99 Fables

59. The King and The Bright Young Men

59 the king and the bright young men EACH SPRING THE KING of the Bretts examined a score of the country's' brightest young men, fitting them into that profession or branch of public life where their peculiar talents could be used to the best advantage. One year, to vary the monotony of question and answer, he thought of another way to achieve his end, and when the first candidate came into the room, he said, "A man is traveling down a road. He is stopped by a giant who is sitting on a stone. What happened afterwards?" The first candidate said: "The traveler, knowing the giant meant to kill him, worked out a plan of defense. He walked up to the giant boldly and kicked him; then he ran in ever narrowing circles, while the giant pursued [ 112 ] him. In this way the giant approached the stone unawares , being intent on his capture, stumbled over it, and sprawled on his face. Then, while he was helpless on the ground, the traveler picked up the stone and killed him with it." "You belong in the army," said the king. "The army, of course." The next candidate came in, and when given the story he smiled and said: "The giant told the traveler he had a bottle of wine, and had been sitting on the stone waiting for a merry companion to share it with. Then it turned out .the traveler had cheese and bread in his sack, which he spread out on the stone, and when the giant and the traveler had eaten and drunk their fill, they sang such jolly songs and were so happy and gay that the whole countryside echoed with their laughter." The· king looked. quizzically at this powerful, simple young man. "But wasn't the traveler afraid of the giant?" he asked. "N,o," said the candidate. "Why should he be afraid? You see, the traveler was as strong as the giant, or stronger, and knew it from the beginning." The king touched the hand of this young man. "Would you like to be the .bodyguard who goes with me everywhere?" he asked; and when the young man laughed and nodded, it 'was arranged that way. The third candidate said: "The giant was sitting on the stone because he'd stuck a th~rn in his toe and [ 1I3 ] couldn't walk farther; so the traveler removed the thorn and bound up the wound with a bandage he happened to have in his pocket at the time." The king said, "You're almost too easy. Report to the royal hospital for training." The fourth man was more complex. He said: "When the traveler knew the giant meant to rob him, he said that he was on a mission for his king and he'd been told to fetch a bag of jewels which were hidden in the woods nearby. The giant was taken in by the story, and thinking to exploit the man's stupidity, he said he'd accompany the traveler to the place where the jewels were hidden to see that no hann came to him on the way. The traveler thanked the giant for this courtesy, and they started inland, but as they walked, the traveler pulled up reeds and plaited them into a strong rope; then when they reached the side of a hill, the traveler said the jewels were hidden beneath the ledge on which they were standing, and as the giant lay flat and stretched his arms downward to reach them, the traveler tied him up with the rope he had made and left him there,.after taking for himself the fine gold chain the giant was wearing." "The diplomatic corps," said the king. And so things went until the last man was called. When he had heard the situation, he shook his head sadly, and said: "This story can have but one true ending , and it's this: the giant seized the poor helpless traveler and carried him off to his den in the mountains. [ 114 ] There he tossed him into a pit where the other unfortunates he had captured awaited their doom." At this moment the candidate was overcome with such strong emotion that he could not continue. He beat his breast and cried bitterly. "I can't bear this," he said in a suffering voice. "The traveler's end is too terrible to think...