Ben Pinto was a businessman who rose from rags to riches. He was of a
miserly type and amassed a lot of wealth "A fool and his money are easily
parted,” he used to say often to indicate that he was not of that type
Eventually Pinto reached old age and in his dotage he contacted a dreadful
disease. He was worried that his end was near and had to leave all his wealth
soon. He had no children as he was a confirmed bachelor. On the other hand he
was not on good terms with any of his relatives because of his tightfistedness.
He sold all his properties and put the money realized into three bags. When he was seriously ill, he sent for three of his most trusted friends-on was his own parish priest, another his doctor and the third his lawyer-and gave each a bag of money asking them to put the three bags into his grave when he died.
Senile decay was such that Pinto's condition became worse and worse and he died downhearted that nobody except his confidants came to see him. Those three made all arrangements for the funeral, and at the grave-side each was watching the other two to see what they would do. However they managed to put the three bags of money into the grave surreptitiously before it was closed up with sand, in accordance with the instructions of the dead man.
After the funeral, the priest and the lawyer got into the doctor's car to be
taken home and on the way the doctor 'sotto voce' told the other two, "You
know I don't want to tell you a lie. I am not a rich man and I don't have any
private property. My family and I depend entirely on my earnings as a doctor,
but I charge no excessive fees. Out of Pinto's money I kept back something as
my charges for having treated him and the balance to treat poor patients free
of charge.
Then the priest whispered, "Don't tell this to anybody. I also kept a
little to repair my church building, which is badly in a state of disrepair.
Otherwise all Pinto’s money will be going waste.”
Hearing all that, the lawyer said. “As far as I am concerned. I didn't want to
keep back anything. I put the whole amount into the grave by cheque."
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