Two neighbors came before Zeus and prayed him to grant their hearts' desire. Now the one was full of avarice, and the other eaten up with envy. So to punish them both, Zeus granted that each might have whatever he wished for himself, but only on condition that the other had twice as much. The Avaricious neighbor prayed to have a room full of gold. No sooner said than done; but all his joy was turned to grief when he found that his envious neighbor had two rooms full of the precious metal. Then came the turn of the Envious neighbor who could not bear to think that his neighbor had any joy at all. So he prayed that his Avaricious neighbor might have one of his own eyes put out, by which means he himself became totally blind. |