` Have you forgotten me ? ' asked the man . ' I ca n't forget a person I have never known , ' was the rude answer . ' I am your brother , ' replied the stranger , ` and I have returned home without the money I hoped to have made . And , what is worse , they tell me in the village that my father is dead . I would have counted my lost gold as nothing if I could have seen him once more . ' ` He died six months ago , ' said the rich brother , ` and he left you , as your portion , the old wooden chest that stands in the loft . You had better go there and look for it ; I have no more time to waste . ' And he went his way . So the wanderer turned his steps to the loft , which was at the top of the storehouse , and there he found the wooden chest , so old that it looked as if it were dropping to pieces . ` What use is this old thing to me ? ' he said to himself . ` Oh , well , it will serve to light a fire at which I can warm myself ; so things might be worse after all . ' Placing the chest on his back , the man , whose name was Jose , set out for his inn , and , borrowing a hatchet , began to chop up the box . In doing so he discovered a secret drawer , and in it lay a paper . He opened the paper , not knowing what it might contain , and was astonished to find that it was the acknowledgment of a large debt that was owing to his father . Putting the precious writing in his pocket , he hastily inquired of the landlord where he could find the man whose name was written inside , and he ran out at once in search of him . The debtor proved to be an old miser , who lived at the other end of the village . He had hoped for many months that the paper he had written had been lost or destroyed , and , indeed , when he saw it , was very unwilling to pay what he owed . However , the stranger threatened to drag him before the king , and when the miser saw that there was no help for it he counted out the coins one by one .
The stranger picked them up and put them in his pocket , and went back to his inn feeling XXXXX he was now a rich man .
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