The $30,000 Bequest, and Other Stories

  Chapter I

  In the morning of life came a good fairy with her basket, and said:

  "Here are gifts. Take one, leave the others. And be wary, choose wisely;oh, choose wisely! for only one of them is valuable."

  The gifts were five: Fame, Love, Riches, Pleasure, Death. The youthsaid, eagerly:

  "There is no need to consider"; and he chose Pleasure.

  He went out into the world and sought out the pleasures that youthdelights in. But each in its turn was short-lived and disappointing,vain and empty; and each, departing, mocked him. In the end he said:"These years I have wasted. If I could but choose again, I would choosewisely."