The Five Boonsof Life, by Mark Twain
In the morning of life came a good fairy with her basket, and said:
“Here are gifts. Take one, leave the others. And be careful, choose wisely; oh, choose wisely! For only one of them is valuable.”
The gifts were five: Fame, Love, Riches, Pleasure, Death. The young man said, eagerly:
“There is no need to consider;” and he chose Pleasure.
He went out into the world and enjoyed the pleasures of youth. But every pleasure was short-lived
and disappointing, vain and empty. In the end, he said: “These years I have wasted. If I could choose again, I would choose wisely.”
The fairy appeared, and said:
“Four of the gifts remain. Choose once more; and oh, remember–time is flying, and only one of them
is precious.”
The man considered long, then chose Love; and did not notice the tears in the fairy's eyes.
After many, many years the man sat by a coffin, in an empty home. He thought to himself: “One by one they have gone away and left me; and now she lies here, the dearest and the last. I have seen nothing but loss after loss. For every hour of happiness, I have paid a thousand hours of grief. Curse Love!”
“Choose again.” It was the fairy speaking.
“Surely the years have taught you to be wise. Three gifts remain. Only one of them has any worth - remember this, and choose carefully.”
The man reflected long, then chose Fame; and the fairy, sighing, walked away.
Years went by and she came again, and stood behind the man where he sat alone, thinking.
And she knew his thought:
“My name filled the world, and everyone knew me, and it seemed well with me for a little while.
How little a while it was! Then came envy; then detraction; then hate; then persecution. Then ridicule, which is the beginning of the end. And last of all came pity, which is the funeral of fame. Oh, what miserable fame!”
“Choose yet again.” It was the fairy's voice.
“Two gifts remain. And do not despair. In the beginning, there was only one that was precious, and
it is still here.”
“Wealth - which is power! How blind I was!” said the man. “Now, at last, life will be worth the living. I will spend, all my money. All who laugh at me and hate me will crawl in the dirt and will envy me. I will have all luxuries, all joys, all enchantments of the spirit, all happiness of the world. I will buy, buy, buy!”
Three short years went by, and a day came when the man sat shivering in an old attic; and he was
thin and pale, and clothed in rags; and he was eating a dry crust of bread and mumbling:
“Curse all the world's gifts, they are all lies! They are not gifts, but only borrowed for a time. Pleasure, Love, Fame, Riches: they are only disguises for lasting realities – Pain, Grief, Shame, Poverty. The fairy spoke the truth; there was only one valuable gift. Now I know how poor and cheap and mean
the other gifts were. I compare them to this one a dear and sweet and kind gift. Dreamless and enduring sleep, no more pain and shame and grief to poison the mind and heart. Bring it! I am
so tired, I need rest.
The fairy came, bringing again four of the gifts, but Death was missing. She said:
“I gave it to a mother's sweet baby, a little child. The child was ignorant, but trusted me, asking
me to choose for it. You did not ask me to choose.”
“Oh, miserable me! What is left for me?”
“What not even you have deserved: the cruel insult of Old Age.”