04

The Simpleton

This story is about a boy who was always doing queer things. His brothers thought that he did not know very much, and called him a simpleton. Find out if this was good name for him.

One fine day a boy was walking down the road, jingling some money in his pockets. After a while he met a farmer with a basket on his arm.

“Good-morning,” said the boy. “What have you in your basket?”

“Nothing for you,” said the farmer crossly.

So the boy went on, jingling his money.

“What is that noise I hear?” called the farmer.

“Oh,” said the boy, “that is the money my brothers gave me. They say I am a simpleton; so they gave me some money and sent me away from home.”

The farmer liked the sound of Simpleton's money.“See here!” he said. “I have a very fine goose in my basket, and I will sell it to you.”

“That is such a fine goose,” said Simpleton, “that I will be glad to buy it.” At once he gave the farmer the money and took the goose.

As Simpleton started to walk down the road, he saw a beautiful palace on a green hill.“Whose palace is that?”he called to the farmer.

“Oh!” laughed the farmer. “What a simpleton you are! Have you never heard of the king's palace? Our great king lives there.”

“If that is where the king lives,” said Simpleton, “I will take my goose to the palace and give it to him.”On he went, singing merrily.

Soon he came to the palace and knocked at the door. When a servant opened the door, Simpleton said, “I have a present to give to the king.”

“Oh, indeed,”said the servant, “Let me see it, ”Simpleton opened his basket and showed him the goose, “That is a very fine goose,”said the servant,“but half of it is mine. For I am the keeper of the door, and half of everything that is carried in must be given to me.”

“But I can not take half a goose to the king,”said Simpleton. “What shall I do?”

“I will tell you what to do,” said the servant, “If you take the goose to the king, he will give you a reward. You can give half of the reward to me.”

When Simpleton promised to give up half of his reward, the servant let him go into the palace. There, at the foot of the stairs, stood another servant. “I have a present for the king,” Simpleton said to this one, as he showed him the goose.

“That is a fine goose,” said the servant, “but half of it is mine. I am the keeper of the stairs, and half of everything that goes up them belongs to me.”

Simpleton had to promise this servant,also,half of the reward. At once the servant took him to the king. While the second servant was waiting to see what the king would do, the first servant came in.

The king was much pleased with Simpleton's present. “This is a very fine goose, indeed,” he said.“You shall have a reward. What would you like?”

“Ask for gold,” whispered the first servant.

“Ask for diamonds,” whispered the second one.

“I will not ask for diamonds or gold,” said Simpleton.“I wish for nothing, O King, but a good beating.”

“Come, come!” said the king. “Do you call that a good wish? You must be joking.”

Simpleton made a bow and said, “I wish for nothing but a good beating.”

“Very well,” said the king. Then he asked a man to take the lad away and give him fifty strokes.

Up spoke Simpleton: “But this reward is not mine,”he said. “I must not take it. The keeper of the door would not let me come in until I had promised him half of my reward. Then I had to promise the other half to the keeper of the stairs before he would bring me here. I must keep my promises. Let the servants have my reward.”

The king said to the two servants, “Well, you asked for a reward, and you shall have it. You shall each have half of the fifty strokes.”

At that everyone laughed but the two servants, who were at once led away to get their rewards. Then the king turned to Simpleton and said,“As for you, my lad, tell me your name.”

“My brothers call me Simpleton,” said the boy.“They sent me away from home.”

“You shall stay here in my palace,” said the king. “I need just such simpletons as you.”

So Simpleton lived happily all his life at the king's palace.

1. Is Simpleton a good name for the boy? Why?

2. What did the two servants do that was not fair to Simpleton?

3. What joke did Simpleton play on the servants?

A Backward Look

Now that you have read the first stories in your book, would you like to share them with someone who has not read them? Perhaps you could play that you are a story-teller, like the men of long ago who went from town to town, telling tales. If you can learn to tell things very well, your friends and your family will all want to listen to you.

Choose the story you like best in“Good Stories from Everywhere,”and try to make someone else enjoy it as much as you did.

If you thought the story was funny, try to make it sound funny when you read it out loud or tell it. If someone in the story was sad or surprised at something, try to make the one who is listening understand this.

Perhaps after you have enjoyed it with someone else, you will like the story even more than you did at first.