Honesty

An aging king woke up one day acutely aware of his own mortality.  He had no son, and his was a culture where only a male heir could take his place.

He decided that he would adopt a son who then could take his place, but he insisted that such an adopted son must be extraordinary in every sense of the word.  He considered each of his advisors and relatives in turn, but found them wanting.

So he launched a competition in his kingdom, open to all boys, no matter what their background. Ten boys made it to the very top. There was little to separate these boys in terms of intelligence and physical attributes and capabilities.

The king said to them, 'I have one last test and whoever comes top will become my adopted son and heir to my throne.' Then he said, 'This kingdom depends solely on agriculture, so the king must know how to cultivate plants.  Here are seven seeds of grain for each of you. Take them home.  Plant and nurture them for six weeks. At the end of six weeks, we shall see who has done the best job of cultivating the grain.  That person will be my son and my heir. '

The boys took their seeds and hurried home.  Each got a pot, prepared soil, and sowed his seeds. There was much excitement in the kingdom as the people waited to see who was destined to be their next king.

In one home, the boy and his parents were almost heartbroken when the days stretched into weeks and the seeds failed to sprout. The boy did not know what had gone wrong. He had selected the soil carefully, he had applied the right quantity and type of fertilizer, he had been very dutiful in watering it at the right intervals, he had even prayed over it day and night and yet his seeds had turned out to be unproductive.

Some of his friends advised him to go and buy seed from the market and plant that.'After all,' they said, 'how can anyone tell seeds of grain one from another?'

But his parents who had always taught him the value of integrity reminded him thatif the king wanted them to plant just any grain, he would have asked them to go for their own seed. 'If you take anything different from what the king gave you that would be dishonest. Maybe we are not destined for the throne.  If so, let it be, but don't be found to have deceived the king,' they told him.

The appointed day came and the boys returned to the palace each of them proudly exhibiting a pot of healthy seedlings. It was obvious that the other nine boys had had great success with their seeds. The king began making his way down the line of eager boys and asked each of them, 'Is this what came out of the seeds I gave you?' And each boy responded, 'Yes, your majesty.' And the king would nod and move down the line.

The king finally got to the last boy in the line-up. The boy was shaking. He feared that the king might have him thrown into prison for wasting his seeds. 'What did you do with the seeds I gave you?' the king asked.

I planted them and cared for them diligently, Your Majesty, but alas they failed to sprout,' the boy said.  He hung his head in shame, and the crowd jeered.

But the king raised his hands and signaled for silence. Then he said, 'My people behold your next king.'

The people were confused. 'Why that one?' many asked.’ How can he be the right choice?'

The king took his place on his throne with the boy by his side and said, 'I gave these boys boiled seeds. This test was not for cultivating grain.  It was a test of character; a test of integrity. It was the ultimate test.  If a king must have one quality, it must be that he should be above dishonesty. Only this boy passed the test. A boiled seed cannot sprout.'

The fox is dreaded as the most formidable enemy of the farm-yard.  The farmer is at a great expense of money and trouble, to hatch and rear his ducks and fowls, and turkeys and geese:  no wonder, therefore, that he employs every means in his power to preserve them from being destroyed by the foxes.  One of these methods is to put up traps, in which the unfortunate animal is caught, and held by the leg, or some part of his body, till the farmer comes and kills him.

It happened one day that a fox, being very hungry, came prowling into a farm-yard, and unawares fell into a trap.  I do not know whether the farmer will forgive me, but I cannot help hoping that he got his breakfast first; for it would be too bad to be caught in a trap, and to be famished with hunger at the same time. 

He was caught in so a strange way, that the trap just cut off his tail, without doing him any further harm.  I dare say the pain was considerable; but the fox did not so much mind the smart, as he was sorry for the loss he experienced.  A fox has a fine bushy tail, as long as his whole body, from his shoulder to his rump; and I do not know how it happens, but almost all animals that we are acquainted with are proud of that feature which is most distinguishing and beautiful about them.  The cat is careful of her smooth and delicate fur; the horse tosses his flowing mane; the turtle dove winds her glossy neck in the manner best calculated to display its elegant form and colouring; and the peacock struts, displaying his tail with a hundred eyes. 

There was another circumstance which increased the fox's sorrow; animals are very apt to drive out of their company any creaturee of the same kind that has met with a misfortune, and is maimed or imperfect in any of its parts.  This is very naughty of such animals; but, poor creatures! they have never been taught better.  The fox I am telling of was sadly distressed when he thought of these things, and in the anguish of his feelings, wished he had been caught by the neck and killed outright rather than have lost his tail.

He sneaked back to his hole as fast as he could, and did not venture out in the fields for some days.  At length he sent his wife to all the foxes of the neighbourhood, to beg they would meet him behind the willows in a certain place, as he had a proposition of great use to them all to communicate.

The foxes came, and a fine assembly there was of them.  Old and young, nimble and lame, lean and fat, theywere all there.  The farmer would have made terrible havoc, if he had come among them with his gun; but they were aware of that, and held their meeting in a snug, out-of-the-way corner, quite remote from danger and harm.

The company being all met, our fox's wife went to tell him he was waited for.  The fox then crept through the bushes, and , as soon as he was in the circle, sat down close to the place by which he had entered.

