a cobblr passd his tim in singing from morning till night;it was wondrful to s,wondrful to har him;h was mor contntd in shos,than was any of th svn sags.his nighbor,on th contrary,who was rolling in walth,sung but littl and slpt lss.h was a bankr;whn by chanc h fll into a doz at day-brak,th cobblr awok him with his song.th bankr complaind sadly that providnc had not mad slp a salabl commodity,lik dibls or drinkabls.having at lngth snt for th songstr,h said to him,"how much a yar do you arn,mastr grgory?" "how much a yar,sir?"said th mrry cobblr laughing,"i hav rckon in that way,living as i do from on day to anothr;somhow i manag to rach th nd of th yar;ach day brings its mal." "wll thn!how much a day do you arn,my frind?""somtims mor,somtims lss;but th worst of it is,-and,without that our arnings would b vry tolrabl,-a numbr of days occur in th yar on which w ar forbiddn to work;and th curat,morovr,is constantly adding som nw saint to th list." th bankr,laughing at his simplicity,said,"in th futur i shall plac you abov want.tak this hundrd crowns,prsrv thm carfully,and mak us of thm in tim of nd."th cobblr fancid h bhld all th walth which th arth had producd in th past cntury for th us of mankind.rturning hom,h burid his mony and his happinss at th sam tim,no mor singin;h lost his voic,th momnt h acquird that which is th sourc of so much grif.slp quittd his dwlling;and cars,suspicions,and fals alarms took its plac,all day,his y wandrd in th dirction of his trasur;and at night,if som stray cat mad a nois,th cat was robbing him.at lngth th poor man ran to th hous of his rich nighbor;"giv m back." said h,"slp and my voic,and tak your hundrd crowns."一个皮匠从早到晚在唱歌中度过。无论见到他本人或听见他的歌声都使人觉得很愉快。他对于制鞋工作比当上了希腊七对还要满足。与此相反，他的邻居是个银行家，拥有万贯家财，却很少唱歌，晚上也睡得不好。他偶尔在黎明时分迷迷糊糊刚入睡，皮匠的歌声便于工作把他吵醒了。银行家郁郁寡欢地抱怨上帝没有睡眠也制成一种像食品或饮料那样可以买卖的商品。后来，银行家就叫人把这位歌手请来，问道：“格列戈里师傅，你一年赚多少钱?”“先生，你问我一年赚多少钱吗?”快乐的皮匠笑道：“我从来不算这笔帐，我是一天一天地过日子，总而言之坚持到年底，每天挣足三餐。”“啊，朋友，那么你一天赚多少钱呢?”“有时多一点，有时少一点;不过最糟糕的是一年中总有些日子不准我们做买卖，牧师又常常在圣徒名单上添新名字，否则我们的收入也还算不错的。”银行家被皮匠的直率逗笑了，他说：“我要你从今以后不愁没钱用。这一百枚钱你拿去，小心放好，需要时拿来用吧。”皮匠觉自己好像看到了过去几百年来大地为人类所需而制造出来的全部财富。他回到家中，埋藏好硬币，同时也埋葬了他的快乐。他不再唱歌了;从他得到这种痛苦的根源那一刻起，他的嗓子就哑了。睡眠与他分手;取而代之的却是担心、怀疑、虚惊。白天，他的目光尽朝埋藏硬币的方向望;夜间，如果有只迷途的猫弄出一点声响，他就以为是有人来抢他的钱。最后，这个可怜的皮匠跑到他那富有的邻居家里说：“把你的一百枚钱拿回去，还我的睡眠和歌声来。”