The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1861-12-21
s Long story Briefly Told.

There was Il certain king, who, like
many Eastern kings, was very fond ol
hearing stores told 10 This amusement
he gave Up all kls time tut yet wa, never
satisfied Iue eXerIIuns 0i all hIs court
lels were in vain. he, at last, made a
proclamation that If any man should tell
INN a story that should last forever Lc
would make him heir, and giAe him the
princess, his daughter, ia marriage but
Il amy oue should pretend he had such Il
story uuj should taIi-tnat J., If the story
should come II au eEd-Ae was TO have
Ais head chopped of.
For such ii price as beautiful princess
and u kindon. nluuy candidates appeUI ed ,
and dreadful long stories stories some Ol
en- told Some lasted 4 week, some i
month. some six months. Poor fellows .
they al, spun them out rs long as they
possibly could, but ia vain. Syoaer o.
later they al came 10 au end, aud one
alter All other, the un!ucky stoty te!.ers
had tAeir heads cLoppee UL
Al last came q man VINO said he had a
sto'y that would last for ever, II hiS ulaiez-
IS would be pleased 10 give him trlal
lie was warneo. OF has danger, they told
Inn how many others ha, tl.ed and lost
tne.g head bat he sasd Le MAS not.a,grald
and 80 ue was brought before the king
lie was a man @! very composed and de
lbelate way OF -peaklug- aud after making
all requisite sJlpGistIoHs for t!n.t his eat
laE, drinking ana sleeping, he began his
stony:
" On, king, there was once a king IS ho
was great tyIanI and desiring to in
crease u.s riches he seI1e.. upon all the
corn and grain in Ills Kingdom and put il
in an immense grauaIy, which WAS built
on puIpu~e, a. ilGn j. :. mountain
Thus lie did for several years, till the
craualy was quite full VI the top. lie
then stopped up doors and windows, ald
closed 1t up on all sides.
But the bricklaycls had. by accident,
left very small hole near the top of the
.ranaiy And there came Il Il ght OF 10
Gusts, and tried 10 get the corn but the
hole was 20 small that ouly one LOCUST
could pass through at time So 6ue
loy ust went in and carried OF one grain Of
corn and then another locust vent in aud
carried of another grain OF corn, and then
another locust weGt in and carried OFT an
other grain of corn, and then auo;he
locust went in and carried eft an.tl her
grain Of corn, and then another lod t
went IN and carried oil another grain OF
corn
He had gone on thus from morning till
night, except when he WAS engaged at his
meals, for about month. when the Ing
tyeugh very patient king, began 10 be :,
little tired of the locusIs and interrupted
las story with
VIII. well. we have heard enough of
the locu~ts, we viii suppose that they
have helped themselves 10 all the corn
that they wanted. Tell Us what happened
afterwards.
TO which the story teller answered very
deliberately:
" II it please your majesty, it Is impos-
sible 10 tell what happened aiterward be
fore have told you what happened first.
And then he went on again
And then a locust went in and carried
off another grain OF corn, and then another
locust went in and carried off another
grain Of corn, and then another locust
went in and carried of another grain OF
corn, and then another locust went in and
carried eft another grain of corn.
The king listened with unconeuerable
patience for six months more, when lie
again interrupted INN with
"Oh, friend, am weary OF your locusts,
How soon do you think you will have
done?'
oh, king. who can tell; at the time to
which my story has come the locusts have
cleared away IA small place. 1T may be a
cubit inch each way round the inside OF
the hole, and the air is still dark with
locusts on:li sides,
But let the king have patience, ard no
doubt we shall come to the end of them
in time
Thus encouraged, the king listened for
another itll year, the story teller going on
still as before
And then another locust went in and
carried OF another grain of corn, and h en-
another locust went in and carried Off I'm
other grain OF corn, and then another 10
Gust went IN and carried oft another grim
OF corn, Till at last the poor king cohld
stand it no longer, and cried out
'On man! that is enough Take my
daughter-take my kingdom-take my
anythine--everything only let me hear
no more about your abominab!e locu>tS T
And so the story teller was marie dI to
the kings daugher, and was declared Heir
to the throne, and nobody ever expires sed
"a wish to hear the rest of his story, for be
said it was impossible TO come to the other
part of it until he had done with the
locus,s The unreasonable caprice of the
foolish king was thus overmatched 10y the
ingenious device of this wise man.