They reached a small town and they saw that all the townspeople were crying. Upon inquiring, they were told that their leader, who was to them like a father, had just died and they appeared helpless without him. Moshe then put his staff on the dead person and he prayed to G-d. Suddenly the dead person opened his eyes and arose, and all the people began to rejoice. They invited Moshe to a feast in celebration of his wondrous feat.
Meanwhile, the old man asked Moshe if he could borrow his magic staff. He figured he too would revive the dead. On the way, he noticed a child carrying a bag of money. He killed the child so he could steal the money and he planned to revive the child after he hid the money. He put the staff on the child and he waited for the child to come to life. But the child did not wake up. Meanwhile, a crowd gathered and threatened to kill the old man. When Moshe heard of this he rushed over and, seeing what had occurred, he prayed to G-d and the child was revived, thus saving the old man from a possible lynching.
“Not only are you dishonest, but you are a greedy person,” said Moshe to the old man. He then took him to a nearby cave, picked up some large rocks and, putting the staff on them, prayed to G-d and they soon turned to gold.
“You can have this gold,” said Moshe, “if you will admit that you ate the fifth loaf of bread and that you then swore falsely.” The old man admitted it and Moshe left him with the gold. But the gold was too heavy to carry. Walking out of the cave, he noticed a group of people riding on camels. He called them over and agreed to give them a small percentage of the gold if they would transport it for him. They agreed.
“We are hungry,” they said. “Why don’t you go into town and bring us back food with some of this gold. Then we can start out early in the morning.” They too were greedy, and they planned to murder him when he returned with the food.
The old man, however, was not too happy to part with any of his gold. So he bought poison and put it into the bread and other food which he would give them and then he would have all the camels for himself. When he returned, they murdered him and then sat down to eat the food. They, too, soon died from the poison; and so, because of greed, no one had the gold. It remained hidden away in the cave.