When Yannis, a Greek peasant who can barely afford to feed his family, sets out to find work in the great city, he has no way of knowing that his ten years of hard work will be so poorly rewarded. Three gold coins seems like very little, but when they are exchanged for three pieces of advice, Yannis ends up with nothing...or does he?

This tale of a man who finds his fortune in a most unusual way is an engaging fable about working hard, waiting patiently, and learning to recognize wisdom when one sees it. I found Aliki's colorful, almost pointillist-style illustrations charming - a perfect complement to the story. ( )

A poor Greek man leaves his family to find work. He goes far from home and works for a wealthy man for 10 years. He misses his family and wishes to go home and the man pays him 3 gold coins, a mere pittance for so much work. As he is leaving the wealthy man calls him back and says he will give him advise in exchange for advise. The man does and ends up with no money but uses the advise on his way home. By following the advise the man ends up wealthy and is saved from killing his own son whom he did not recognize.