Treasure Pot
故事全文
There was once a child called Tien-fu. His father passed away while he was young, and he had to work at Landlord Wang’s house to help his own family.
Each morning, Tien-fu had to cut fresh grass to feed the landlord’s horse. One day, Tien-fu was cutting grass as usual, when he noticed that the grass had grown scarce from his daily harvesting. He said worriedly, “What should I do? If this is all the grass that I can find, Landlord Wang is sure to deduct a portion of my wages.”Suddenly, he saw that the opposite hill was covered in grass, and quickly ran over to cut it.
But something mysterious happened. As soon as Tien-fu cut the grass, it grew back. Tien-fu said, “Maybe I’m so hungry that my mind is playing tricks on me!”He cut the grass a few more times but the grass grew back miraculously. Just then, his mother brought him his lunch. Tien-fu told his mother, “The grass here is rather odd. It grows back once it is cut.”His mother rubbed her eyes and said, “There must be treasure buried here. Go find where it is hidden.”Tien-fu took his scythe and began digging around. Eventually, he found a small clay pot.
After getting home, Tien-fu poured chicken feed into the clay pot for his chickens. But something strange happened, and Tien-fu shouted, “Mother! Come and see!”They saw chicken feed flowing continuously from the pot, and the chickens could not finish eating all of it. Tien-fu’s mother said, “This must be the legendary pot.”She took a copper coin and placed it into the pot. Sure enough, copper coins kept flowing out from the pot.
Tien-fu and his mother used the money to buy a small plot of land. They tilled the fields, reared chickens and led a somewhat comfortable life. Eventually, Landlord Wang heard about Tien-fu’s legendary pot and sent someone to snatch it from Tien-fu. The landlord excitedly placed gold pieces within the pot. Sure enough, the gold flowed from the pot and covered the entire floor. The landlord was so overjoyed and he began to dance in elation. But he accidentally slipped on the gold and sat heavily upon the pot, crushing it into pieces. All the gold vanished instantly.
