There was once a farmer who had a fine olive orchard. He was very hardworking, and the farm always prospered under his care. But he knew that his three sons despised the farm work and were eager to make wealth through adventure.
When the farmer was old and felt his time had come, he called his three sons to him and said, "My sons, there is a pot of gold hidden in the olive orchard. Dig for it, if you wish it."
The sons tried to get him to tell them where the gold was hidden, but he would tell them nothing more.
After the farmer died, the sons went to work to find the pot of gold. Since they did not know the hiding place, they agreed to begin in a line at one end of the orchard and dig until one of them found it.
They dug until they had turned up the soil from one end of the orchard to the other, around the tree roots and between them. But no pot of gold was found. It seemed as if someone had stolen it, or as if the farmer had been wandering in his wits. The three sons were bitterly disappointed to have all their work for nothing.
The next olive season, the trees in the orchard bore more fruit than ever before. When it was sold, it earned the sons a whole pot of gold.
When they saw how much money came from the orchard, they suddenly understood what their wise father had meant when he said, "There is gold hidden in the orchard. Dig for it, if you wish it."