• Turning Dirt into Gold

The Secret

Once upon a time, in a country called Burma, there lived a young wife who loved her husband very much. But she had a big worry.

"Husband," she said, "all day long you try to turn dirt into gold. You do nothing else! Soon, we will have no money left."

“I do this for us!” her husband replied. “Someday we will be rich. You will thank me!”

“If we live that long,” she whispered. She needed help, so she went to see her father.

“Daughter!” he said. “It’s always a joy to see you. But I can tell something is bothering you. What is it?”

“It’s my husband,” she said. “From morning to night, he tries to turn dirt into gold. Soon we will run out of money! I try to talk to him, but he won’t listen. Please, will you talk to him?”

“Of course,” said her father. “Thank you!” she said, feeling better already.

The next day, her father went to see his son-in-law.

“It’s good to see you!” said the young man.

“And you, son,” said the old man, looking at the potions and bowls. “I see you’re trying to turn dirt into gold.”

“I will do it,” said the young man. “It just takes time.”

“I know,” said the father, and the young man looked up in surprise. “When I was your age, I too was an alchemist. I tried to turn dirt into gold.”

“You did?” said the young man, amazed.

“Not only that,” the father went on, “but I discovered the secret.”

“You know how?”

“I do,” said the old man. “But by then I was too old and it was too hard for me to do. I didn’t know anyone younger I could trust.” He looked at his son-in-law directly in the eye.

“You can trust me!” cried the young man with joy.

Then the old man told his secret. “There is a silver powder that only grows on the back of banana leaves. To make it work, when the banana seeds are first planted, a magic spell must be recited. After the plants have grown tall and the fruit has ripened, the silver powder on the back of the leaves can be carefully brushed off and saved.”

“How much of this silver powder is needed?” asked the young man.

“Two pounds,” said the father.

“But that will take hundreds of banana plants!” cried the young man.

“Alas!” said the father. “That is why it was too much work for me.”

“I can do this!” said the son.

“I know you can,” said the father-in-law, smiling.

Then a cloud passed over the young man's face. “But Sir, where can I grow these plants, and how can I get seeds?”

“That is no problem,” said the father-in-law. “I will lend you enough money to rent farmland and buy seeds.”

Smiling wide, they shook hands. With the loan, the young man rented a large plot of land and cleared it. He planted the seeds and recited the magic spell over them. Each day, he checked the plants, pulled weeds, and kept pests away.

When the plants grew tall and the bananas ripened, a silver powder did appear on the back of the leaves. The young man carefully brushed off this powder and saved it. But only a pinch of powder could be saved from each plant. He had to buy more land and grow more bananas. It took a few years, but at last, he had collected the two pounds.

With great joy, he ran to his father-in-law’s house.

“I have enough silver powder now!” he cried, setting a tied bag gently on the floor.

“Wonderful!” said the old man. “Now I will show you how to turn dirt into gold! But first, you must bring me a bucket of dirt from the banana farm. And you must bring my daughter too.”

The young man didn’t understand why he needed a bucket of dirt and his wife, but he hurried to the farm, dug up a bucket of dirt, and rushed home to get his wife. The two of them went to the old man’s house.

The father asked his daughter, “After your husband saved the banana powder, what did you do with the bananas?”

“I sold them,” she said. “That is how we have been able to live.”

“Did you save any money?” asked the father.

“Of course,” she said.

“May I see it?” said the old man. The young woman and her husband gave each other a quick look – this was odd! But she went home and came back with a large bag. Inside the bag were gold coins.

“Set it down,” he said. Then he took the bucket of dirt and dumped it onto the floor. He took the bag of coins and poured them in a pile next to the dirt.

“You see,” he said, turning to his son-in-law, “you have turned dirt into gold!”

“What?” said the young man.

“Oh, I get it!” said the daughter. “My dear,” she said, turning to her husband. “You farmed the dirt and we sold the bananas. Now we have gold coins!”

“But that’s not the kind of magic I had in mind,” said the husband.

The daughter kissed him on the cheek. “We’ve been living well and happy together these last years, my love,” she said.

“I suppose there’s a kind of magic here, after all,” he said with a smile.

“Indeed,” said the father. And the couple walked home, hand in hand.