doing
so he discovered a secret drawer, and in it lay a paper. He opened the
paper, not knowing what it might contain, and was astonished to find
that it was the acknowledgment of a large debt that was owing to his
father. Putting the precious writing in his pocket, he hastily inquired
of the landlord where he could find the man whose name was written
inside, and he ran out at once in search of him.

The debtor proved to be an old miser, who lived at the other end of the
village. He had hoped for many months that the paper he had written had
been lost or destroyed, and, indeed, when he saw it, was very unwilling
to pay what he owed. However, the stranger threatened to drag him
before the king, and when the miser saw that there was no help for it
he counted out the coins one by one. The stranger picked them up and put
them in his pocket, and went back to his inn feeling that he was now a
rich man.

A few weeks after this he was walking through the streets of the nearest
town, when he met a poor woman crying bitterly. He stopped and asked her
what was the matter, and she answered between her sobs that her husband
was dying, and, to make matters worse, a creditor whom he could not pay
was anxious to have him taken to prison.

'Comfort yourself,' said the stranger kindly; 'they shall neither send
your husband to prison nor sell your goods. I will not only pay his
debts but, if he dies, the cost of his burial also. And now go home, and
nurse him as well as you can.'

And so she did; but, in spite of her care, the husband died, and was
buried by the stranger. But everything cost more than he expected, and
when all was paid he found that only three gold pieces were left.

'What am I to do now?' said he to himself. 'I think I had better go to
court, and enter into the service of the king.'

At first he was only a servant, who carried the king the water for his
bath, and saw that his bed was made in a particular fashion. But he did
his duties so well that his master soon took notice of him, and in a
short time he rose to be a gentleman of the bedchamber.

Now, when this happened the younger brother had spent all the money he
had inherited, and did not know how to make any for himself. He then
bethought him of the king's favourite, and went whining to the palace
to beg that his brother, whom he had so ill-used, would give him his
protection, and find him a place. The elder, who was always ready to
help everyone spoke to