One day, in a place called Sari, came a merchant selling vessels and ornaments. A beautiful girl passed with her mother, and their poverty was similar. They wondered how to sell it in the same village and profit from it—if someone saw it, they would hide from me and when they sold it, they would hide from it.
So they said to the boat owner, “Can you lend us your boat? We have an idea. Why don’t you transport the goods by half? You sell your goods in half and you in the other half. When you finish from your place, you two can share the profits.” They replied to him that it was a wonderful idea. Thus, the two men began and set off on their way.
One day, they called the inhabitants and with some news, a little girl heard the merchant. She hurried inside to inform her grandmother and said to her, “Someone is selling vessels. He wants a bracelet. Please, grandmother.” Her grandmother bent to her, “My little child, I wished, but I don’t have money. How can I buy it?” She said to her, “Maybe we can sell this ugly plate.” Her grandmother said to her, “It’s covered with dust from time. This thing is worthless.”
The little girl said to her grandmother, “Let’s go look and see from the girl’s house.” She said to her, “I want a bracelet. I would take the girl’s torn clothes.” The man thought to trick her. The condition of the house was bad. The ceiling was leaking, the roof filled with holes, and mice were scattered everywhere. Her grandmother said to him, “I have only this plate, and my granddaughter wants a bracelet. Please accept it.” He said to her, “It’s ugly. How is it covered with all this dust? I will give it to a carpenter to polish it.” He gave it to the carpenter and removed the dust. A golden part appeared from the plate. It was a golden plate. He was a greedy man. He started thinking and saying it was of gold and worth several thousands. He said to her, “I will return again, and you two will know it’s priceless and that I took it cheaply.” He said to her, “I was thinking of offers like this plate, but it doesn’t exist worthless and valueless. I don’t want it.”
Her grandmother said to him, “Don’t refuse. Thus, my little granddaughter will decide. What should we do to get one coin of money?” He said to her, “This cheap thing doesn’t even reach half a coin.” The little girl said to him, “It’s old and I don’t want anything.” She took it in the market. Someone came in the same place to see its shape. He faced the girl and said to her, “You’re buying something?” She said to him, “I don’t have money to buy anything. Tell me what you have, and I will trade it with you fairly.” The girl laughed and said to him, “I want a bracelet, and I will give you an old plate. You see, the plate has no value, but it was an honest and generous man, and he thought to trade the bracelet with the old plate, and even the plate would be truly golden. He decided to polish the plate first, and when the black dust vanished, he said to them it was a golden plate.” He said to her, “It’s worth more than everything you have. It’s worth thousands, and you don’t have what suffices.” She said to him, “How strange, why don’t you take this and give my granddaughter a bracelet?” He said to her, “You can get a thousand coins.”
Wait, I will give you all the vessels and ornaments and every work I have in exchange for the plate, but I will leave three works for the river and the sea to cover the golden plate with it." The old woman felt happy and strange. She became wealthy with vessels and ornaments, and her granddaughter became rich with valuable jewelry. The man reached happiness from getting the plate. He realized that his life would change for the better, but he was a greedy man thinking to himself. Yet he didn’t know that his greed had betrayed him. She went to him and said to him, “I changed my mind, and I will keep the girl rich.” The girl said to her, “We don’t need anything from you. We sold the plate in fact to a wise and generous man.”
The carpenter wiped his face and kept screaming, but the man was far away and didn’t hear a word. The man found the carpenter screaming and crying, and he seemed happy about what he did. He said to him, “Thank you, and I am happy to meet you.” The man went and the carpenter sat on the bank sad about what he had done. Were it not for greed, the golden plate would have been his king.
Translated from story: The Golden Plate Story