Famer Giles was old. Soon, he knew, he was going to die. His approaching death did not worry him-he'd led a happy life and his wife. Whom he loved very dearly. had passed away the year before.
His main worry was what would happen to hai three sons. Tom, Bick and Harry. They were thoroughly lazy, and much fonder for of spending the money earned by their father from the farm, than doing the hard work necessary to earn it.
The farm was Farmer Giles' pride and joy. He had three orchards, one in which he grew apples, another cherries, and the third pears. His fruit was so famous that people, came from all over the country to buy it. However, he knew that if his sons didn't work hard, the fruit would no longer be of hight quality , and nobody would want it. He therefore needed to find a way to teach his sons to be good farmers.
He thought long and hard,and finally took some pieces of paper and wrote four letters-one to his sons and three to his friend and neighbour Farmer Jones. He posted the letters to farmer jones and gave the first one to Tom., his eldest son.
"Don't open this letter till after my death," he advised Tom. " it contains some good news for you and your brothers."
That winter was extremely cold. The snow lay deep and water froze in the river. When one morning Farmer Giles didn’t come down to breakfast, Tom went up to his father’s bedroom and found him lying peacefully still and cold in his bed. He had died during the night.
It wasn't till after the funeral. when Tom,Dick and harry were sitting alone in the farmhouse ,that Tom remember his father's letter.He opened it and read it aloud to his brothers.
"Dear sons, my money is buried in orchard. You will need to dig there to find it. May it bring you happiness. Your loving father."
"So that 's when he buried his money!" exclaimed Tom.
"Yes," said Dick thoughtfully. "But we don't know which of the three orchards."
"Well," Harry said. "We'll just have to keep digging till we find it. Tom, you can try digging in the apple orchard. You , Dick, can try the cherry orchard and I 'll Dig in the pear orchard."
So it was decided. Every morning the brothers got up at the crack of dawn and worked through till darkness fell. Every night they would ask each other if anyone had found anything. The answer was always the same : "nothing yet. It was hard work, and the size of the orchard-each about ten acres (25rai)-made the task even more difficult. they spent the entire winter turning the soil between and around the trees until finally they had dug every inch of the orchards. But still they had found nothing. Where was the promise money?