The Farmer and His Sons

An old farmer had three sons. All three were big and strong, but lazy. While their father worked in the vineyard from morning till night, they slept in the shade, quarreled and wasted time.

As the farmer grew older he worried. "When I am gone, who will look after this vineyard? If these three carry on like this, they will go hungry," he thought. One day he lay down on his bed and called his sons to him.

"My children," he said, "I will tell you a secret. A great treasure is buried in the soil of our vineyard. I don't quite remember where, but it is there somewhere. When I am gone, dig, find it and share it."

Not long after, the old farmer closed his eyes. When their mourning was over, the sons grabbed their spades and ran to the vineyard. They started in one corner. They dug and dug. They turned over the soil under every vine, under every stone, every inch of the ground. Days passed, weeks passed. No treasure appeared.

But when spring came, something strange happened. In the soil that had been dug so deeply, loosened and aired, the vines grew more lushly than ever before. By the end of summer the branches were nearly breaking under the weight of grapes. The harvest was so rich that when the brothers sold the grapes, they earned chests full of money.

That evening the eldest brother looked at the vineyard, spade in hand, and smiled. "I understand," he said. "Father knew exactly where the treasure was. The treasure was in the soil, but it was not gold. The treasure was work."

From that day on the three brothers never left the vineyard. Every year they dug, and every year they found abundance.