Once, a man was walking on a mountain when he found an incredible cave. Stored inside were all kinds of treasure and precious stones, and when he saw it, the man concealed the cave entrance and stayed there, guarding it.

From that day on, the man would hide all his valuables in the cave, and to avoid anyone suspecting he was rich, he gave up his job, his home, and his friends. He constantly watched the approaches to his cave, wanting no one to find out about it, and fearing thieves, he guarded the cave the whole night through.

He was so dedicated to the cave that he hardly ate or drank. Before long, he fell ill. Many days passed, and he got thinner and sicker, losing all his strength, until he was on the point of dying. One day, when he could hardly move at all, he realised that it was his greed which had brought him to this extreme end. He now understood that guarding his treasure had been of no use and no good whatsoever. Just before he died, he decided to share it with others.

He crawled into the cave to get a handful of jewels, but discovered, to his horror, that the cave was almost empty. All he could find was a small emerald, which had only a dull sheen to it. The man took it, and left the cave, intending to give it to the first person to come by. Soon a woman approached, and she accepted the emerald with great joy. The man said to her, "I would have given you many more treasures, my dear, but I don't know where they went. This is all I have left."

"Are you sure there's nothing else?" replied the woman. The man shook his head, and pointed to the cave. Now he could see that there were, indeed, some treasures still there; he saw some gold coins. "Take them with you," the woman took both the emerald and the coins, and went away happy.

In a while, an old man came by and asked the man what he was doing there. "What bad luck! Just a moment ago I gave a woman the few riches left from the fabulous hoard of treasure I was guarding."

"Are you sure there is nothing left?", The old man asked him.
The man showed him the cave, and they found a chest filled with jewels and some bags of gold. The man was shocked, and the old man explained to him,
"At last! At last someone has freed himself from the spell of this cave. You see, this is the Cave Of A Thousand Treasures, and you're the first to pass its great test. Many are they that have dedicated their lives to this cave, only to end up realising there was nothing here..."

"And why does this happen?" said the man, "Why do these treasures appear and disappear?"
"My son, this magic cave has as many riches as does your own heart. When someone discovers it, the cave fills with the treasure they bring with them, but later, when they all devoted themselves to guarding the treasure, their hearts begin emptying, and so does the cave. The only way to fill it is by filling your heart with all that is good, as you did by giving that last jewel to the woman. Didn't you feel better for having done it? That was because the cave was filling up again..."

And so, the man understood it was better to share than to keep things to yourself. And, from that day, thanks to the cave and the old man, the man became ever noble and generous.