ooped and picked up the coin, and
again went on his way, with the King and Queen carefully watching his
every action.

"Look! what a miser he is!" said Sherem, triumphantly. "He actually put
down his bag to pick up one small coin because it grieved him to think
that it might reach the hands of one of the King's servants, or some
poor person, who, needing it, would buy bread and pray for the long
life of the King."

"Again thou speakest the truth," replied the King, feeling the justice
of this remark; and once more was the fisherman brought into the royal
presence. "Are you a human being or a beast?" the King asked him.
"Although I made it possible for you to become rich without toil, yet
the miser within you could not allow you to leave even one small piece
of money for others." Then the King bade him to go forth and show his
face no more within the city.

At this the fisherman fell on his knees and cried: "Hear me, O King,
protector of the poor! May God grant the King a long life. Not for its
value did thy servant pick up the coin, but because on one side it bore
the name of God, and on the other the likeness of the King. Thy servant
feared that someone, not seeing the coin, would tread it into the dirt,
and thus defile both the name of God and the face of the King. Let the
King judge if by so doing I have merited reproach."

This answer pleased the King beyond all measure, and he gave the
fisherman another large sum of money. And the Queen's wrath was turned
away, and she looked kindly upon the fisherman as he departed with his
bag laden with money.

***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CAT AND THE MOUSE***

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