In an ancient city, there lived a man who knew how to cheat others in various ways to accumulate wealth. One day, while passing through a forest, he stumbled upon a chest. Written on the chest were the following words:
"You may open this chest if you choose,
But if you do, your life you will lose."
The swindler thought to himself, "I won't open this chest myself. I'll get someone else to open it. Why should I risk my life by opening it for nothing?"
He brought the most simple-minded man from the city and asked him to open the chest. Although the man was simple-minded, he was not uneducated. He told the swindler, "It is clearly written here that whoever opens it will die. Won't I die if I open this chest?"
But the swindler was not one to back down easily. He said to the simpleton:
"Oh, there is a beautiful princess inside! I heard her voice myself and ran straight to you. What use do I have for a girl? But you are not married yet! You can open this chest and keep the princess. It will be more than enough if the princess happily rewards me with just a necklace..."
Falling for his deceptive words, the simpleton opened the chest. But there was no princess inside!
Instead, it was filled with a massive treasure of diamonds, sapphires, pearls, rubies, and a royal crown.
When the simpleton got angry and prepared to fight with the swindler, the swindler quickly said, "Look, there is wealth worth millions here! Let's do one thing—we will split it half and half between us."
Even though the simpleton was furious, his mind filled with greed upon seeing the glittering diamonds, sapphires, pearls, and the royal crown inside the chest. He thought, "So what if I didn't get a princess? With this much wealth, I can live like a king myself." Therefore, he agreed to the swindler's proposal to share it equally.
However, the real game was about to begin...
Even after agreeing to split the treasure, the poisonous seeds of distrust and greed began to take root in both their minds.
The Swindler's Thought: "I discovered this chest first. It was opened only because of my wit. Is this fool going to walk away with half the wealth just for lifting the lid? Never! I want all of it."
The Simpleton's Thought: "This cheat was lying to me and pushing me into the jaws of death. Believing him would be pure foolishness. If I eliminate him right here, the entire treasure will be mine."
Before moving the treasure to their city, the swindler played a trick. He said to the simpleton, "Brother! Our luck has turned today. Let's celebrate this joy. You guard the chest here while I run to the nearby town to fetch some delicious food and sweet water. We will eat to our heart's content and then head home after dividing the wealth."
The simpleton agreed. The swindler went to the town, where he bought delicious food and also procured a highly lethal poison from a physician. He mixed the poison into the food meant for the simpleton, ensuring that the fool would die upon eating it, leaving the entire treasure for himself.
On the other hand, the simpleton guarding the chest in the forest had also hatched a deadly plot. He gathered a heavy wooden log and thought, "The moment he returns, I will strike him on the head from behind and kill him."
As evening fell, the swindler returned to the forest holding the food packets. Just as he approached the simpleton to hand over the food, the simpleton crept up from behind and struck him hard on the head with the heavy wooden log. Covered in blood, the swindler died on the spot.
The simpleton was ecstatic. He laughed aloud and said, "Did you think I was a fool? Look now, all the wealth belongs solely to me!"
Exhausted from the day's hard work and excitement, the simpleton was intensely hungry. Without a second thought, he eagerly devoured the delicious food brought by the swindler. Within just a few minutes of finishing his meal, the poison began to take effect. His stomach burned intensely, and he began to writhe in agonizing pain.
Just moments before drawing his final breath, his eyes fell upon the two lines inscribed on the chest:
"You may open this chest if you choose,
But if you do, your life you will lose."
He finally understood that there was no bloodthirsty ghost or demon inside the chest. Instead, it contained a treasure that breeds such immense greed in the human heart that its ultimate consequence is nothing but 'death'.
Ultimately, both the swindler and the simpleton lay dead right beside the heap of gold, silver, and diamonds. The mysterious chest remained open in the forest just as before, waiting for its next greedy victim...
Excessive greed is a person's greatest enemy, and its consequence is always utterly destructive.
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