Once upon a time, a man was working in his field when he made an extraordinary discovery. Buried beneath the soil was a large earthenware cask. Curious about the unusual vessel, he dug it out, carried it home, and showed it to his wife.
He asked her to clean it, hoping that the old container might still be useful.
His wife fetched a brush and began scrubbing the inside of the cask. But before she could finish, something astonishing happened. The moment she started brushing, the vessel began producing brushes of its own!
One brush appeared, then another, and soon the cask was filled with them. No matter how many brushes she removed, more immediately took their place.
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The couple watched in amazement. They had never encountered anything like it. Realising that the brushes could be sold, the man began taking them to market. Before long, the family had enough money to live comfortably.
Their discovery had brought them unexpected prosperity, but the mysterious cask had another secret.
One day, a coin accidentally fell into the vessel. Immediately, the brushes disappeared. In their place, the cask began filling itself with money!
The man could hardly believe his eyes. He and his wife soon discovered that they could take out as much money as they wished, yet the supply never ran out.
Their little family was suddenly rich. They no longer needed to worry about their daily expenses, and the magical cask seemed to promise a lifetime of comfort.
However, there was an elderly grandfather living in their household. He was weak and shaky, and his advanced age made physical work difficult.
Instead of allowing the old man to rest, his grandson decided that he could still be useful. He ordered his grandfather to sit beside the magical cask and shovel out the endless supply of money.
The old grandfather did as he was told, working as hard as his frail body permitted. But the task was exhausting. After some time, his strength would fail, and he could no longer continue.
Whenever this happened, his grandson became angry. Rather than understanding the old man’s weakness, he accused him of being lazy and unwilling to work.
The farmer seemed to have forgotten that his grandfather was elderly and could not be expected to perform difficult labour indefinitely.
One day, the old man’s strength finally gave out completely.
While working beside the cask, he lost his balance and fell inside. There he died.
At that very moment, the magic of the cask changed.
The money disappeared, and the vessel began filling itself with something horrifying: dead grandfathers!
The man was overwhelmed with terror. His wonderful source of unlimited wealth had become a dreadful problem. Instead of collecting endless riches, he now had to remove the dead bodies from the cask.
There was no escaping the task. He had to pull out all the dead grandfathers and arrange for them to be buried.
The burials required money, and the farmer was forced to spend the very fortune that the magical cask had given him. His wealth gradually disappeared as he paid for the burials.
At last, when all the bodies had been removed and buried, the farmer had spent everything he had gained.
Then came the final misfortune.
The magical cask broke.
With the destruction of the vessel, the farmer lost the extraordinary source of wealth that had transformed his life. All his riches were gone, and he found himself just as poor as he had been before discovering the mysterious container.
The cask that had once seemed like an endless blessing had brought his prosperity to an end.
And so, the farmer lost everything, learning too late that wealth without compassion could become a terrible burden.
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Moral
The Magic Cask teaches that wealth cannot compensate for a lack of compassion.
The farmer’s greatest mistake was not discovering the magical vessel or becoming wealthy. It was allowing his prosperity to make him selfish and cruel towards his elderly grandfather.
The story reminds us that elderly people deserve patience, dignity, and kindness. It also warns that greed and the exploitation of others can bring unexpected consequences.
The central lesson is that wealth may bring comfort, but kindness and respect are far more valuable.
Knowledge Check
1. What did the man discover while working in his field?
He discovered a large earthenware cask buried in the ground.
2. What happened when his wife cleaned the cask?
It began producing an endless supply of brushes.
3. What caused the brushes to disappear?
A coin accidentally fell into the cask, causing it to start producing money instead.
4. How did the farmer become wealthy?
He discovered that he could remove unlimited amounts of money from the magical cask.
5. Why did the farmer make his grandfather work?
He wanted the elderly man to shovel money out of the cask, even though he was physically weak.
6. What happened when the grandfather fell into the cask?
He died, the money disappeared, and the cask began filling itself with dead grandfathers.
7. How did the farmer lose his wealth?
He had to remove and arrange burials for all the dead grandfathers, spending his fortune in the process.
8. What happened to the cask at the end?
It broke, leaving the farmer as poor as he had been before discovering it.
9. What important lesson does the tale teach?
It teaches the importance of kindness, respect for elderly people, and the dangers of greed and selfishness.
Source
“The Magic Cask,” from The Chinese Fairy Book, edited by Richard Wilhelm and translated into English by Frederick H. Martens, published by Frederick A. Stokes Company, New York, in 1921. The supplied text identifies the tale on page 11.
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