Greed for more....

When I was a child, I read/heard this story. I believe everyone must have read/heard of this story in their childhood, but I am still posting it here for the generation after mine's (as they may have missed it as reading books in not in style today) and as a refresher for those who have already read it...

Once there were four good friends. They were friends from childhood and their friendship was very deep. One day they were going on a journey through a forest. As they were walking, they felt as if something was buried under the ground. They decided to explore it and started digging. After digging, they found a big box, which was full of gold coins.

They decided to make four parts of the gold coins and distribute among them equally but deep in their hearts each one of them wanted to have the whole box of gold coins to themselves. They took the box of gold coins with them but with each step they would take, their desire of having the whole box of gold coins increased.

The sun was about to set and the four of them decided to take shelter under a tree and have some food followed by sleep and continue their journey the next morning. They sat under the tree and decided that two of them will go in search of food and other two will guard the box. As the first two went in search of the food, they began to talk about that box of gold coins. The first one said that he wants to have as much gold as possible. The second one wanted the same. So after gathering some food, an evil thought came in their mind. They added poison to the food, so that their other two friends will die and they would share the box half and half.

On the other end, the other two friends that were guarding the box started to talk about gold. They want the same thing, to have as much as possible. To do so, they made an evil plan too. They sharpened their knives so that when their first two friends will arrive, they would kill them.

The moment came, their first two friends came with the food, and they placed the food on the box and began to sit down. As they were sitting, the other two friends with knives beheaded them in a fraction of a second. Their bodies lay dead on the ground. The other two friends were happy that they now would get the half of the gold coins each. Within their heart they were still thinking to kill the other so that they can have the whole box of gold coins. There was complete silence as they were thinking of the plans of their own. Some time passed and they decided to have some food. Few minutes after they ate the poisoned food, their lifeless bodies lay dead on the ground and neither one of them could get the gold coins.

source:realsikhism.com