THE PRINCE WHO WENT SEEKING HIS SISTERS

NCE upon a time there lived a king who

was so very rich that he built a house to

keep his gold in. There was nothing else kept

there, but pieces of gold. Soldiers guarded it

night and day. Whenever the king needed

money, he would go to the money house and get it from the soldiers.

It happened that the king became very fond of wine. He drank all of his own wine, and- then he began to buy more. Of course he used a great deal of gold to pay for the wine; and he took so much of it that the queen at last went to the soldiers and said,

“The gold you are guarding really does not belong to the king. He holds it in trust. It is the people’s money. In time of famine it should be used to buy grain and corn to keep our people from starving. The king is using it for himself; he must not. So when he comes again and asks you for more gold, you must tell him that it is all gone.”

The next time the king asked the soldiers for 205