Once there were two brothers who were very different from

each other.

The older brother was the richest man in their village, but he was

never happy. He always wanted more.

‘Money is the most important thing in life,’ the older brother said.

The younger brother was poor but happy.

‘I believe that helping others is the most important thing in life,’

the younger brother said.

One day, the younger brother found a sparrow on the ground. It had a broken wing. ‘Poor bird, you can’t fly,’ he said. ‘I will help you.’ The brother carefully picked up the bird and brought it

home. He looked after the sparrow for many days. 

After a month, the sparrow’s wing was better. ‘Now you can fly,’ said the younger brother. ‘Goodbye, little friend!’  The sparrow didn’t fly away. Instead, it started to speak. ‘I know you don’t want a reward for helping me,’ said the sparrow, ‘but please take this small present.’

The sparrow gave the younger brother a seed that was in its beak.

‘Plant this seed in your garden and take care of it,’ the bird said. Then the sparrow flew away.

The younger brother planted the seed and watered it each day. Soon a thick vine grew on the ground. Then, yellow flowers began to bloom. Soon after that, the vine had fat pumpkins on it. The brother picked a pumpkin for his dinner.

But when he cut it into

it, the pumpkin was filled with gold and jewels! He then cut open more pumpkins. Every single one had treasure in it. The younger brother was now the richest man in the village!

The older brother heard about his brother’s treasure. ‘No!’ he shouted angrily. He didn’t like anyone else to be richer than him. He ran to his brother’s house and cried, ‘How did you get this treasure?’

His brother explained that he had helped a sparrow and that the sparrow had given him a magic seed as a reward. ‘Then I will help a sparrow, too!’ said the older brother. ‘And I’ll get even more treasure!’

The greedy brother looked for a sparrow with a

broken wing, but he could not find one. So he decided

to trap a sparrow. He put a piece of bread under a box. Soon a sparrow hopped under the box for the bread. The brother pulled the box down onto the bird. 

The box trapped the bird and broke its wing. The brother said, ‘Oh, no! You are trapped. Your wing is broken! I’ll help you.’