Forget Happiness...I Want to be Rich! Part 1

Really? Are you sure about that? You know, the best stories are the ones about people who are happy first, then become rich (Cinderella, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, The Elves and the Shoemaker, The Brave Little Tailor). Those folks all get lasting riches (including a long life). There are very few stories about folks who get rich and then get happy later. But if you really, REALLY want to forget about being happy and just want to be rich, there are a couple stories that should be heeded. The first one goes by many names including "The Boy Who Went Out to Learn What Fear Was."

The story goes that a farmer had two sons. The elder was clever and could be relied on, but the younger one was a simpleton. It happened that the younger would sit by listening late at night while stories were swapped at fires and would hear the folks exclaim how stories made them shiver. But the younger son did not understand. When his father one day told him he needed to learn to do something, he replied that he would like to learn to shiver. To which the father said that he would never make a living shivering. It happened that later that night the village sexton came by to talk and an arrangement was made whereby the sexton took the younger son to train him. The younger son is to ring the bell of the church. The simpleton goes up late at night to do so. The sexton dresses in a sheet as a ghost to scare the younger son, but the son is too stupid to be scared and ends up knocking the sexton down the stairs, breaking some of his bones and is sent away. The father, in disgrace, sends the younger son away. After wandering some time, the simpleton comes to a town and hears tales at an inn that if anyone can stay three nights in a haunted castle, he will get half the king's wealth and kingdom, as well as the king's beautiful daughter to wife. Despite warnings, the younger son accepts the challenge and, after three nights of encounters (too much to recount here), he comes out unscathed, breaks the enchantment, and becomes a prince. Yet, one night, his new bride overhears him claiming how he wished he had learned to shiver. In response, she gets a bucket full of cold river water and minnows and dumps it on him one night while he is sleeping, to which he awakes and suddenly has learned what it is to shiver.

The purpose of this tale is to explain two crucial points in the quest for riches (learning to shiver). First, there are no special formulas for doing so. Attaining wealth is a mental mindset of determination. Obstacles will arise, but they can be overcome if your will to do so simply won't let them stop you. Also, it takes no particular talents or brainpower to be rich. And second, even if you do become rich, you will be haunted by your lack of happiness and satisfaction. You really can't be rich without being happy and rich. Otherwise, you're not rich. You just have money. My next post will tell the second story.