The King and the Thief

Long ago, there was a king who was very rich and very powerfull. The thing he loved most in life was money. He loved the smell of money. He loved the sound of gold coins clanking against each other in his hands. He loved to sit in his treasurey and gaze at his wealth for hours at a time.

One day, while he was in his treasurey, he heard a noise from behind a chest of gold. He called the guards and they pulled out a old pauper. "Why dos thou steal from me?" asked the king. The old pauper looked at hime and said, " Oh great king, you have so much and I have so little. My only daughter is to be wed on this very Sunday, and I haven't the money to by her a gift, that is why I stole from you." Enraged that someone would take a few gold deblums from him, the king replied, "You will not see your daughter wed, for you will be hanged this very day."

The old man looked at the king and said,"Please king, have mercy. If someone will take my place until I return from her wedding, may I live just long enough to see her wed?"

"You know someone that would risk his own life just so you could see your daughter wed?" "Yes" replied the pauper. So the pauper's friend was sent for. "You will take this man's place before the hangman if he does not return?" "Yes" replied the pauper's friend.

So the pauper was freed and his friend was jailed. At the wedding, the pauper laughed and drank with his daughter all night, but arose early the next morning to ride back. On the way he was attacked by robbers and beaten severally, but he got back onto his horse and rode. When he came to the river, the bridge was out, so he forded the river, losing his horse in the process. Finally he came to the castle. His friend was already on the scaffold, ready to be hanged. "Stop! I am the one who is to be hanged this day, not that man!" The king was taken back and ordered the two men brought into his chambers.

"I have three questions for you. First," said the king "you had been set free. You could have stayed away and lived. Why did you come back to certain death? To which the pauper replied, "This man is my friend. He risked his own life so I could see my daughter wed. I could never sell him out like that."

"Fair enough" said the king. Then he turned to the second amn and said, "Why did you risk your life for this man?" He replied, "This man is my friend. I knew he would come back for me because of what I did for him."

The king looked at both of them and said, " May I be your friend?"