Greed Kills

Jean Pierre was a French nobleman; he was very wealthy and owned a huge amount of land where his peasants and farm workers resided. The nobleman had been taxing his peasants irregularly high and decided to keep it all for himself instead of using it to better his lands for his inhabitants.   

 It was an early winter morning in Paris, December 1736, noble Jean Pierre had awoken from his slumber. Jean Pierre lived with his newly wedded wife in a mansion passed down by his ancestral family tree. On the wintery morning, Jean Pierre and his wife went down the stairs to the dining hall where the fireplace was lit, and the table was set.  In the dining hall their house workers had prepped the most delicious breakfast you could imagine, the smells of soups, pastries, hard boiled eggs, and freshly baked bread.  Pierre rudely shooed the workers and sat down with his wife to eat. They ate and chatted throughout breakfast, but suddenly Pierre heard a strange voice that was followed with a hissing noise coming from the hallway outside the Dining hall. He asked his wife if she had heard it, but she answered that she had not, so Pierre decided to investigate. As he walked down the hallway, he heard the hiss and voice again which got louder as he walked up to his study room. Pierre approached the door as he went to open the door, the handle started to shake and rattle. He opens the door suddenly a bookshelf nearby, plummeted to the floor. Out of curiosity, Pierre searched the surroundings of the bookshelf to find a reason for its fall. Pierre glanced over to the wall and saw a secret hidden door that had a huge image of a snake on it where the bookshelf once stood. Pierre entered the secret passage within the walls, there he found a compartment that bared a mysterious chest from what he could see it looked ancient with peculiar markings and snake drawings around its warped wooden shell outlined with a beautiful trim of gold. As Pierre approached the chest the whispers got louder and louder until he finally reached out and grabbed it, they all silenced in an instant. Pierre decided to leave the secret passage to open the chest in a better lit room. As Pierre opened the chest it creaked and wailed like if did not want to be opened, as Pierre took a glimpse of the inside, he was blinded by the shine of the solid gold  coins that were stamped with strange letters and an image of a snake. As he took out a gold coin, he noticed a new coin appeared in its place, so he started dumping the coins out and a stream of glittering gold came rushing out of the chest.

Pierre was consumed by joy and greed as he realized the worth of his new fortune. He rushed over to the different luxurious markets and shops around France to buy everything that was in stores. Pierre who was spending non-stop hadn’t noticed that each time he spent some of the wealth from the chest, he got more and more ill, and only noticed when he was very pale, skinny, and developed a cough that was as loud as a lion. Pierre was so skinny he had become a walking skeleton. Upon seeing himself, Pierre, rushed over to a doctor to see why his condition was deteriorating in such a rapid manner but the doctor said there were no reason for his illness, so Pierre decided to look for an alternate doctor. He asked around and found out that an old blind witch lived in a snowy mountain, so Pierre decided to take a journey to the mountain with his horsemen. Pierre was too weak to ride so he had to be carried up, as he struggled to reach the mountain his condition worsened, and he passed out. After the treacherous journey they reached the witch. The witch awoke Pierre and informed him that his health was deteriorating because of his greed that triggered the Snake of Greed’s curse. Pierre profoundly asked the witch if there was any cure for the curse that he was bewitched upon. The witch simply told Pierre that he needed to be humble and give away some of the treasure, so that his curse would be lifted upon him. Pierre, who was in disbelief that he was too blinded by his greed to see the solution. He had always faced away from the poor and sickened, which unknowingly triggered the curse in the first place. Pierre was a bit hesitant about giving the gold away but the witch, told Pierre that unfortunately there was no cure other than to give away his fortune to those in need.

Pierre, who was dismayed about the reality of his curse, contemplated and was left with no other choice, but to give away his fortune to those in need, so he went back down the mountain to rest and decided to treat his care takers better that night. In the next morning Pierre went out to commence his charity works and went up to every single peasant he saw and gave each single piece of gold that suddenly did not have the snake mark on it. Pierre kept doing this on for days until the fortune ran out, and Pierre saw that his health bettered. Pierre reflected on his actions and how greed had consumed him, he bowed to never be a greedy person ever again, Pierre afterwards, lived out a very happy life without greed and the curse.