The Gold in the Orchard*

There was once a farmer who had a fine orchard. He worked very hard all his life and the orchard always did well. But he knew that his three sons looked down upon farm-work, and were only interested in getting rich quickly.

When the farmer was old and knew he was going to die, he called his three sons to him and said, “My sons, there’s a lot of gold hidden in the orchard. Dig for it, if you want to have it.”

The sons tried to get him to tell them the exact place where the gold was hidden, but he said nothing more.

After the farmer was dead, the sons went to look for the gold. Since they didn’t know where the hiding-place was, they decided to begin digging all over the orchard. They dug and dug, but no gold was found. Finally they had to give up the attempt.

The next summer, the fruit crop was the biggest they had ever had. This was because of the thorough digging the orchard had got.

When the three sons saw the great amount of money they got after they sold the fruit, they suddenly understood what their wise father had meant when he said. “There’s gold hidden in the orchard. Dig for it.”

*orchard 果园

When the old farmer was living, __