Scrooge McDuck

As a child, Scrooge grows up in a poor family

that has a rivalry with the Whiskervilles clan.
When he gets his first job as a shoe shiner, his
first customer presents him with extremely filthy
work boots, but pays him with an American coin
(a dime). Furious at being cheated, Scrooge
makes a vow to always be "fair and square" in
business and becomes much more cunning and
gets more business. He later earns more money
first by selling firewood and then by selling peat
moss.
Family legend meanwhile states that the
McDuck family was heir to a castle and large
fortune. One of their ancestors, determined to
hide the treasure from thieves, sealed it away
inside the castle (accidentally sealing himself
away at the same time). The family was
frightened from the land by a "phantom hound"
and as a result the treasure was lost and the castle fell to ruin. While exploring the castle, Scrooge
discovers that the hound only was trickery by the Whiskervilles, who wanted the McDuck
family out of the way so that they could steal the hidden treasure. Encouraged by a strange
keeper in the castle, Scrooge gets revenge for his family by filling a suit of armor with peat and
setting it on fire, scaring the Whiskervilles into thinking it was a ghost. Inspired by the keeper,
Scrooge decides to go to America to earn his fortune. After Scrooge leaves the castle, the keeper
reveals himself as the ghost of the ancestor who was sealed away in the wall. When asked by the
ghosts of the other ancestors why he didn't simply just show Scrooge the location of the treasure,
he explains that the boy must earn his fortune himself.