The Greedy Poor Man and the Quiet Rich ManIn a small dusty village, there lived two men at opposite ends of the road.
At the beginning of the road was Kofi — poor, thin, always complaining. His clothes were faded, his hut was small, and his heart was full of bitterness. Every day he looked down the road toward the big house with shining windows and muttered,
“If only I had his money… my life would be better.”
At the end of the road lived Mensah — the rich man. His house was large, his farm was wide, but he lived quietly and spoke kindly to everyone.
Kofi did not see kindness.
He only saw wealth.
One afternoon, Kofi sat under a tree watching Mensah’s workers harvest yams. His stomach growled. His eyes burned with envy.
“Why should he have everything?” Kofi grumbled. “God is unfair.”
That evening, Mensah passed by Kofi’s hut and greeted him.
“Kofi, how are you today?”
Kofi forced a smile. “I am fine,” he lied, his voice heavy with resentment.
Mensah noticed the empty pot by the door. Without saying much, he sent food to Kofi’s house that night.
Kofi ate the food but did not say thank you.
Instead, he thought, He has so much, this is nothing to him.
Days passed. Mensah continued to help — sometimes food, sometimes clothes, sometimes money. But the more Kofi received, the more greedy he became. He started expecting it.
One day, Kofi walked to Mensah’s house.
“I need money,” he demanded.
Mensah looked at him calmly. “For what, my brother?”
“For anything! You are rich. You can spare it.”
Mensah handed him a small bag of coins and said gently,
“Use this wisely.”
But Kofi did not. He wasted the money on drinking and gambling, thinking more would always come.
A few weeks later, hunger returned to his hut.
This time, Mensah did not send anything.
Angry and desperate, Kofi marched to the big house again.
“Why have you stopped helping me?!” he shouted.
Mensah sighed and invited him to sit.
“Kofi, I have been giving you fish every day. But you never asked me to teach you how to fish.”
Kofi fell silent.
Mensah continued, “I was once poor too. I worked on this farm with my bare hands. I saved. I learned. I struggled. You only see my wealth, but not my journey.”
Tears slowly filled Kofi’s eyes.
“For years,” Mensah said softly, “you have looked at me with envy instead of learning from me.”
Kofi’s voice broke. “I thought you were lucky…”
Mensah shook his head. “No one is lucky. Some people simply choose to work while others choose to complain.”
Kofi looked down at his dirty hands. For the first time, he felt ashamed — not because he was poor, but because he had been greedy.
Mensah stood up and placed a farming tool in his hands.
“Come tomorrow morning. I will teach you.”
The next day, for the first time in his life, Kofi woke up before sunrise.
Months passed.
Slowly, Kofi’s hut improved. His clothes became better. His face looked brighter.
But something more important changed — his heart.
One evening, Kofi walked down the road with food in his hands. He stopped at the hut of an even poorer man and knocked gently.
“I brought this for you,” he said with a small smile.
As he walked back home, he finally understood.
Mensah was rich not because of his money,
but because of his heart.
And Kofi stopped being poor the day he stopped being greedy.