The Cottager And His Cat Once upon a time there lived an old man and his wife in a dirty , tumble-down cottage , not very far from the splendid palace where the king and queen dwelt . In spite of the wretched state of the hut , which many people declared was too bad even for a pig to live in , the old man was very rich , for he was a great miser , and lucky besides , and would often go without food all day sooner than change one of his beloved gold pieces . But after a while he found that he had starved himself once too often . He fell ill , and had no strength to get well again , and in a few days he died , leaving his wife and one son behind him . The night following his death , the son dreamed that an unknown man appeared to him and said : ` Listen to me ; your father is dead and your mother will soon die , and all their riches will belong to you . Half of his wealth is ill-gotten , and this you must give back to the poor from whom he squeezed it . The other half you must throw into the sea . Watch , however , as the money sinks into the water , and if anything should swim , catch it and keep it , even if it is nothing more than a bit of paper . ' Then the man vanished , and the youth awoke . The remembrance of his dream troubled him greatly . He did not want to part with the riches that his father had left him , for he had known all his life what it was to be cold and hungry , and now he had hoped for a little comfort and pleasure . Still , he was honest and good-hearted , and if his father had come wrongfully by his wealth he felt he could never enjoy it , and at last he made up his mind to do as he had been bidden . He found out who were the people who were poorest in the village , and spent half of his money in helping them , and the other half he put in his pocket . From a rock that jutted right out into the sea he flung it in . In a moment it was out of sight , and no man could have told the spot where it had sunk , except for a tiny scrap of paper floating on the water . He stretched down carefully and managed to reach it , and on opening it found six shillings wrapped inside . This was now all the money he had in the world . The young man stood and looked at it thoughtfully . ` Well , I ca n't do much with this , ' he said to himself ; but , after all , six shillings were better than nothing , and he wrapped them up again and slipped them into his coat . He worked in his garden for the next few weeks , and he and his mother contrived to live on the fruit and vegetables he got out of it , and then she too died suddenly .
The poor fellow felt very sad when he had laid her in her grave , and XXXXX a heavy heart he wandered into the forest , not knowing where he was going .
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