Prevod

A cowardly miser found a golden lion and said, “I do not know what to do in this predicament. I am quite out of my wits and at a loss how to act. My love of money pulls me one way, my natural cowardice the other. What chance, what spirit, could have fashioned a lion out of gold? My soul is at war with itself over what lies before me: it loves the gold but fears the shape the gold has taken. Desire urges me to touch it; my nature bids me keep away. Oh, fortune that offers a gift yet will not let me take it! Oh, treasure that brings no pleasure! Oh, a spirit’s favor turned unkind! What, then? How shall I proceed? What plan can I devise? I shall go and bring my servants here. With strength in numbers, they can seize it, while I watch from a distance.”

This fable applies to a rich man who does not dare to touch or make use of his wealth.