, because I placed some pieces of gold in their house secretly days before.” After the man of the poor family got the gold, he was so upset. He was busy thinking how to deposit the gold, how to spend it and how to prevent it from being stolen. There is no time for him to sing and laugh now. So the gold took away his laughter. |