31. THE KING AND THE LOCUSTS: A STORY WITHOUT AN END. ad'mi-ra-ble, wonderful. ca-price' [ka-prees'], whim, freak. court'iers [kort'yers], persons who attend the courts of princes. cu'bit, a measure of length, — from the elbow to the end of middle finger. de-vice', contrivance, stratagem. gran'a-ry, a storehouse of grain. proc'la-má-tion, announcement. stip-u-la'tions, bargainings. 1. THERE was a certain king, who, like many other kings, was fond of hearing stories told. To this amusement he gave up all his time; and yet he was never satisfied. All the exertions of all his courtiers were in vain: the more he heard, the more he wanted to hear. 2. At last he made a proclamation, that if any man would tell him a story that should last for ever, he would make him his heir, and give him the princess, his daughter, in marriage; but if any one should pretend that he had such a story, and should fail (that is, if the story did come to an end), he was to have his head chopped off. 3. For such a prize as a beautiful princess and a kingdom many candidates appeared; and dreadfully long stories most of them told. Some lasted a week, some a month, some six months. Poor fellows! they all spun them out as long as they possibly could, you may be sure. But all in vain sooner or later they all came to an end; and one after another, the unlucky story-tellers had their heads chopped off. : 4. At last came a man who said he had a story which would last for ever, if his majesty would be pleased to give him a trial. He was warned of his danger, and told how many others had tried, and lost their heads; but he said he was not afraid, and so he was brought before the king. He was a man of a very composed and deliberate manner of speaking; and, after making all requisite stipulations for time for his eating, drinking, and sleeping, he thus began his story: 5. "O king! there was once a king who was a great tyrant. And, desiring to increase his riches, he seized upon all the wheat and other grain in his kingdom, and put it into an immense granary, which he built on purpose, as high as a mountain. This he did for several years, till the granary was quite full up to the top. He then stopped up doors and windows, and closed it up fast on all sides. 6. But the bricklayers had, by accident, left a very small hole near the top of the granary. And there came a flight of locusts, and tried to get at the corn; but the hole was so small that only one locust could pass through it at a time. So one locust went in, and carried off one grain of corn; and then another locust went in, and carried off another grain of corn; and then another locust went in, and carried off another grain of corn; and then another locust went in, and carried off another grain of corn; and then another locust went in, and carried off another grain of corn; and then another locust went in, and carried off another grain of corn; and then another locust went in, and carried off another grain of corn 7. He had gone on thus from morning till night (except while he was engaged at his meals) for about a month, when the king, though a very patient king, began to be rather tired of the locusts, and interrupted his story with: "Well, well, we have had enough of the locusts. We will suppose that they have helped themselves to all the corn they wanted; tell us what happened afterwards." To which the story-teller answered, very deliberately, "If it please your majesty, it is impossible to tell you what happened afterwards before I have told you what happened first." 8. And so he went on again: "And then another locust went in, and carried off another grain of corn; and then another locust went in, and carried off another grain of corn; and then another locust went in, and carried off another grain of corn." The king listened with admirable patience six months more, when he again interrupted him: "O friend, I am weary of your locusts! How soon do you think they will have done?" 9. To which the story-teller made answer: "O king, who can tell? At the time to which my story has come, the locusts have cleared away a small space, it may be a cubit, each way round the inside of the hole; and the air is still dark with locusts on all sides. But let the king have patience, and, no doubt, we shall come to the end of them in time.' 10. Thus encouraged, the king listened on for another year, the story-teller going on as before: "And then another locust went in, and carried off another grain of corn; and then another locust went in, and carried off another grain of corn; and then another locust went in, and carried off another grain off corn;" till at last the poor king could bear it no longer, and cried out, "O man, that is enough! Take my daughter! take my king dom! take any thing - take every thing! only let us hear no more of those abominable locusts!" 11. And so the story teller was married to the king's daughter, and was declared heir to the throne; and nobody ever expressed a wish to hear the rest of his story, for he said it was impossible to come to the other part of it till he had done with the locusts. The caprice of the king was thus overmatched by the ingenious device of the wise man. |