In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

38 An Old Man’s Advice Makes a Poor Man Rich T O L D B Y E L I E Z E R M I Z R A H. I T O Y E H U D A H M A Z O Z Once there were two men, one rich and the other poor, living in the same house. The rich man lived on the top floor, the poor man below him. Day after day, the poor man marveled at how the rich man always had money, even when he didn’t work. One day, he decided to ask him to reveal his secret . “Please tell me how you always have money, even though you don’t work.” he asked. “No matter how much I work, I’m always poor.” The rich man replied, “From time to time, I travel to a certain city where you find purses thrown on the ground, full of money. I pick up a few and live on the money.” The poor man, who was sick and tired of working all the time, and with no good results, decided to go to that city and try his luck. (Of course, the rich man was deceiving him, for there was no such thing.) He collected what money remained to him, bade his wife and children farewell, and sailed in a small ship to that city. When the ship docked and he was about to go ashore, there on the gangplank was a bulging purse! The poor man picked it up and saw that it was full of money. He started to put it into his pocket, but thought better of it. “This is the first fruit. If God has started providing for me, He will surely give me more.” With that, he flung the purse into the sea. He disembarked and began searching the city for another purse, but found nothing. For ten years, he worked in that city. At last, realizing that there was no future in it, he resolved to go back home with whatever money he still had. He bought a mattress and decided to walk. When he had been on the road for about two weeks—walking during the day and sleeping on the mattress at night—he encountered an old man. “Where are you headed?” said the old man. “To such and such a town,” was the reply. The old man asked the poor man to sell him the mattress, since he 279 would reach his home town in only a day or two more. The poor man agreed. But the old man had no money “I have no money,” he told the poor man, “but I will give you three pieces of advice that will help you in your life.” The poor man agreed. Old people speak true words, he thought, and it cannot hurt me to get sound advice from the elderly. “The first counsel,” said the old man, “is: Wherever there are lots of people, don’t be there. And don’t stick your nose into other people’s business . The second counsel: Whenever you’re going to do something, count to nine before you do it. My third piece of advice is: If you want to do something today, don’t put it off till tomorrow.” The poor man gave him the mattress, and they parted company. The poor man kept hiking until he met a watchman. “I’m so glad we met,” he said to the watchman. “Now I’ll have someone to keep me company, and I won’t get bored.” As they entered the last village before the poor man’s town, they heard a shot and screams. “Hold my horse for a minute,” the watchman told the poor man. “I want to see what’s going on.” “Why get involved?” replied the poor man. “Some people are having a fight—what do you care?” (The poor man remembered the old man’s advice and stayed where he was.) But the watchman went. No sooner had he reached the scene of the commotion than an arrow pierced his heart, and he fell dead. The poor man didn’t know what to do with the horse. Finally, he decided that if its owner was dead, it was his now. Mounting the horse, he rode until he reached his town and his house. There he saw his wife embracing some young man. He thought, I have been gone for ten years— she must have...

Share