29 September 2025
The fable below is from the Herald magazine in Summer 1969, titled 'A tale from Southampton', perhaps based on something that I had heard in a pub.
Once upon a time there was a very rich man. He lived in a big house and had plenty of servants. His chauffeurs would drive him to his own airstrip in one of his Rolls Royces, where he could take off in his own private airliner, watching colour television as he was taken to his private beach in the Bahamas, or the South of France. Or he might tour the Med in one of his yachts. He owned a great many factories, and gave luxurious parties with caviar and champagne.
Needless to say, this man had a very large number of friends. They would compliment him on his taste in expensive clothes, and if they sent him cards at Christmas, he would send them gold watches in return. Or diamond jewellery. It goes without saying that he received a vast number of Christmas cards.
One day, he was lighting his cigar with a twenty-pound note, when an idea struck him. "All of my friends are after my money", he thought. "If I weren't rich, they would not spend so much time being polite to me." This idea annoyed the rich man. He was not at all used to being annoyed. He was used to getting his own way. So he thought and thought, and finally made a plan. This clever plan would reveal to him whether his friends liked him or preferred his money.
He called all his money-grabbing lawyers together, and sent them off to his friends. He gave away all his factories, his airliner and all his cars. You can imagine how this delighted all his friends. He became even more popular than ever, so he gave away all his houses, his land and all his money.
And then he waited. He waited until one day his servants left him. He walked around the park in a barrel because he had disposed of all his fine clothes. After a week, none of his friends had come to see him, so he thought.
He thought, and smiled to himself. He said "I was right."