The Money Tree

Once upon a time, there was a village that had a Money-tree. Copper coins would come down if you shake the tree once; shaking it twice, you would get silver coins; there times, gold coins would come down. Unfortunately, you would only find this Money-tree on occassion.

There were two brothers in the village. The older one was a slacker. He would stare at the mountain hoping for that he would see a Money-tree. The younger brother was very deiligent. He worked hard everyday.

One morning, a Money-tree grew out of the ground! The mountain top beamed with the glow of silver and gold. Everybody dropped what they were doing and rushed to the mountain. Some fell off the cliff, some lost their way. There were those who turned around because the journey was difficult. Others, less fortunate, were devoured by tigers. The two brothers were the only ones who actually got to the tree.

'There's enough money to last us for the rest of our lives!' exclaimed the younger one. His brother shook the tree again, silver coins came down like snowflakes. 'Hey, brother, there is no need to shake any more, we have enough silver coins for everyone in the village.' The older brother shook the tree for the third time as if he didn't hear a word that his brother had just said. Hundreds and hundreds of gold coins fell from the tree. The coins were so bright that the brothers almost went blind. 'This is too much! we won't be able to carry all these coins home' the younger one said. The older brother was so excited he kept on shaking the tree and shouting, 'I want more money! I want to be the richest man in the whole wide world!'

By this time, the tree had been shaken three times. No more coins were coming off the tree. The older boy; however, was not satisfied. He kept on shaking the tree. Suddenly, the ground shook. The Money-tree and all its coins fell on him, crushing him to death!

The younger brother was standing a little ways from the tree so he was not hit by the tree or its coins. He turned around and ran for his dear life. Once he stopped to look back, he saw thousands of gold coins rolling down the mountain. Yet, they all disappeared as they hit the soil at the bottom of the hill.

He returned home to his field and began growing crops. It wasn't long before his field was ready for harvest. Everyone in the village came over and were amazed. They realized this was what the gold coins had turned into. From then on they all learned how to grow crops and worked diligently. Year after year, they harvested more than they needed. looking for the Money-tree became a thing of the past

- S.Y. Fan
- Edward Tam