Once upon a time in Vietnam, there was a man by the name of Hung who lived with his wife Yen. They were poor but happy as they lived together. They always faced their struggles together and they earned money from a starfruit tree near their house. Every harvest season, they would pick the starfruits and sell them. However, during one season, when Yen went to pick the fruits, she found the fruits unfit to be picked. When she looked up into the tree, she found a raven sitting and eating the fruits. Yen shouted and tried to scare away the raven, but instead the raven called out to more ravens and all of them attacked the starfruit tree at once.
Yen grew wild and threw a stone at the raven. The raven then flew down to her and after sitting on the fence, the raven told her to not throw stones at him. Yen was flabbergasted to see a raven talking but she said that the starfruits were their only source of money and so she needed them. The raven then told her that he would take her or her husband to a palace of wealth if she let him and his flock eat the starfruits. She agreed to not throw stones at him and the raven then said that he would show the place tomorrow.
The next day, the raven came to their house as promised and saw Hung and Yen waiting for him. The raven grew in size and soon he was bigger than the biggest human ever. Hung then said he would accompany the raven and after seating himself on his back, the raven took flight. The raven spread its wings and flew higher and higher through the clouds until it entered suddenly into a cave in the mountains. Hung got down from the raven and could not believe his eyes. The entire cave was filled with treasures and he was literally blinded by their lustre.
The raven told him to take as much wealth as he wanted and after some time, Hung returned to the raven with a bag half filled with gold. The raven asked him if that was enough and Hung shook his head up and down. The raven smiled and took Hung back to his home. Hung and Yen used this money to build a new home and improve their farms. They soon became the talk of the town. And this news fell in the ears of Hung’s evil brother, Dung.
Dung similarly planted starfruit trees around his house and as expected, ravens flocked to his trees. Then the raven offered to take Dung or his wife to the cave and he volunteered to go. Dung was overcome with greed in the cave and he filled not one but 2 bags. The raven warned him that it was not good to be greedy, but Dung did not heed to his warnings. So, the raven flew with Dung and his 2 heavy bags of wealth. But the raven soon grew tired and he told Dung to let go of some of the wealth. But, Dung was greedy as ever and he refused. Moments later, the raven had no other choice but to let go of Dung, as he was unable to fly. Dung fell with his bags of wealth from the sky and came crashing to the ground. He died instantly and his wife, who was waiting at home, thought that he had run away with the wealth.
Moral - Greed will cause nothing but misery and sorrow.