=
&nb=
sp; =
The three groschen
A =
poor man
was once digging ditches besi=
de the
road, when the king himself happened to pass that way and ask him,
„ Tell me, dear man, how much=
do
they pay you a day for such hard work?“
„Ah Your majesty, I have=
three
groschen a day for this.“
The king was surprised to hear this an= d asked him how he could live on three groschen.
„Ah, Your Majesty, if that wa= s all I had to do, it would be easy! But I pay back the first of the th= ree, lend the second and the third is all I have to live on myself.“<= /span>
The king did not understand what he me= ant.
He rubbed his forehead while he though= t about it, but no answer occured to him, so he confessed frankly that he did not understand how it was possible to pay back, lend and live on three groschen= .
„ Well,sir,“ said poor = man, „it´s like this, I´m caring for my father, who is old and weak now. I´m paying him back, because he brought me up. But I a= lso have a little son to look after. I´m lending him money, so he&ac= ute;ll pay me back when I get old. And I myself have to live on the third groschen.“
„So that´s how it is,&#= 8220; said the king in delight. „You see, my dear man, I have at home twelve advisers and the more I pay them, the more they complain they h= ave nothing to live on and to spend. Now I´ll ask them to solve your ridd= le. But if they should come to ask you, don´t tell them what it means unt= il you see my face.“
Saying this, he gave the poor man a handful of gold coins and went on his way.
As soon as he arrived home, he summone= d his twelve advisers.
„You, who can´t make en= ds meet with so much money! There is a man in this land who has no more t= han three groschen a day, yet he pays back one of them, lends the second o= ne and only has the third to live on – but he still manages to make an honest living. Now, if you are so wise, tell me how that is possible becaus= e if you don´t tell me by the day after tomorrow, I´ll have you all driven out of my country, so at least I won´t have to feed you f= or nothing.“
= ; The famous advisers went away looking glum and began to discuss how = this could be. Each of them wanted to be wiser than the others, but none of them could equal the common sense of the simple man. One day passed, then the second,too.
On the third morning they were to appe= ar before the king, but they still couldn´t fathom it out. In the end someone whispered to them where they could find that poor man, suggesting he was the one who could most likely help them out of the mess they were in. T= hey sought him out and all went to see him. They kept pestering him with pleas = and threats to tell them what he did with those three groschen. But he wouldn´t let let them frighten him. He told them about the king´= ;s command and added,
„If you showed me the king&ac= ute;s face, you might be getting somewhere!“
„How can we show you the king´s face?“ the advisors lamented.
„The king won´t come to= you just because we ask him to and you wouldn´t be allowed to appear befo= re him either! Just tell us some other way of finding out the answer.“
„If you can´t even think of how = to do that, then I can´t help you!“
They tried a different approach. = They promised him the earth, they brought him a large sum of money, saying = that he would have enough to live on without the king´s favour, if only he would tell them that one t= hing. But he stood his ground. Only when they offered him a real pile of mon= ey and he had enough of laughing at the sight of such wise men at such a = loss did he pull out of his pocket one of the gold coins the king had given him = and said,
„You see, here is a pict= ure of the king. He gave it to me himself. I can see him clearly. I have= no reason to fear that I´m going against the king´s orders, so I can tell you what I like.“
And he told them how it was.
On that third day it was easy for the = advisers the king an answer, when the poor man had lent them his common sense. But t= he king immediately suspected what had happened.
He summoned the poor man and asked him= ,
„Tell me, how is it that you, an otherwise honest man, have disobeyed my royal command after all?“
„I didn´t disobey you, Your Majesty, because they got nothing out of me until I saw your own face. I still have it here, you gave it to me yourself.“ He pulled out the gold coin with the king´s image on it and told him the whole story about the twelve advisers, how they had threatened him and begged him, and how they had given him gifts and also how he had made fun of them.
„Well,“ said the king, „if you are so wise that you have more= sense than my twelve advisers, you won´t dig ditches any more but you will = live at my court like a lord and sit next to me at meetings of the council.“
„And you,“ he addressed his advisers, „aren´t you ashamed of yourselves? What shall I do with you now? Not only will I not raise your wages, I´ll even take away from what you have already!“
They never went to ask the king for higher wages again!