The Jug of Gold

I heard from our elders, who in turn heard it from their grandfathers, and their grandfathers from their own elders, that there once lived a poor plowman who had only a small plot of land and a pair of oxen.
Suddenly, one winter, the plowman's oxen died. When spring came and it was time to plow and sow, he couldn't work without the oxen, so he leased his land to a neighbor.

The neighbor began plowing, and suddenly his plow hit something hard. He looked and saw a large clay jug filled with gold. He abandoned his oxen and plow and ran to the landowner.
"Hey, may your eyes shine with joy!" he said. "A jug of gold has been found in your land—go and take it!"
"No, brother, this gold isn't mine," replied the landowner. "You rented my land, you're plowing it, and everything in the land is yours. You found the gold—let it be yours. Take it!"

They began to argue: one insisted the gold was the other's, and the other insisted it wasn't. The argument grew heated, and a fight broke out. They went to the king to complain. When the king heard about the jug of gold, his eyes lit up. He said:
"This gold isn't yours, and it isn't his. The jug of gold was found in my land—so it belongs to me."

The king and his retinue hurried to the place where the jug had been found. When they arrived, he ordered it to be opened, and to his horror, he saw that the jug was full of snakes! Furious, the king returned to his palace and ordered the audacious plowmen to be punished for daring to deceive him.
"O sovereign, may your life be long," cried the unfortunate men, "why do you wish to destroy us? There are no snakes in the jug—it's full of pure gold!"

The king sent his men to check. They went, returned, and reported that the jug contained gold.
"Ah!" exclaimed the king, thinking to himself, "Perhaps I didn't look closely enough or saw the wrong jug."
He went back, opened the jug, and again it was full of snakes. What kind of miracle was this? No one could understand. The king ordered all the wise men of his kingdom to be gathered.
"Explain to me, wise men," he said, "what kind of miracle is this? The plowmen found a jug of gold in the land. When I go there, the jug is full of snakes, but when they go, it's full of gold. What does this mean?"
"Do not be angry, O sovereign, at our words," said the wise men. "This jug of gold was granted to the poor plowmen for their hard work and honesty. When they go, they find gold—a reward for their honest labor. But when you go and try to steal someone else's happiness, you find snakes instead of gold."

The king shuddered and was at a loss for words.
"Very well," he said finally. "Now decide: to whom does the gold belong?"
"Of course, to the landowner!" exclaimed the plowman.
"No, to the one who plowed the land!" objected the landowner.
And the bickering began again.
"Wait, wait," the wise men intervened. "Do you have children—a son or a daughter?"

It turned out that one had a son and the other a daughter. The wise men then decided: let the young ones marry, and the jug of gold be given to them. The parents agreed, and everyone was satisfied. The quarrel ended, and a wedding began. They celebrated for seven days and seven nights. The jug of gold, a gift for their hard work and honesty, was given to their children. The gold went to the newlyweds, and the snakes—to the greedy king.

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The Jug of Gold

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