Once upon a time, there were two men named Klaus, one was Little Klaus and the other was Big Klaus. Big Klaus was very wealthy and he had four horses, while Little Klaus had only one horse. Little Klaus had to do a great deal of work for Big Klaus, but Little Klaus was very clever.
One day, Little Klaus exchanged his only horse for a full bag of money. On his way home, he accidentally fell into a deep ditch. When he climbed out, he found a large manor nearby. He wanted to stay overnight in the manor, but the owner of the manor refused him and said he was a swindler. Little Klaus was very angry, but he came up with an idea. He stood outside the manor and said loudly to his money bag, "Oh, my money bag, why are you so quiet? Usually you have so much to say." The manor owner heard this and thought that Little Klaus's money bag was full of gold, so he invited Little Klaus into the manor.
The manor owner prepared a sumptuous dinner for Little Klaus and let him sleep in the most comfortable bed. In the middle of the night, the manor owner sneaked into Little Klaus's room and wanted to steal his money bag. But when he opened the money bag, he found it full of broken tiles. He was very angry and wanted to drive Little Klaus away. Little Klaus said, "You tricked me into coming here and then wanted to steal my money bag. I will go and tell the judge." The manor owner was frightened. He gave Little Klaus more money and a cow and asked Little Klaus not to tell this matter.
Little Klaus went home happily with his cow and money. On his way home, he met Big Klaus again. Big Klaus was very jealous when he saw that Little Klaus had so many things. He asked Little Klaus how he got these things, and Little Klaus told Big Klaus about his experiences. Big Klaus was very greedy. He also wanted to get more money. So he learned from Little Klaus, killed his four horses, put them in a bag, and wanted to go to the manor to cheat for money.
However, Big Klaus was not as clever as Little Klaus. His trick was seen through by the manor owner. The manor owner was very angry. He beat Big Klaus severely and drove him out of the manor. Big Klaus was very regretful. He thought he should not have been so greedy.
Little Klaus continued his journey. He made a lot of money with his wisdom again and lived a happy life. And Big Klaus, because of his greed and stupidity, lost all his horses and was also laughed at. This story tells us that being clever and kind is very important, while greed will only make people lose more.
