Lake Gandzirri

Once upon a time, a wealthy man came to Messina. He was so rich that he himself didn’t even know the full extent of his wealth. One day, he went for a walk along the shores of Lake Ganzirri and was captivated by its beauty. Wealthy people have this habit—if they like something, they immediately want to buy it. So, the rich man began to inquire:

"Whose lake is this?"

"It belongs to the king," they told him. The rich man went to see the king.

"Your Majesty, would you be willing to sell me the lake?"

"Why not sell it!" said the king. "If we agree on the price, I’ll sell it."

"What would the price be?"

"Well, I won’t ask for much. Just cover the bottom of Ganzirri with gold coins. Then we’ll split it—the coins to me, the lake to you."

"Deal!" exclaimed the rich man.

Seeing how easily the buyer agreed, the king grew worried that he had undervalued the lake. So, he quickly added:

"But I haven’t finished. The coins must stand on their edges."

"No, Your Royal Majesty, that’s too expensive. Let the coins lie flat."

"On their edges!" the king insisted.

"Flat!" the rich man insisted.

That evening, they couldn’t come to an agreement. But the next morning, the rich man saw the sunrise over Lake Ganzirri and rushed straight to the king.

"Very well, Your Royal Majesty, let it be as you say."

A day later, the rich man began transporting the coins. A caravan of a hundred mules, each carrying two saddlebags, arrived in the morning and left in the evening, continuing for exactly twenty days. Mountains of gold grew on the shore of the lake. Then they began placing the coins on the lake’s bottom.

The king personally supervised, ensuring that each coin was placed on its edge, tightly next to the others. The mountains of gold quickly dwindled, and the bottom of Lake Ganzirri now sparkled like the scales of a golden fish.

And then, on the final day, in the final hour, in the final minute, when the rich man already considered the lake his own, it turned out that they were short by just one single coin.

"Well, that’s not important," said the rich man. "What’s one gold coin?"

"What do you mean, not important!" exclaimed the king. "Do you think I’d give away such a magnificent lake for free? Bring that coin immediately!"

Truth be told, the rich man had nothing left of his wealth. However, he didn’t want to admit this to the king.

"I won’t send a whole caravan of mules for one coin," he said. "If you insist, lend me the missing coin."

Now, the whole truth must come out. The king didn’t have a single gold coin either. Feasts, masquerades, and lavish gifts to the court ladies had emptied the treasury. The royal treasury was as empty as a big drum. But the king, of course, couldn’t admit this. So, he said:

"I am a king, not some dirty moneylender to give out loans. If you don’t have the money, you can’t buy Lake Ganzirri!"

The rich man grew furious.

"Well, if that’s the case," he shouted, "then I don’t need your Lake Ganzirri. For that price, I might as well buy myself a small sea."

And the rich man ordered the coins to be retrieved from the lake’s bottom and loaded back onto the mules.

And so, nothing came of it.

Whether the rich man bought himself a sea—no one knows. But the king, until his dying day, regretted that his treasury lacked just one single gold coin. Just think, he could have become a wealthy king!

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Lake Gandzirri

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