A Shrewd Farmer's Story

Once upon a time there lived a farmer who worked far from his home in the fields of a rich baron. In the past, gangs of robbers had terrorized the region, but the emperor had sent his soldiers to drive out the thieves and now the area was peaceful and safe. Every once in a while, though, old weapons from the past battles of the robbers and soldiers were found in the fields.

While he was chopping down a tree one day, the farmer found a bag full of gold. The farmer had only ever seen silver coins, and he could hardly contain his surprise when he found the gold.

On his way home, the farmer thought about the problems that this sudden wealth could cause him. First of all, everything found on the baron's territory belonged to the baron. By law, the farmer had to hand the gold over to him. The farmer decided that it was much fairer for him to keep the treasure because he was very poor, rather than give it to the baron who already had a lot of money. He realized the risk he would run if anyone found out about his luck. He would never tell anyone, of course. But his wife had a reputation for talking too much, and she would never keep a secret. Sooner or later he felt sure that he would end up in jail. He thought the problem over and over until he found a solution.

Before arriving at his home, he left the bag full of gold in a bush next to some pine trees. The day after, instead of going to work, he went by the village to buy some fish, some pastries, and a rabbit. In the afternoon he went home and said to his wife, “Get your basket and come with me. Yesterday it rained and the wood is full of mushrooms. We must get to them before someone else does!”

The wife, who loved mushrooms, picked up her basket and followed her husband. When they got to the woods, the farmer ran to his wife, shouting, “Look! Look! We have found a pastry tree!” and he showed her the branches he had decorated with pastries. His wife was astonished, but she was even more perplexed when, instead of mushrooms, she found trout in the grass.

The farmer laughed happily. “Today is our lucky day! My uncle Ichabod said that everyone has one lucky day. We might even find a treasure!” In addition to being a gossip, the farmer's wife was also a bit of a fool. So she believed her husband and chanted, while looking around, “This is our lucky day; this is our lucky day.”

The woman's basket was full of fish by now. When she and her husband reached the banks of the river, the farmer ran ahead of her, looked into the thicket, and said: “Yesterday I laid out my nets, and I want to check whether I've caught anything.”

A few minutes later the wife heard the husband shout, “Look at what I've caught! What an amazing thing! I've caught a rabbit!”

They were walking back home, and the wife kept talking excitedly about the great dinner with the pastries, the fish, and the rabbit. The husband said, “Let's go by the wood again. We could find other pastries!”

They went to the spot where the farmer had hidden his gold coins. The farmer pretended to find something. “Look over here! There's a strange bag, and it's full of gold! This is a magical forest. We found the pastries on the branches of the trees, then we found the trout in the grass, and now gold.”

His wife was so overcome that tears filled her eyes. She was speechless with disbelief, and she gulped as she touched the shiny gold coins.

At home, after dinner, neither of the two could fall asleep. The farmer and his wife kept getting up to look over the treasure they had hidden in an old, worn-out shoe. The next day the farmer went back to work, but first said to his wife, “Don't tell anybody about what happened yesterday.” And he repeated the same thing every day after that.

Pretty soon, however, the entire village had heard about the treasure. The baron soon asked the farmer and his wife to come to his home. When they went to see the baron, the farmer tried to stand behind his wife. At the request of the baron, she spoke first of the pastries, then of the trout on the grass, and finally of the rabbit in the river.

Meanwhile, behind her, the husband kept tapping his forehead with his finger and gesturing to the baron. The baron began looking at the woman with pity. “And then I bet you found a treasure, too.”

“That's right, sir!” the woman said.

The baron turned to the farmer and, tapping his finger on his forehead, said sympathetically, “I see what you mean. Unfortunately, I have the same problem with my wife.”

Then, the baron took the farmer aside and said, “Let's pretend we believe your wife's story. You may keep the gold. I know from experience with my own wife that once she's convinced of something, it's hard to change her mind!”

And so the farmer and his wife were sent home and the shrewd farmer spent his money wisely.