The Tale of the Golden Ball

Once upon a time, there were two houses that stood right next to each other. In one house lived the richest couple in town, while in the other lived the poorest family in town. Despite owning everything, the rich husband and wife were very unhappy.

The rich woman would wander all over her enormous house from morning till night, unable to find anything to do. She was very bored with how her days were passing. When her husband came home in the evening, they would sit together, but they couldn't find anything to talk about. She would look at him, and he would look at her. The same thing happened every night, and they were desperately bored.

The only thing they did was envy the happiness of their neighbors. The houses were so close that every evening they could hear the never-ending laughter of their poor neighbors. The poor neighbors were so cheerful, so incredibly joyful, that the rich couple couldn't help but be jealous of them.

Finally, the rich man couldn't take it anymore and said to his wife: "We have everything we could possibly own; we can buy anything we want with our money. Despite this, we are unhappy. Our neighbors are poor, yet they are much happier than us. I want to know what they have that we don't. You go to the neighbor lady tomorrow and ask her. Find out what it is, and we'll buy it too, so we can be happy."

The next day, the rich woman went to the poor woman and explained the situation. She asked her to reveal the secret of their happiness. The poor woman replied: "Oh, my dear neighbor, we have a **golden ball** in our house. Every evening when my husband comes home, I throw the golden ball into his lap, and he throws it into mine. We have a lot of fun doing this."

The rich woman, having learned the secret to happiness, joyfully rushed back to her husband. She told him to bring a **golden ball** with him when he came home that evening. The man and woman eagerly awaited the evening.

When evening arrived, the man came home with a heavy golden ball that he could barely carry. They immediately went to the living room and began throwing the ball into each other's laps. However, they took no pleasure in it at all. Quite the opposite; the ball hurt them every time. Although they endured the pain for a while in their attempt to be happy, they ended up covered in bruises. Finally, they gave up on the effort.

The next day, the rich woman rushed to the poor woman's house. She told her everything that had happened, explaining that the golden ball had brought no joy to their home.

The poor woman said to her neighbor: "My dear neighbor, you misunderstood what I told you. My 'golden ball' is not a real ball; it is our daughter with her bright golden-yellow hair. Every evening, our girl runs first into my lap, then into my husband's lap. My husband and I take immense pleasure from this. A child is the joy and the light of every home."

Thus, the rich woman understood that people's happiness is not solely dependent on material things. She shared what she learned with her husband. After a while, they, too, were blessed with children and lived happily ever after.