Honest Piece of Silver
Once upon a time, there lived in a small hamlet a poor woman and her son. So poor were they that often there was not even a morsel of food in their tumbledown hut. It was a cold winter day and they had nothing at all to light a fire and warm themselves by. "Son, will you go to the woods and fetch some dry twigs for fuel? Otherwise, we will freeze to death," said the mother, covering her little boy with an old patched up coat. Fred hopped and skipped, skipped and hopped all the winding path to the forest. He was happy in spite of the chill grey weather and continued to jump and run in order to keep himself warm. Soon he came to the woods and gathered as much fuel as his little arms could carry and started back home. Suddenly he stumbled against a big round stone, all white with frost and snow. "How pale and white you look! You'll be soon frozen to death!" he said, and taking off his coat, laid it on the stone. When he got home with the bundle of twigs under his arm and his mother asked him what he did with his coat, he proudly told her what he had done with it. "What! You wrapped it round a lifeless stone to keep it warm? What a fool you're! Don't you know that whether it's hot or cold, a stone remains a stone, always dumb and still. Now, go and fetch your coat at once," said his mother angrily.
But when Fred was once again near the stone, he saw an unusual sight. The stone had lifted itself up on one side from the ground. "Well, mister, is this to tell me that you're quite happy and warm in my coat? Alas, I've come to take it back!" he said innocently. But when he looked closer, lo and behold, under it lay a box full of shining silver pieces. "This is surely stolen property. For no one will put money earned through honest means, under a stone deep in the woods," thought the lad quite logically. He threw the whole box along with its content into a small lake nearby. But one bright silver penny floated on the water. "Ah! That's no doubt honest, for what is honest never sinks," said the boy to himself. So, picking up the silver penny and forgetting his coat, Fred gambolled back home. Excited, he recounted his adventures to his mother in one long breath. "And," he concluded, holding out his hand and opening his palm, "this is the honest penny." "What a foolish boy you're! What does it matter if the silver pieces were stolen? You had after all found it! Had you only brought the box home, how well and happily we could have lived all our days. Now, begone and earn your own bread! I can no longer toil for you," chided the woman very loudly. Little Fred very obediently set out into the wide, wide world. For many days and nights, he travelled, whistling all the way. Sometimes he felt very cold indeed but was happy with the thought that his only coat still warmed the white round stone far away in the woods.
At last, he was in the town. He got work in a rich merchant's stable. Soon his master had to make a journey into distant lands. He asked his servants, one by one, what should he bring home for them. When it was Fred's turn, holding out the bright silver piece he said, "Master, this penny is truly honest, get me what you can buy for it." "What will this tiny silver piece fetch you? Perhaps nothing more than two green peas!" laughed the merchant. Nevertheless, he gave his word to the lad that he would surely keep his wish. So, he sailed away in his ship and unloaded and loaded it in many lands across the seas. He got all that he had promised his men at home. He was about to set sail homeward when he suddenly remembered the stable boy, and his words rang in his ears, "Master this penny is truly honest, get me what you can buy for it." "Is it worth taking the trouble to go all the way to the town for the sake of a silver penny?" as the merchant was thinking, an old woman came walking by, with a bag on her hunchback. "Grandma, what is that you're carrying in your bag?" asked the merchant. "Just a cat, Sir. I can't afford to feed it any longer. So I thought I would rather throw it in the sea than let it perish of hunger," replied the lady. "Will you part with it in exchange of a silver farthing?" he asked, rather whimsically. "Gladly, too gladly!" exclaimed the old hag and handing over the bag and almost snatching away the silver penny, she disappeared into the mist.
The ship had not sailed very far when it fell into fearful weather. A terrible storm drove it to the shores of an unknown land. It was a tiny realm where the merchant had never set his foot before. As he walked into it, he was greeted not by men but by thousands of mice. Big and small, fat and thin, black and white, and pink and brown. "Friend," he asked a passer-by, "Whom does this country belong to, mice or men?" "It does belong to men. But for many years, the mice seem to have taken it over We have not had a proper meal nor a peaceful sleep for a long time. By the time the spoon reaches the mouth, the food disappears both from the spoon and the plate below. At night, sometimes we manage to get just a wink of sleep and dream of mice and mice only," said the man with a big yawn. "Don't you keep cats here?" enquired the traveller. "Cats! what are they?" So, the merchant fetched the cat he had bought for the stable boy. The moment the mice smelled it, they all scampered away in fright and dived into the sea. The cat ran after them and managed to gobble up a few. The old king was so overjoyed to know that at last, his land was free of the menace that was bothering it for so many years, that he at once proposed to retire and crown the great saviour as the king and give him his daughter's hand in marriage. The merchant set sail loaded with royal gifts, with the promise that he would soon return to wed the princess and take charge of the kingdom.
Standing on the deck, he jubilantly shouted into the sea, "Soon I shall be a king! Ha! Ha! Ha!" He had just finished proudly beating his chest when a terrible gale broke out. It battered the ship which was almost on the point of sinking. It made him think, was it not the poor stable boy who should be the rightful ruler of the kingdom? He had but thought this when the weather turned fair. He soon reached the shores of his hometown. He straight went to the stable boy and said, "Dear friend, your honest penny has not only earned you the crown of a kingdom, but also the hand of a beautiful princess." So, before long, Fred, who had by now grown into a fine young man, became the king and took the princess his bride. But he did not forget to fetch his old mother and looked after her with much love and affection. "Forgive me, dear son," she said to Fred with tearful eyes, "indeed, the white round stone must have surely felt warm under your coat. Perhaps it is not dead as it seems to be. It has some life in it, isn't it?" "Yes indeed," replied King Fred, "and the silver penny, wasn't it truly honest?" So, for many many happy years, Fred ruled the kingdom. The merchant joined him as his close friend and adviser. The people ate and slept peacefully ever after. For, the great cat, with its tail curled up, always patrolled the cobbled streets!
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