The beggar and the miser

An old beggar passed through an old village. He knocked on the door of a big beautiful house, with a tall barn and a large iron padlock on the gate. In this house lived a man, known in the village for his miserliness : he never helped people, even though he was very rich.

'Please give me some meat or milk?' - asked the beggar.

The miser replied roughly:

'No, I can't! Go away!'

'Maybe you can give me some wheat or beans?' - kept asking the beggar, forced by hunger to humiliate himself.

'I don't have anything!' - said the miser.

'Then give me a piece of bread, and I will be grateful.' - said the beggar.

'Go away, I don't have bread!' - was the miser's reply.

'At least give me some water? I'm very thirsty!'

'I don't have water.' - screamed the miser.

Then said the beggar :

'Oh, my son, why are you sitting here then? Stand up and start begging food from the good people. You are even poorer than I am!