A Long Time Ago, in a mysterious forest in England, there lived a group of dwarfs. They were hard - working and kind - hearted, guarding their treasure - a pile of glittering gold coins deep in the forest.
One day, a merchant passed by this forest with his goods. He was tired and thirsty, so he decided to take a break in the forest. While resting, the merchant discovered the cave where the dwarfs lived. Curiously, he walked closer and saw the pile of gold coins. The merchant's eyes lit up immediately, and his heart was filled with greedy desires.
Seeing the merchant's greedy look, the dwarfs were very worried. They warned the merchant not to covet the gold coins, which were the fruits of their years of hard work. But the merchant simply wouldn't listen and came up with a trick. The merchant pretended to be very friendly and talked to the dwarfs, saying that he had a lot of nice things to exchange for the gold coins. The dwarfs knew that the merchant had bad intentions and firmly refused him.
At this time, a woodcutter also entered this forest. The woodcutter cut wood in this forest every day. He was an honest and kind - hearted man. He saw the merchant arguing with the dwarfs and walked over to ask what had happened.
The dwarfs told the woodcutter that the merchant wanted to cheat them out of their gold coins. The woodcutter was very angry and scolded the merchant for being so greedy. The merchant, however, laughed at the woodcutter for being too stupid and not knowing how to seize the opportunity to become rich. Seeing how upright the woodcutter was, the dwarfs decided to test him.
The dwarfs said that if the woodcutter could do some work for them, such as cutting some firewood for them to keep warm, they could give the woodcutter some gold coins as a reward. The woodcutter readily agreed. He quickly cut a lot of firewood and neatly piled it in front of the dwarfs' cave.
The dwarfs were very satisfied with the woodcutter's work. They took out a few gold coins and gave them to the woodcutter. The woodcutter was very grateful. After thanking the dwarfs, he left. But the merchant, seeing all this, became even more jealous. While the dwarfs were not paying attention, he secretly took a handful of gold coins and ran away.
However, the merchant had not run far when many strange things happened to him. He felt his steps getting heavier and heavier, as if something was pulling him. Moreover, the forest suddenly became eerie and terrifying, with strange sounds everywhere.
It turned out that the dwarfs' gold coins were enchanted. They could only be obtained through honest labor and could not be possessed by greedy people. The merchant was punished by the magic in the forest. He was so frightened that he finally had to put the gold coins back in their original place.
As for the woodcutter, he lived a better life with the gold coins given to him by the dwarfs. He bought more tools with the gold coins, cut more firewood, and also helped other small animals in need in the forest.
Since then, all the people in the forest have known this story. They all learn from the woodcutter and strive to be an honest and kind - hearted person, rather than a greedy person like the merchant.
