Hidden Treasure

Once upon a time, there was an old man who owned a vineyard. He was a hard worker, and took care of his vines, growing some of the best grapes in the area. He had three sons, but was an unhappy man, because all his sons were lazy.

He worked hard from dawn to dusk in the vineyard, but none of his sons even offered to help him!  They spent their time sleeping or whiling away the time in useless activities. As he grew older, the old man grew weaker, and was not able to work as hard as before, but he continued to tend to his grapes as best as he could. However, he was now worried, for none of his sons had learnt anything about the vineyard.

He was old and knew he would die soon, and wondered, “How will my sons manage after I die? If they continue to be as lazy as they are, the vines will wither and there will be no harvest. How will they earn money?” Tormented by such thoughts, the old man’s health deteriorated. “I should somehow make them aware of their duties and the importance of work” he thought.

One day, the old farmer was working on his farm in the cold, and he fell sick. He was bedridden, and could not move. He knew he would die soon, and called his sons. “My sons, the time has come for me to die. I wanted to teach you how to work on the farm, but you never listened to me. I know that you have no idea how to tend to a vineyard, but I do not want you to starve, so I have accumulated a treasure for you. Dig in the vineyard and you will find it. You can live happily on the treasure for your entire life!” As he said these words, the old man breathed his last.

The three sons were excited! Treasure! Their father had buried a treasure in the vineyard! “We only have to dig once for the treasure. Once we find it, we can easily live on it all our lives!” they said. “We shall never have to work again!”

Early the next morning, they began their work, digging up the vineyard bit by bit. They were too lazy to uproot the grape vines growing there, so they dug all around the roots carefully so that they would not miss the treasure.

It took them a month to dig up the entire vineyard, but they could not find the treasure. They decided to try again, this time digging a little deeper. Again, they could not find anything. They decided to try one last time, but again, they returned, disappointed! Dispirited, and angry with their father, they gave up.

Meanwhile, that year, the rainfall was not good, and all the vineyards in the area suffered. The harvest was bad, and the grapes that did grow were dry and looked lifeless. However, the old man’s vineyard flourished, since the earth dug again and again near the roots of the vines had absorbed all the water there was, and provided plenty of nourishment to the growing grapes. In time, the fattest, juiciest grapes grew on the vines! No one in the area had seen such grapes before! They came to the three brothers and asked them how they had managed to grow such grapes.

The lazy brothers realized that all their digging had resulted in a great harvest. Spurred on by their friends and neighbours, they set to work at once, harvesting the grapes, and carting them to the market. At the market, their grapes sold at a price higher than ever before, for they were the best grapes of the year!

When the three brothers returned home and counted their earnings from the sale, they realized that it was a small fortune! By digging in the vineyard they had really found a treasure! This was the treasure their father had spoken about! They finally understood that hard work would always yield results. They silently thanked their father for his clever way of making them realize their error, and resolved never to be lazy again, but to work hard, so that they could reap such wonderful grapes again!