There was once a farmer who had a fine olive orchard. He was very hardworking, and the farm always prospered under his care. But he knew that his three sons despised the farm work, and were eager to make wealth, trough adventure.

When the farmer was old, and felt that his time had come to die, he called the three sons to him and said, "My sons, there is a pot of gold hidden in the olive orchard. Dig for it, if you wish it."

The sons tried to get him to tell them in what part of the orchard the gold was hidden; but he would tell them nothing more.

After the farmer was dead, the sons went to work to find the pot of gold; since they did not know where the hiding-place was, they agreed to begin in a line, at one end of the orchard, and to dig until one of them should find the money.

They dug until they had turned up the soil from one end of the orchard to the other, round the tree-roots and between them. But no pot of gold was to be found. It seemed as if someone must have stolen it, or as if the farmer had been wandering in his wits. The three sons were bitterly disappointed to have all their work for nothing.

The next olive season, the olive trees in the orchard bore more fruit than they had ever given; when it was sold, it gave the sons a whole pot of gold.

And when they saw how much money had come from the orchard, they suddenly understood what the wise father had meant when he said, "There is gold hidden in the orchard. Dig for it, if you wish it."

從前有一個農(nóng)民，他有一座漂亮的橄欖園。他非常勤勞，而且農(nóng)場在他的照管下蒸蒸日上。可他知道自己的三個兒子瞧不起農(nóng)活，都迫不及待的想通過冒險發(fā)家致富。

這個農(nóng)民上了年歲，感到死期快要來臨時，將三個兒子叫到身邊說：“兒子們，橄欖園里藏有一罐金子。你們想要，就去挖吧。”

兒子們想讓父親告訴他們金子藏在果園的那一塊地方，可他什么也沒再給他們說。

那個農(nóng)民死后，三個兒子就開始挖地，想找到那罐金子；因為他們不知道金子藏在什么地方，所以他們一致同意排成一行從果園的一頭開始挖起，知道其中一人挖到金子為止.

他們挖啊挖，從果園的一頭一直挖到了另一頭，果樹周圍和果樹之間也都挖到了，可還是沒有找到那罐金子。看來一定是有人已經(jīng)把那罐金子頭走了，要么就是他們的父親一直在異想天開。三個兒子對他們白干了一場，感到大失所望。

到了第二年的橄欖季節(jié)，果園里的橄欖樹接出的果子比以往的都多；賣完果子后，三個兒子賺了整整一罐金子。

他們從果園里得到這么多錢后，突然明白了聰明的父親所說的“果園里藏有金子，想要就去挖吧”這句話的含義。

（來源：愛詞霸沙龍 英語點津姍姍編輯）