The neighbor lent him the spade, and himself went over to the garden to see whether the good man would find anything.
When the dog saw his master return and make ready to dig, he stood aside, wagging his tail with joy.
The man had not dug far when his spade struck something hard, and this, when it was uncovered, proved to be a chest of gold. The good couple were overcome with joy at the sight of such a treasure. They almost lost their senses, and even embraced the dog in their delight.
So happy were they that they did not notice that the neighbor had turned green with envy. “That is a valuable dog,” he said to them at last. “What will you sell him for?”
“Sell him!” cried the good man. “There is not enough gold in all the world to buy him. The only good fortune that has ever come to us has come through him.”
“Then at least lend him to me,” said the neighbor. “Surely you would not keep all the good fortune to yourselves. It may be that he will find a chest of gold for me in my garden.”
The good people were willing to do this, so the envious neighbor fastened a piece of rope about the dog’s neck and led him home with him, and he and his wife took the dog out in the garden and walked up and down and around with him just as the good couple had done. They were obliged to keep the rope about the dog’s neck and drag him along, for they had so often before this thrown hard words and harder stones at him that he would not go with them willingly. But though he was obliged to follow because of the rope he would not bark nor even sniff about, and at last the envious neighbor grew so angry that he killed the dog and buried it under a plane tree in the garden.
The good man waited and waited for the neighbor to bring back the dog, but as he did not do so he went over after a few days to ask for it.
Then the envious neighbor told him he had killed it and buried it under the plane tree.
The good man was filled with grief when he heard that his dog was dead. Sadly he returned to his wife and told her what had happened, and they sat down and wept together as though indeed it had been a child that had died.