The Greedy Landowner

In a village on the banks of the Yellow River, there lived a landlord who was very stingy and greedy. Above all else, he loved gold. He never did anyone any good and worked his laborers to the bone.

One summer, heavy rains poured down. The water in the Yellow River rose high. Suddenly, one night, the river roared and flooded the banks. The villagers rushed to escape, climbing tall trees to save themselves from the flood. The landlord also climbed a tall tree, all the way to the very top, to wait until the water receded. In the morning, he saw that another person was sitting on the same tree, on a large branch—his laborer.

The landlord and the laborer had to stay in the tree for a long time. They had already been sitting there for two days, but the water wasn’t receding—it was still rising. The landlord and his laborer started talking. The landlord boasted:

"I, in case everything is lost, took so much gold with me that it will last me a lifetime."

"I have no gold," said the laborer, "and if everything is lost, I’ll have nowhere to live. Help me and lend me a little of your gold."

"No, brother, I didn’t count on you; I don’t have enough for myself. Didn’t you manage to grab anything?"

"All I had were corn cakes, and that’s what I took with me."

Hearing about the corn cakes, the landlord suddenly felt very hungry and asked the laborer for a cake.

"No, master, I didn’t count on you; I don’t have enough for myself," the laborer replied.

Two more days passed. The landlord became so hungry that he promised the laborer land and a new house if he would just give him a piece of a corn cake.

"I don’t need your promises," the laborer answered. "You’ve always deceived your workers; you’ll deceive me too. If you’re really that hungry—buy a cake from me with gold."

But the landlord refused to part with his gold no matter what.

A few more days later, the water receded. The laborer climbed down from the tree safe and sound. But the landlord remained in the tree—he had died of hunger, even though his pockets were full of gold.

More fairy tales

• The Child and the Sage
• The Sloth
• The Punished Monk
• How the Young Man Searched for His Beloved
• The Feat of Gao Liang