THE WASTEFUL RULER

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A ruler living in a shining city on a hill in a beautiful kingdom had two sons and a daughter.

His two sons always worried about the amount of goods they would inherit from their father. Resembling her father the most, the young daughter just watched and learned.

So the middle son said to the eldest, “Brother, our father wenches all  day, watches his money at night, and does not even feed us.”

That same day the ruler felt bored and decided to visit distant lands. So he called his sons and daughter and said, “Gather my belongings. I will go East.“

After several months of traveling, the eldest complained to the middle one, “Brother, our father is wasting all the time and wasting our goods.  He’ll not only leave us poor, but he’ll expect us to clothe him and feed him.“

And the daughter who listened said, “Father is Father.”

The day arrived when the ruler had wasted the last of his kingdom’s bounty with riotous living and began to be in need.

So he called his sons and said, “I have spent all my substance and you will have to provide more for me.“

The two sons were afraid, and they went out onto the field and labored so they could provide for their father.

But one day there came a mighty famine which shriveled the beautiful kingdom and the shining city on the hill, and the sons could not provide.

The father blamed everyone but himself beat his two sons mercilessly and called them lazy.

So the two sons ran out to seek food but to no avail. Everything had been plundered and all the people were starving.

But eventually, they came upon the last pot of beans in the kingdom which they stole and took to their father.

And the father ate all the beans and did not share the meal with anyone. And the ruler died from gluttony.

And the family had nothing to eat and would have gladly accepted anything.

So the two brothers said to their sister,  “Our father died from eating too much and we are starving. Go make us a fire and we will fetch the beans.”

And when the daughter left to make the fire, the two brothers cut their father open and ate all the beans.

And when the daughter came back, she said, “How could you eat beans from a dead man’s belly? You will surely die.”

And the brothers feared what they had done and threw up the beans.

And the daughter said, “My brothers, I thank you.  Now I will have  my warmed-up share.”

The Professor