The Treasure and the Two Men

A destitute man, unable to pay his debts and fearing famine, decides to hang himself in an ivy-covered ruin. As he drives a nail for the noose, the old wall collapses and reveals hidden gold. He seizes the treasure and abandons both despair and the halter without even counting the money. The gold’s owner soon arrives and is devastated to find it gone. Loving his hoard so intensely that he cannot bear its loss, he decides to hang himself with the rope left behind. The tale condemns the miser, who gains no benefit from his wealth and merely keeps it for thieves, relatives, or dust. It also presents Fortune as delighting in abrupt reversals: one man is saved from suicide by unexpected riches, while another is driven to suicide by their disappearance.

By Jean de La Fontaine · First published 1678 · Genre: Fable, Moral Tale, Narrative Poetry · 572 words

First lines

A man whose credit fail'd, and what was worse, / Who lodged the devil in his purse, -- / That is to say, lodged nothing there, -- / By self-suspension in the air / Concluded his accounts to square, / Since, should he not, he understood, / From various tokens, famine would -- / A death for which no mortal wight / Had ever any appetite. / A ruin, crown'd with ivy green, / Was of his tragedy the scene. / His hangman's noose he duly tied, / And then to drive a nail he tried; -- / But by his blows the wall gave way, / Now tremulous and old, / Disclosing to the light of day / A sum of hidden gold. / He clutch'd it up, and left Despair / To struggle with his halter there. / Nor did the much delighted man / E'en stop to count it as he ran. / But, while he went, the owner came, / Who loved it with a secret flame, / Too much indeed for kissing, -- / And found his money -- missing! / 'O Heavens! ' he cried, 'shall I / Such riches lose, and still not die? / Shall I not hang? -- as I, in fact, / Might justly do if cord I lack'd; / But now, without expense, I can; / This cord here only lacks a man. ' / The saving was no saving clause; / It suffer'd not his heart to falter, / Until it reach'd his final pause / As full possessor of the halter, -- / 'Tis thus the miser often grieves: / Whoe'er the benefit receives / Of what he owns, he never must -- / Mere treasurer for thieves, / Or relatives, or dust. / But what say we about the trade / In this affair by Fortune made? / Why, what but that it was just like her! / In freaks like this delighteth she. / The shorter any turn may be, / The better it is sure to strike her. / It fills that goddess full of glee / A self-suspended man to see; / And that it does especially, / When made so unexpectedly.[1]

• Open reader

Similar titles

• The Miser Who Had Lost His Treasure by Jean De La Fontaine
• The Curate And The Corpse by Jean De La Fontaine
• The Old Woman And Her Two Servants by Jean De La Fontaine
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Genres

• Fable — The poem presents a brief exemplary story with an explicit moral about miserliness, possession, and the ironic distribution of wealth.
• Moral Tale — Its closing lines directly condemn the miser who hoards wealth without benefiting from it, making ethical instruction central to the work.
• Narrative Poetry — The work tells a complete sequence of events through rhymed verse, following two men's contrasting reactions to hidden treasure.
• Satire — It satirizes greed and obsessive attachment to money through the miser's absurd preference for death over the loss of his hoard.

Tags

French fable · verse narrative · seventeenth-century literature · moral allegory · poverty · debt · famine · suicide · hanging · hidden treasure · gold · avarice

What this Textopian page supports

The Treasure and the Two Men is listed on Textopian as a fable by Jean de La Fontaine, dated 1678 CE.

This source record anchors work identity, reading entry points, and catalog context for checking claims about the work.

• Work type: Fable
• Author: Jean de La Fontaine
• Date: 1678 CE
• Language: English
• Genres: Fable, Moral Tale, Narrative Poetry, Satire, Tragicomedy
• Length: 572 words
• Structure: 1 section, 2 paragraphs
• Reading fit: Fairly Easy (7th Grade)

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• Work identity for The Treasure and the Two Men by Jean de La Fontaine
• Canonical title URL and first readable passage URL
• Genre and topic classification from the Textopian catalog
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More by Jean de La Fontaine

• To Monseigneur the Dauphin (1668)
• The Grasshopper and the Ant (1668)
• The Raven and the Fox (1668)
• The Frog that Wished to be as Big as the Ox (1668)
• The Two Mules (1668)
• The Wolf and the Dog (1668)
• The Heifer, the Goat, and the Sheep, in Company with the Lion (1668)
• The Wallet (1668)
• All works by Jean de La Fontaine