Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1873-07-10
The Ducnt u nd the Earth ing.


| A ducat and farthing had just been
coined III Il great mint where all the
gold, silver, and copper pieces are
made. The two lay close side by side,
clean and beautiful, and the clear sun
shine glittercl upon them.
"Thou lagam,lilin! cried the ducat,
'off with thee! Thou art only made
out of vulgar copper, and not worthy
to be shonc upon by the sun! Thou
wilt soon be black and dirty, and no
one will think it worth while to pick
thee from the ground. I, OH the con-
trary, am OF costly gold I shall travel
through the world with the great PEG
pie of the earth to princes and kings
II shall do great things, and even at
length, perhaps, become part Of the
| kings crown.
At the same moment, great white
cat, lying near the fire, rose up, and,
turning round OH her side, remarked -
THE under must be uppcrmost, to
make all cven."
And the fate of these to coins was
somewhat the same.
The gold piece came into the pos
session of u rich miser, who locked it
up in chest among great number of
other gold pieces. The miser fearing
that he should soon die, buried all his
gold in the earth, SO that no one should
possess it after him and there lies the
proud ducat till the present time, and
it is grown so black and dirty that no
one would pick it up if he sawit.
The farthing, however, travelled far
through the earth, AMI came to high
honor; and this is how it occurred -
A lad from the mint received the
fartiling in his wages, and the lads
little sister, admiring the coin, he gave
lit to her. The child ran into the gar
den to show her mother the farthinp
an old lame beggar came limplng M
and begged pieceof bread. II have
none, said the little girl. "Give me
then farthing, that may buy myself
G bit of bread,'' said the beggar. And
the child gave him the farthinp. The
bcggar limped away to the bakers.
Whilst he stood in the shop, an old &C.
4ualntance, dressed as pilgrim, with
his cloak, staff, and bag, came up the
street, and gave the children pretty
pictures Of saints and holy men, and
tho children dropped pence into the
box which the pilgrim held in his
hand. The beggar asked, "Where
are you going?' The Pilgrim
replied, Many hundred miles,
to the city Of Jerusalem, where the
dear Lord Jesus was born, and lived,
and died; l am going to pray ut His
holy grave, and to buy the release of
my brother, who has been taken pris-
oner by the Turks. But first | am
collecting money in my box" $50
take my mite!' said the beggar, and
gave the pilgrim the farthing. The
beggar was walking away hungry as
he came, but the baker, who had look
ed on, gave the poor old man the
bread he was about to have bought.
Now the pilgrim travelled through
many lands, sailed over the sea in IL
little ship, and at length reached the
city OF Jerusalem. When the pilgrim
arrived, he first prayed ut the sepulchre.
then presented himself before the
Sultan, who held his brother captive.
He offered the Turk great sum of
money if he would only set his brother
free. But the Turk required more.
81 have nothing more to offer thee"
spake the pilgrim, ethan this copper
farthing, which a hungry beggar gave
me out of compassion. Be thou also
compassionate, and the farthing will
reward thee" The Sultan put tho
farthing in his pocket, and soon forgot
all about it. The Emperor of Germany
came to Jerusalem and waged war
against the Sultan. The Sultan fought
bravely, and was never wounded.
Once an arrow was shot straight at his
breast, struck HIM, but fell back again
without having wounded him. The
Sultan was much surprised at this. and
after the battle, his clothes were ex
amined, and in the breast pocket the
farthing was found, against which the
arrow mad struck. The Turk held the
iarthlng in great honor, and had it
hung with Il golden chain to the handle
OF his Scimitar. Later on in the war.
the Sultan was taken prisoner by tho
Emperor, and was forced to yield I'M
his sword to him. And thus the farth-
ing came with the sword into the En-
pcror's possession.
Whilst the Emperor sat at n table
with beaker of wine in his hand. the
Empress said she should like to see the
Sultans sword and it was brought.
As the Emperor exhibited it to the
Empress, the farthing fell from the
golden chain into the beakcr of wine.
The Emperor perceived this, and before
he placed the beaker to his lips, nc
took OUT the fartling. But the farthing
was gone quite green. Then every one
saw there was poison i'll the wine in
order to destroy tho Emperor. Tho
attendant was condemned to death:
but the farthing was placed in the
Imperial Crown.
Thus the farthing had delighted
child, had procured beggar bread,
had released Il prisoner, had saved the
Life of Sultan and Of an Emperor.
Therefore 1t was set III the Imperial
crown, and is there to this day-if one
could only SEQ that crown!