Year: 1862

| A Long Story Briefly Told


There was certain king, who, Ike
many Eastern kings, was very fond of
hearing stories told. 70 this amuse-9
ment he; gave up all his time; but theI
was never satisfied. The exertions ! of
fall his courtiers were in vain. He at
last made proclamation, that if any
man should tell him story that sh ould
last foraver, he would make him his
heir, and give him the princess, his
daughter, in marriage; but if any one
should pretend he had such story,
land should fail-that is, if the story
did come to an end-he was to have his
head chopped off, q ssl
For such prize as a beautiful prins
cess and kingdom, many candidates
appeared, and dreadfully long stories
some of them told. Some of them
lasted week, some month, some
six months. Poor fellows they all spun
them out as long as they possibly could;
but all ia vain. Sooner or later they
all came to an end, one after another,
the unlucky story-tellers had their
heads chpoped off. r-r
At last came a man who said that he
had story that would last forever, if
his majesty would be pleased to give
him trial.


He was warned of his danger; they
told him how many others had tried,
and lost their heads; but he said he was
not afraid, and so he was brought be-
fore she king. He was a man of very
composed and deliberate way of speak
ing, and after making all requisite stip-
ulations for his eating, drinking and
sleeping, he thus began his story. :.
| "Oh, king! there was once a king
who was great tyrant. And, desiring
to increase his riches, he seized upon all
the corn and grain in his kingdom, and
put it in an immense granary which was
built on purpose as high as a mountain.


"This he did for several years, till
the granary was quite full up to the top.
He then stopped up doors and windows,
and closed it up fast On all Sides.
! But the bricklayers had, by accident,
left very small hole near the top of
the granary. There came fight of To-
Gusts, and tried to get at the corn; but
the hole was so small that only one To-
Gust could pass through it at time.
So one locust went in and carried off
one grain of corn, and then another To-
Gust 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 off another grain of corn,
and then another locust went in and
carried off another grain of corn"
! He had gone on thus from morning
till night Except while he was engaged
at his meals) when the king, though
patient king, began to be rather tired
with 3sz @#t
"Well, we'll, we have heard enough
of the locusts; We will suppose they have
helped themselves to all the corn they
wanted Tell us what happened after
ward" @"


To which the story teller answered
very deliberately ~ 4a


''If it please your majesty, it is i'm
possible to tell you what happened af
terward, before I have told you what
happened first


| And then he went on again.


land 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, and
then another locust went IN and carried
off another grain of corn"


The king listened with uneonquera-
Bile patience six months more, when he
again interrupted him with


80, friend! | am weary with your To-
custs-how soon do you think they will
have done?" a.. e e


To which the story-teller made answer:


"Oh, king! who can tell? And the
time to which the story has come, the
locusts have cleared away a small space,
it may be a cubit, each way inside ofthe
hole, and the air is still: dark with To-
Gusts on all sides. But let the king have
patience, and, no doubt, we shall come
to the end of them in time"


Thus encouraged, the king listened
on for another full year, the story teller
still going on as before-.And then an.
other locust went in and carried off an
other grain of corn, and then another
locust went in and carried off another
grain of corn till, at last, the poor
king could bear it no longer, and cried out:


"Oh, man, that is enough! Take my
daughter take my kingdom! take any
thing everything; only let me hear no
more of your abominable locustsl"


And SO the story-teller was married
to the king s daughter, and was declared
heir to the throne; and nobody ever ex-
pressed wish to hear the rest of his
story, for he said it was impossible to
come to the other part of it till he had
done with the locusts The unreason-
able caprice Of the foolish king was over
matched by the ingenious. device of this
wise man.


A Beautiful Extract. ..---. "a


Some fifteen years ago Rev John N.
Mafit delivered lecture which closed
with the following fine passage:


""Phenix, tabled bird of antiquity,
! u hon ~ falt tho ob;ll ,dr,... q