Evening star., 1927-11-04
WORLD FAMOUS STORIES
The KING AND THE THIEF
BY HERODOTUS.

"Faiher Of History" told many tale in his his
famous history in ancient Greek literature
Rawlinson. frst pSbiished na' in 1885 3 'eerbe re
original story has no title.I
King Rhampsinitus was possessed,
II was said, of great riches in silver
indeed to such an amount that none
OF the princes, his successors, sur.
passed or even eQualed his wealth.
For the better keeping of this money,
he proposed to build a vast chamber
Of hewn stone, one side of which was
to form part Of the outer wall of his
palace. The builder. therefore, having
designs upon the treasures, contrived,
as he was making the buildings, to
insert In this wall a stone which could
easily be removed from its place by
two men, or even one. So the cham
Der was finished. and the Kings
money was carefully stored away in it,
Time passed, and the builder of the
chamber fell sick; when. finding his
end approaching. he called for his two
sons, and told them the contrivance
he had made in the Kings treasure.
chamber, telling them it was for their
sskes he had done it, so that they
might always live in affiuence. Then
he gave them clear direction concern.
ing how to remove the stone, and COM
municated the measurements, bidding
them carefully keep the secret, where
by they would in effect be lords of the
royal treasury as long as they lived.
Then the father died. and the sons
were not slow to set to work; they
went by might to the palace, found the
stone in the wall of the building and.
having removed it easily. plundered
the treasury of a round sum.
When the King next visited the
apartment he was astonished to see
that the money had diminished in
some OF the vessels in which it was
stored away. Whom to accuse, how
ever, he knew not, as the seals were
all perfect, and the fastenings of the
room secure. Still each time that he
came he found that more money was
gone. The thieves in truth never
stopped, but plundered more and more.
At last the King determined to have
some traps made and set near his
wealth. This was done. and when the
thieves came, as usual. to the treasure
chamber, one OF them making straight
for the money jars found himself
caught Ia one of the traps. Seeing
that he was lost, he called his brother
TO come quickly and cut off his head
30 that his body, when discovered
could not be recognized and bring ruin
upon both. The other thief though,
the advice good. and did as his brother
said, taking the head home with him
When day dawned, the King came
into the room, and marveled greatly
to see the body Of the thief in the
trap without a. head. while the build
ing was still whole, and neither en-.
trance nor exit was to be seen any.
where. In this perplexity he com.
manoeo the body OF the dead man to
De nun4 outside the palace%wall and
ser guard to watch 1t with orders
that IL any persons were seen ween
ing or lamenting near the palace thew
snoulo De seized and brought before
nim. When the mother heard of this
exposure OF the corpse Of her son. she
TOOK IL sorely to heart and spoke tc
ner surviving child, bidding him de
Wse some plan or other to get hack
lns pody, and threatening that If he
did not exert himself she would pf
herself to the King and denounce hin
as the robber. '''
The son said all he could 70 nor
suade her to let the matter rest bu,
IN vain: she still continued to trouble
nm, until at last he yielded to her on
.,eaues' and contrived as follows
~
loaded them on donkeys which =,
drove before him till he came 10 III,
place where the guards were watchin,
the dead body. when. pulling two o.
three or the skins. toward him. he I'm
tied some Of the necks which dangle,
by the asses sides. The wine poure,
freely forth, whereupon he began I.
beat his head and shout with all hi
might. seeming not to know which O
the donkeys he should turn TO first.
When the guards saw the wine run
ming, delighted TO profit by the oc
casion. they rushed one and all int
the road. each with some vessel O
other, and caught the liquor as it wa
splitting. The driver pretended anpe
and loaded them with abuse, whereo,
they did their best to pacify him. unit
at last he appeared to soften and re
cover his good humor. drove his asse