The Clever Peasant

Once upon a time, there lived a rich and powerful king who was very fond of hunting. One day, while he was out riding, he saw a poor peasant man hard at work chopping wood. The king stopped his horse and called to the peasant, “How much do you earn each day?”

“Four shillings, Your Majesty,” replied the peasant, who had recognized the king.

“And what do you do with your money?” asked the king.

“Well, the first shilling I eat,” replied the man. “The second I put out to interest, the third I give back, and the fourth I throw away.”

The peasant’s answer puzzled the king, and he could not for the life of him think what the man was talking about. In the end, he asked the peasant to explain.

“Well, it’s like this, Your Majesty,” said the man. “With the first shilling, I buy myself food to eat. The second shilling I use to feed my children. That is in my own interest, for when I grow too old to work, they will look after me. The third I give to my father to repay him for all the kindness and help he has given me in life, and the fourth, alas, I have to give to my wife to feed herself. It’s throwing good money away to my way of thinking.”

The king nodded his head with approval at the peasant’s answer. “Tell me,” he said, “will you promise not to tell anybody what you have just told me until you have seen my face a hundred times?” Now it was the peasant’s turn to be puzzled, but he promised, and so the king rode away, and the peasant returned to his work.

When the king reached his palace, he called all his wise ministers together and said, “I will give you a riddle, my wise men, and you must try to answer it. A peasant earns four shillings a day. The first he eats, the second he puts out to interest, the third he gives back, and the fourth he throws away.”

There was a moment’s silence, so the king said, “Well, what is the answer?”

Not one of his ministers could tell him, but one, more wily and cunning than the rest, remembered that the king had been seen talking to a peasant that day.

Excusing himself, the wily minister rode off to the field as fast as he could. When he asked the peasant what the answer to the riddle was, the poor man refused, saying, “I have promised not to tell until I have seen the king’s face a hundred times.”

With a gleam in his eye and a sly smile on his face, the minister took a bag of golden coins from his pocket. Slowly, the minister turned each coin over and showed the peasant the king’s head stamped on each one. When a hundred coins had been turned over, the peasant said, “I can give you the answer to the riddle now, for I have seen the king’s head a hundred times.”

The peasant explained the answer to the minister, who was so pleased with his luck that he gave the man the hundred golden coins.

Off he rode, back to the palace, chuckling to himself all the way. He rushed into the throne room and breathlessly gave the answer to the king, but the king was very angry and highly displeased.

“There is only one man who knew the answer, and that was the peasant himself,” he said.

The king summoned the peasant to his palace, and when he came, the poor man, in fear of his life, bowed low.

“Did you not promise me that you would not tell the answer to the riddle to anyone?” said the king in a stern voice.

“Yes, Your Majesty,” replied the peasant, “but your minister showed me your face one hundred times.” Then, taking the bag of gold from his pocket, he showed the king the one hundred coins.

The king was so amused by the peasant’s cunning and cleverness that he rewarded the man and made him rich and wealthy for the rest of his life.