Poor Mountain Father’s Money Problems

“I’ve got no money for Poor Mountain Sister’s birthday,” said Poor Mountain Father, sadly one morning at the breakfast table.

“Gee,” said Poor Mountain Mother, drying her hands on a tea-towel. “It is only a week away and she really wanted a pony for her birthday.”

“Well,” said Poor Mountain Father. “A pony is what she is going to get.”

Poor Mountain Father went into town that morning and stopped by the bank. He was quite nervous as he opened the door to the bank. He hadn’t been inside a bank in years.

“Can I help you sir?” asked the teller at the counter.

“I would like to borrow $300 for my daughter’s birthday,” said Poor Mountain Father.

“I see,” said the teller. “I’ll see if the bank manager can see you.”

“Okay,” said Poor Mountain Father.

“Sir,” said the teller to the bank manager. “There is a gentleman that would like to borrow some money.”

The bank teller looked up from his desk and took one look at Poor Mountain Father.

“Tell him I’m busy,” said the bank manager.

“But sir,” said the teller. “He only wants to borrow $300.”

“I’m not going to lend him a cent,” said the bank manager. “Now tell him to leave.”

The teller went back to Poor Mountain Father and told him that the bank manager was busy and that he would not be able to lend him any money. Poor Mountain Father walked out of the bank with his head hung low. He was very sad.

Poor Mountain Father drove home and pulled into his driveway. As he was getting out of his truck, he saw a black bag sitting on the side of the road. He went over to the bag and picked it up. He was shocked when he opened it up and saw hundreds of hundred dollar bills in it. He took the bag into his kitchen and showed it to Poor Mountain Mother.

Poor Mountain Mother and Poor Mountain Father counted the money and were shocked when they found out the bag contained one million dollars.

“You know,” said Poor Mountain Mother. “The only person on our road that would have money like that is that old man that rides the bike.”

“I bet that is who it belongs to,” said Poor Mountain Father. “I remember that when I left the driveway this morning, I almost ran into him with the truck.”

Poor Mountain Father picked up the phone and called the old man right away. The old man came right over and picked up the money. He was so grateful to Poor Mountain Father for turning it in.

“I don’t trust banks,” said the old man, waving as he left on his bike.

“Me either,” said Poor Mountain Father.

That evening, Poor Mountain Father was shocked to find out that he was on the front page of the daily newspaper.

“Oh my!” exclaimed Poor Mountain Father. “The newspaper has that story all wrong. They don’t know that I gave the money back to the old man. They think I still have it.”

Just then there was a knock on the door. Poor Mountain Father was shocked to see the bank manager standing on his front porch. Poor Mountain Father did not invite him inside though. He stood on the porch with the bank manager instead.

“I understand that you have come across some money today,” said the bank manager.

“Well …,” said Poor Mountain Father.

“Look,” said the bank manager. “I’ll lend you whatever money you want from here on in if you put that money in my bank.”

“Oh I see,” said Poor Mountain Father angrily. “So now that you think I have money you will lend me whatever I want?”

“Yes,” said the bank manager.

“Well,” said Poor Mountain Father. “You can step foot off my property any second now because I won’t have any part of this. See, I found some money this morning after I came home from the bank, which was, by the way, when you wanted nothing to do with me, and I gave the money back to the rightful owner. It never even crossed my mind to keep any of that money. It wasn’t mine to keep.”

The bank manager got into his car and drove off. A short while later, the old man stopped by Poor Mountain Father’s house.

“I was so rude to you today,” said the old man. “I forgot to offer you a reward for turning in this money. I also read the story in the paper. Boy do they get things mixed up.”

“They sure did,” said Poor Mountain Father. “And I just had a visit from the bank manager here just before you showed up. I went to see to the bank this morning to see if I could borrow $300 for a present for my daughter and the bank manager wouldn’t even give me the time of day. Then, after he read that story in the paper, he thought I had lots of money and he wanted me to put the money in his bank and he said he would lend me whatever I wanted.”

“Figures,” said the old man, dipping a little deeper into his bag of money. “Here, I want you to have this.”

“Thank you so much,” said Poor Mountain Father, when he saw that the old man had given him $300. “Now I can get my daughter what she wants for her birthday!”

“You know,” said the old man. “This world needs more people like you, honest and wholesome.”