Bag of Gold
Once, three travelers met on the road. When they started talking, it turned out that all three had left home due to their envy.
The first said:
- My neighbor suddenly became rich. Seeing his prosperity was so unbearable that I left home.
The second also shared his story.
- I was passionate about racehorses. But my friends had better horses. When they won at the races, I left my village so as not to suffer from envy.
Then the third traveler spoke:
- In our village, everyone has gardens. But I didn't have a garden. It takes a long time to grow one, and I couldn't bear to look at others' gardens when I had none. So I had to leave.
They decided to travel together. Soon they found a bag of gold. But they couldn't agree on how to divide it equally, so they turned to a passing dervish. "Judge us fairly and divide this gold among us," they asked.
- Alright, I will help you. But first, tell me how envious each of you is. This will determine each person's share.
- I suffer from envy even when my wife treats me to ayran or bread from our neighbors.
- And I burn with envy when I see someone giving alms to the needy from their own means.
- As for me, I feel upset when a person who helped me wants to help someone else. That's my kind of envy.
- "This gold cannot be divided fairly," thought the dervish. These three are so envious that each will surely be dissatisfied with their share. In the end, they will just kill each other. I pray to you, Allah, temporarily turn this gold into something less precious."
And suddenly, before the astonished trio, the gold turned into a regular pumpkin.
- "Now divide your find as you wish," said the dervish.
But after the gold, the pumpkin seemed so insignificant that the envious refused to divide it.
Then the dervish called over three boys playing nearby and asked them to divide the pumpkin into three equal parts. When they did, the traveler said:
- "Go home and share your part equally among your parents, brothers, and sisters. If you do everything as I said, this pumpkin will turn back into gold."
Then the dervish turned to the three envious men: "Wealth," he said, "will not make happy one who does not know moderation. Greed and envy can poison anything. For one who understands this, even a pumpkin will bring more benefit than a bag of gold."