The Iowa transcript. (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1858-1866, 1866-07-25

| The following story will bear printing
once in seven years--it is about that time
since it went the rounds:
There was a certain king. who, like man,
eastern kings, was very fond of hearing
stories told To this amusement he gave ~
all his time: but yet he was never salts
| fed. All the exertions of his courtiers
were in vain. The more he heard. tn,
more he wanted to hear. At last he made {
proclamation that if any man would tell hin
n story that would last forever he woult
make him his heir, and give him the prin
cess, his daughter. in marriage; but ii any
one should pretend he had such q story, but
| should fail-that is, if the story did come Il
an end-hc was to have his head chopped
off Immediately.
For such rich prize as a beautiful prin
cess and a kingdom. many candidates ap
reared; and dreadful long stories some o.
! them told. Some lasted week. some s
month, some SIX months. Poor fellows
| They all spun them as long as they possibly
/ could, you may be sure: but all in vain
Sooner or later they all came to an end, and
one after another, the unlucky story, tellers
had their heads chopped off,
| At.last came a man who said that he had
q story which would last forever, If his
majesty would he pleased to give him a
+. trial
! lie was warned Of his danger; they told
! him how many others had tried and lost
their heads but he said he was net afraid.
and SO he was brought before The King. lie
was a man of a very composed and de.iber-
ate way Of speaking. and. after making all
requisite stipulations for time fer his eating
drinking anu sleeping, he thus began his
story:
30 king. there was onoe G king who was
great tyrant. And, desiIiug 10 increase
his riches, he seized upon all the corn and
grain in his Kingdom, ana put it into an
immense sranary which he built on purpose.
as high as a mountain.
This he did for several years. till the
granary was full up 10 the top. lie then
stopped up all the doors AMI windows, and
closed ii up fast on all sides
:" But the brckiayers had. by accident,
left small hole near the top of the granary,
and there came flight of locasts and tried
to get at the corn: but the hole was so small
that only one locust could pass through il al
at a time. SO one locust went IN and car
red off one grain Of corn, and then another
locust went in and carried Oft 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 Oft
another grain OF corn, and then 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
off another grain Of corn
lie had gone on thus from morning till
night Except while he was engaged AT his
meals) for about month, when the king
began to be rather tired of the locusts, and
interrupted him with:
s.Well, well, we have heard enough Of the
locusts; we will su, pose they helped them
selves to all the corn they wanted tell US
what happened afterward'
To which the story teller answered, very
deliberately:
:" If it please your majesty, it is impossi-
bic to tell you what happened afterward
before telFyou what happened first"
And then another locust went in and car
ried Oft another grain of corn, and then
another locust went in and carried off an
other grain of corn, and then another locust
went in and carried off another grain of
corn, and then another locust went in and
carried Oft another grain of corn.
The king listened with unconouerable
patience six months longer, when he again
interrupted him with
80, friend | am weary with your To-
Gusts. How soon do you think they will
have done?'
To which the story-teller made answer !:
so king who can tell? At the time to
which my story has come, the locusts have
cleared away only a small space: il may be
cubit, each way around the insi1e of the
hole, and the air is still dark with loeusts
on all sides. But let the king have pa
tience, and, no DOUBT, we shall come to the
end of them in time
Thus encouraged, the king listened on
for full another year, the story teller going
on as before: ..And then another locust
went in and carried off another grain of
corn, aud then another locust went in and
carried off another grain Of corn, and then
another locust went in and carried off an
other Grain of corn" Till at last the poor
king could stand it no longer, and he cried
out:
"Oh, man, that's enough take my king
dom take anything-everything only let
Us hear no more Of your abominable To-
custs.'
And so the story teller was married to
the kings daughter, and was declared heir
to the throne; and nobody ever expressed a
wish to hear the rest of the story, for he
said it was impossible to come to the rest of
his story until he had done with the locnsts.
The unreasonable caprice of the foolish
king was thus over matched by the ingeni-
Gus device Of the wise man.