As birds die for food, so men die for wealth

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There was once a man named Pang Tai-zu. He was very rich, and he had many children. Everyone knew how prosperous he was. However, as Pang Tai-zu grew old, he became worried, and he could not sleep at night.

This was because his children saw that he was getting old, and everyone wanted the family fortune for themselves. Everyone made weapons secretly, hoping to kill their brothers and keep all the gold for themselves. So, they waited for Pang Tai-zu to die so that they could take his gold. After learning this, Pang Tai-zu feared that his family would meet tragedy and lose their lives.

After thinking for a long time, Pang Tai-zu decided to secretly hire two bearers, to carry his gold deep into the mountains and bury it. But he did not know that the bearers were greedy people too. As they carried the gold, they thought of how to get rid of the other and take all the gold for himself.

One morning, the thin bearer said, “Carrying this gold up the mountain everyday is such hard work! Why don’t you go ahead, and I’ll buy some food for us?” The fat bearer nodded in agreement. After buying the food, the thin bearer went to buy some poison and poisoned the food. Then he went up the mountain to find the fat bearer. He gave the fat bearer the poisoned food and said, “You have been working all morning. You must be hungry. Have some food.” The fat bearer was very hungry indeed, and he ate all the food. Then, the fat bearer said, “I have been digging all morning. It’s your turn now. Let me rest a while. I will join you later.” The thin bearer nodded and started to dig.

Suddenly, the fat bearer used a wooden pole and beat the thin bearer to death. Before the fat bearer could rejoice, the poison in his food killed him too. The moral of this story is, “People die for money!” The birds in the mountain saw the bodies of the bearers and flew down to eat them. the birds who ate the poisoned bearer died too. This is why we say, “Birds die for food!”