The Goldsmith’s Fortune

Once a goldsmith lived in a village where people were as bad, greedy, and covetous as they could be; yet he stayed prosperous. His only friend was a cowherd who grazed cattle for a farmer. Every evening the goldsmith crossed to the cowherd’s house and said, “Come, let’s go out for a walk!”

The cowherd disliked evening walks—he had been out all day and wanted to sit—but the goldsmith worried him until he went against his will. At last, annoyed enough to pick a quarrel, he asked another cowherd for advice. Kill the goldsmith’s wife, that man said, and the goldsmith will treat you as an enemy. Accepting this murderous advice, the cowherd one evening took a big stick to the goldsmith’s house when only Mrs. Goldsmith was home and struck her so hard that she died then and there.

When the goldsmith came back and found her dead he said nothing. He carried her into the dark lane, propped her against the wall, and waited in the courtyard. Presently a rich stranger came along. Seeing someone there, he said, “Good evening, friend! A fine night tonight!” She said nothing. He spoke louder; still no reply. A third time he shouted whether she was deaf. Still the figure never answered. Angry at what he thought rude behaviour, he picked up a big stone and threw it, crying, “Let that teach you manners!”

Mrs. Goldsmith tumbled over. Horrified, the stranger was seized at once by the goldsmith, who ran out screaming that the wretch had killed his wife and that justice would be done. They wrangled with many protestations. At last the stranger begged him to say nothing and offered handsome pay for the sad accident. The goldsmith quieted and accepted one thousand gold pieces. The stranger helped bury the poor wife, then rushed to the guest house, packed, and left by daylight lest the goldsmith repent and accuse him.

Soon the goldsmith’s extra money showed. People asked questions and demanded the reason for his sudden wealth. “Oh,” he said, “my wife died, and I sold her.” “You sold your dead wife?” “Yes.” “For how much?” “A thousand gold pieces.”

Instantly the villagers went home, each throttled his own wife, and next day they tramped off to sell their dead wives. Many a weary mile brought nothing but hard words, laughter, or directions to the nearest cemetery. At last they saw they had been cheated. They seized the unhappy goldsmith, ignored his cries, hurried him to the river, and flung him—plop!—into the deepest, weediest, nastiest place they could find. That would teach him; he could not swim, so he would drown.

He sank, and they went away believing they had seen the last of him. But the current carried him, half drowned, below the next bend, where he caught a snag floating nearly under the surface. Holding on, he came ashore two or three miles downriver. There he found a fine fat cow buffalo, jumped on her back, and rode home.

The village people ran out in surprise. Where had he come from, and where had he got that buffalo? “Ah!” said the goldsmith. “You little know what delightful adventures I have had! Down in that place where you threw me I found meadows, trees, fine pastures, buffaloes, and all kinds of cattle. I could hardly tear myself away, but I thought I must let you all know.”

“If buffaloes are there for the taking,” thought the greedy villagers, “we’ll go too.” Encouraged by him, nearly all ran next morning to the river. To reach the beautiful place quickly they tied great stones to their feet and necks and jumped in one after another, and were drowned. Whenever one waved and struggled, the goldsmith cried, “Look! He’s beckoning the rest of you; he’s got a fine buffalo!” Doubtful ones jumped until not one was left.

Then the cunning goldsmith took all the village for himself and grew very rich. Was he happy? Not a bit. His fortune had brought him no happiness. He got the better of wicked, greedy people only by being wicked and greedy himself. One day he suffered what the old telling calls apoplexy and died, with no one left to mourn him.

About this story

“The Goldsmith’s Fortune” is in Andrew Lang’s The Orange Fairy Book (1906; Project Gutenberg ebook 3027). A note says it was told by a Pathan to Major Campbell. This retelling preserves the violent plot, including the murders of wives and the drowning of the villagers. The source’s remarks about an unnamed country’s laws and its association of body size with moral failure are not retained as factual explanations.

Read the original: The Orange Fairy Book (Project Gutenberg)

Reading guidance: for mature readers. This dark tale includes domestic murder, multiple murders of women, attempted murder, and deliberate mass drowning.

A closer reading

The goldsmith repeatedly substitutes a profitable explanation for a violent event. Money extorted after his wife’s murder becomes a supposed sale; a buffalo found after his escape becomes evidence of an underwater pasture. The villagers copy the promised result without asking how it was obtained. Their appetite for wealth does not excuse his deliberate choice to deceive them into death.

The tale gives most of its attention to the trickster’s success, but the wives pay the first and largely unacknowledged cost. They have not joined the schemes. Reading from their position changes the question from ‘Who is cleverest?’ to ‘Whose suffering makes this fortune possible?’ The final judgment rejects the goldsmith as a winner, even though no surviving character holds him accountable.

Try this with the story

Trace the two claims about wealth: selling a wife and finding cattle underwater. Under each, record the actual event, the false explanation, and who is harmed by believing it. Then write a short alternative closing judgment that names the wives as well as the goldsmith and villagers.

Talk about it

• How does the goldsmith turn his wife’s death into a thousand gold pieces?
• Why do the villagers jump into the river with stones?
• Does the ending treat the goldsmith as a winner?

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• Hans In Luck — bargains that look clever
• The Rat’s Wedding — comic greed and schemes
• The Close Alliance — panic partners in Steel