The Stingy Receiver: A sharp and witty tale that humorously critiques human nature and greed. Available for free download in PDF, EPUB, and MOBI formats.
The Stingy Receiver Summary
The Stingy Receiver is a sharp and satirical tale that explores the themes of greed, generosity, and human folly. With humor and wit, the author examines how selfishness impacts individuals and the community. Download this engaging classic in PDF, EPUB, and MOBI formats.The Stingy Receiver Excerpt
Explore the opening of The Stingy Receiver, a humorous and thought-provoking tale that examines human greed and generosity. Enjoy this engaging excerpt:
Chapter I
In a small, sleepy village tucked away in a quiet valley, there lived a man whose reputation for stinginess had traveled far beyond the boundaries of his modest homestead. This man, known to all as Reuben Craggs, was neither wealthy nor impoverished, yet his heart clung to every coin as though his very life depended on it.
“A penny saved is a penny earned,” he would say to anyone who dared question his frugality. To Reuben, a single penny was worth far more than a loaf of bread or a friendly favor, and as such, generosity was a language he neither spoke nor understood.
Reuben’s neighbors tolerated him, for he was a quiet man who kept to himself. But when news of his stinginess reached the ears of the village children, he became the subject of jokes and harmless pranks. They would follow him to the market, giggling and whispering as he bartered for the smallest discount on potatoes or milk. “Look! There goes old Reuben, squeezing the coins till they cry!” they would laugh.
Yet, for all his stinginess, there was one thing that Reuben valued even more than money: his pride. And so, when a wealthy relative wrote to him, promising to send a small fortune on the condition that Reuben prove himself a generous man, the entire village watched with bated breath.
“I don’t need anyone’s charity,” Reuben grumbled when he read the letter aloud to himself. But as the words sank in, his mind began to churn. A fortune! With such wealth, he would no longer need to count his pennies or argue over the price of onions. He would be free to live as he pleased.
The letter, sealed in thick wax and stamped with a crest Reuben did not recognize, contained a curious request: “Find someone in need, and give freely. Show me proof of your generosity, and the reward will be yours.”
For days, Reuben puzzled over the letter’s challenge. Who, in the village, would be worthy of such an act? The beggar who sat by the well? The widow who struggled to feed her children? Reuben dismissed them all. “They’ve gotten along fine without my help,” he muttered. “Why start now?”
It was on a gray, blustery morning that Reuben’s opportunity finally arrived. As he trudged to the market with his battered coin purse clutched tightly in his hand, he saw a small boy standing in the middle of the road. The boy was shivering, his clothes threadbare and his bare feet blue from the cold.
“Out of the way!” Reuben barked, but the boy did not move. He simply looked up at Reuben with wide, pleading eyes.
“Please, sir,” the boy whispered. “A penny for bread?”
Reuben froze. A penny! A single, solitary penny. It was such a small sum, and yet, in that moment, it felt heavier than gold in Reuben’s hand.
The village children, who had gathered nearby, began to murmur. “Will he do it?” one girl asked her brother. “Will old Reuben finally part with a coin?”
Reuben’s pride prickled under their watchful eyes. Slowly, reluctantly, he reached into his coin purse and pulled out a single copper penny. The boy’s eyes lit up as Reuben dropped the coin into his outstretched hand.
“There,” Reuben grunted. “Now, be on your way.”
The boy bowed low, his face beaming with gratitude. “Thank you, sir. Bless you!” he cried, before disappearing down the road.
For a moment, Reuben stood frozen, staring at the empty space where the boy had been. Around him, the village children erupted into cheers.
“He did it!” they shouted. “Reuben gave away a penny!”
But Reuben’s triumph was short-lived. When he returned home that evening and reached for his coin purse, he discovered, to his horror, that it was gone.
“The boy!” he roared, his voice shaking the walls of his little house. “The boy tricked me! He stole my purse!”
And so began Reuben’s frantic search to reclaim what he had lost—a quest that would lead him to confront not only his stinginess but the true cost of holding too tightly to what he thought was his.
