The Price of Poverty
There once lived a girl named Josephine.
She was very pretty. But she was also very poor. Josephine always wanted to get more money, she needed it very much.
She did not see that she had a lot of friends. She only understood that she didn't have enough money, so she was very sad.
There was one wizard who really loved Josephine. His name was MontonDuvale. He was very handsome and wise, but Josephine did not even notice him. She was too interested in her money problems.
He wanted to teach her a lesson, so one day he came to her house dressed as an old man.
“Hello, dear,” he said in a soft voice.
“Hello,” Josephine said respectfully. “Will you come in?”
Monton entered her house, and looked around.
“You have such a nice house,” he complimented her.
“Oh, it is so hard to pay for this house,” the girl started her favorite story.
“I am your Fairy Godfather,” said the wizard. “And I will help you.”
Josephine smiled, she wanted to know what he would say.
“I will give you a lot of money,” the wizard continued. “From now on, you have as much money as you want. It is unlimited.”
With this, he bowed goodbye and went away. Josephine couldn't believe her ears. Unlimited money?For her? How wonderful! First she ran to the nearest shop.
“May I have this bread loaf, please?” she asked the shopkeeper. He gave it to her, and she put her fingers into the pocket of her old coat for the money. She found many many dollars in this pocket. She took out some money to pay for the bread, but as she took it out of the pocket, more money appeared there.
Two weeks later Josephine had a completely new life.
She had bought a wonderful huge house in the center of London, she had servants and horses, dresses and jewelry. She was extremely happy. Her only problem was boredom. She was very bored, because now she didn't work, and she was tired of reading novels and going to parties. She had lost all her friends, one by one. They had turned away from her when they understood that she was too busy spending her never-ending money, and she had no time for them anymore.
Josephine sat alone in her rich living room, drinking expensive wine and patting an expensive dog. Nobody came to visit her, only people who wanted some money. She was sick of everything, she wanted to bring back the old times when she had a lot of friends, even if she didn't have a lot of money.
“Oh, dear…” she sighed. “If only I could see my friends now!”
The moment she said this, she found herself sitting in her old poor house, with Monton on his knees beside her.
She screamed and hugged him, crying from happiness that her old life was back.
“Darling Josephine,” he smiled. “You know the price of friendship and love now.”
“Oh, Monton!” she said, tears streaming down her face. “I'm so sorry!”
“Now I have you back, my dear,” he said. “And I will never let you go again.”
He took out a diamond ring and held it out to Josephine.
“Will you marry me?” he asked her.
“Give me a wooden ring, Monton. I cannot bear to see any more diamonds!”
