Chinese Folktale - Ow and Ouch
Ow and Ouch - a Chinese folktale
A young land owner in China once found a very special bird in his garden. Every time the bird would snap its beak, pieces of gold would fall out of it. When the man observed this, he set a trap and caught it and put it into a special cage inside his house.
He used the gold to buy more and more land and to hire servants to work for him. He became very wealthy. It happens that some wealthy men learn to live wisely and use their money for good. It also happens that wealth makes some men greedy and makes them want more. Such was the case with this man.
The more he had, the more he wanted. He even looked for ways to cheat his servants out of their hard earned wages. When their wages were due he told them to go to the market and bring him back some ow and ouch! "If you come back without them, I will give you 100 strokes of my cane instead of your wages."
No one knew what ow and ouch were, so they stayed home and did not go to the market. Because they did not follow orders, the rich man did not pay them. They grew poorer while he grew richer.
Finally a very clever boy came to work for the rich miser. When the wages were due the master told him "Go to the market before I pay you, and and bring me back some ow and ouch! If you come back without them, I will give you 100 strokes of my cane instead of your wages."
"If I bring you back what you ask," the boy questioned, "Will you pay me my wages and give me your magic bird?"
"I will be glad to," the rich man said. For he knew the boy could not bring him back something that was not for sale in any market. When the boy came back, he would punish the boy and make all his servants to ever again ask for their wages!
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