"How do you do, gentlemen?" says he; "I hope, sir, your wife is pretty well, and all the pretty little creatures at home.  That he-young one of yours promises well; I hear he comes on bravely."  The fox had some compliment or other for every one of them.    "What i had to propose was, that we should all agree to cut off our tales."

The foxes stared.

The speaker went on.  "I have devoted a great deal of my time to the study of anatomy, and particularly that part of anatomy which explains the uses of the different parts of the body.  Let me then beg of you to ask yourselves, as I have done, what earthly use we have for our tails?  They trail on the ground.  In summer they gather the dust; and in winter the dirt.  When I come home from a morning's diversion, I am really quite ashamed to see my wife, and still more the lady-foxes of her acquaintance, with my tail in so filthy a condition as it often is.  Man is the wisest creature in the universe.  You see he is continually mending nature.  He clips his trees, and transplants his flowers.  He shortens the tails of his cart-horses, and cuts his own nails and hair.  Let us imitate his glorious example."

"You have made a wise speech," said an old fox; "but before I answer it, be pleased to walk into the middle of the circle."

The orator did not much like the proposal, but he could not help himself.  He moved most unwillingly.  You cannot think what a ridiculous figure he made.  He hung down his head, and his ears, conscious that he was completely found out.  All the young foxes fell upon him, and were going to worry him out of their company.

"Stop," said the old fox; "he will go fast enough of himself.  An remember, my friend, another time, before you pretend to give advice, learn to speak plain, and tell the truth.  No advice is worth listening to that is not given with an honest tongue.  He that is to teach me what is for my good must speak because he loves me, and not for any paltry by-ends of his own.

A great while ago, before there were so many large cities and villages as there are now, all the countries in the world abounded with wild beasts.  England in particular was full of wolves; and little boys and girls dared not walk abroad without somebody to take care of them for fear the wolf should come and eat them up.

Iin the times I am thinking of, nobody had invented a plough, so there was no corn.  The wild men then kept sheep; they had mutton for their dinner, but neither turnips nor bread to eat with it.  Men stayed all day with the flocks, to take care that they did not lose themselves, and that the wolves did not come to eat them; for wolves were aways very fond of mutton, and, when they were hungry, would come and kill a sheep, or a little lamb, for their dinner.  A wolf had at any time rather have a lamb than a child. 

Sometimes, when the men were very busy, mending the thatch, or cutting down firewood, (for there were no coals and no tiles,) they would send their children, boys of ten or twelve years old, like Charles, to take care of the flocks of sheep.

The boy I am going to tell you about was a very naughty boy, and his father and mother could never make him do as he was bid.  He was always laughing when he should have been minding his lesson:  and he often did mischief, and thought is a very good joke. 

Says his father to him, one day, "Winter will soon be here, and I must go to the forest and cut some firewood:  you are hardly big enough yet to take care of the sheep, but I must trust you to look after them."

"That I will, father!" says the boy, for he was proud to be of some importance.

"I and three or four of my neighbours," said the father, "shall be within call, and if you want any help, you must bawl to us as lustily as you can."

Away went the boy, and took the sheep-dog with him, and drove the flock to pasture.  He sat down upon a hillock to look at them: he patted his dog, and, when any of the lambs straggled from the rest, he sent his dog to bark at them, and make them come back.

This was all very well; but presently he thought, Now I will have a jok.  Every thing was uiet about him, when he set up a great scream, "Father! father! the wolf, the wolf is coming!"  Away ran the father and the neighbours, leaving their work, some with sticks and some with hatchets, to help the poor boy, and drive away the wolf.  When they came, al was quiet, nd the boy burst into a great laugh, to think he had made a fool of his father.  His father was very angry, and said, "Child, how could you call us away from our work, and tell a lie?  I could not have thought it of you."  But the naughty boy did not mind.

The next day the father went again to the forest, and sent his son to mind the sheep.  Presently he began to cry, " The wolf! the wolf!" and every thing happened as before, except that his father was this time more angry, and told him he should go to bed without his supper.  But the silly boy wa still pleased with himself, that he had once more, as he called it, made a fool of his father.

It was not almost evening, and the sun began to set, when the naughty boy saw two great fierce wolves running toward him as fast as they could.  He was terribly frightened; and, by ill luck, the dog had gone after a rabbit or a bird, and could nowhere be seen.  The boy screamed dismally, "The wolf! the wolf! O, father, the wolf!"  Then he ran to beat the wild beasts with his crook; but they scared him, and he ran back again.  Then he screamed more and more. 

His father and the wood-cutters heard him plain enough, but they said, "It is only that mischievous boy; he shall make fools of us no more."  So the wolves ate up so many of the flock that the father was ruined, and obliged to part with the rest, and go a-begging; and, when the boy grew up to be a man, people still pointed at him, and said, That is the son that told lies and ruined his father.

Deep in the forest, St. Godric lived alone, his hut hidden in briars.  One day he heard a horn and the baying of hounds on the hunt.  Suddenly, a stag bounded to him, magnificent and trembling.  Godric led the stag into his hut.  Then he came out, shut the door, and sat down.

Soon a frenzy of hounds surrounded him, but Godric was still.  The dogs could not get by him.  When the hunters came they asked, "Where is the stag?"

Slowly Godric opened his eyes.  "God knows where he may be," he said.

This is a holy man, the hunters thought, and a holy man does not lie.  So they gathered their hounds and left.  When the forest was safe again, Godric opened his door, and the stag was free.