Bread

There once was a king of an small dominion who took great pride in his frugality. He often boasted that unlike the rulers of neighboring kingdoms, he bought his food in person at the local market instead of hiring a royal cook.

One day he was making his rounds when he noticed something that had escaped his attention before. For years, there had been one man who'd been his favorite breadmaker, who made the most enormous loafs of bread so soft they could be used as a pillow. What the king had failed to realize until today was that this man was blind.

A sly thought crept into the king's mind. He looked around at his attendants with a grin and a wink, and placed the customary three coins in the tin sitting on the counter. However, instead of taking just the one loaf he had purchased, he quietly took a second. Then, in a moment of inspiration, he turned to the breadmaker and said, "My good man, allow me to give you an extra token of gratitude for all the years you've put good dough on my table." With that, he put another coin into the tin, dropping in from an exaggerated height to ensure it made the loudest noise possible. Speechless, the breadmaker smiled broadly and nodded in appreciation.

This deed quickly became habit for the monarch, and this habit became a new boast. At the royal table, the king would gleam over his bargain bread, anticipating the adoration of his wife, the queen, and his only son, the prince. The queen would listen and smile graciously, but the prince could see the pain in her eyes. He knew that this was not as he had been taught. The closer to manhood the prince grew, the more ill it would make him to eat the king's bread.

As things go, time marched forward, and the day came when the king passed away, and his only son, the prince, ascended to his throne. The new king continued his father's legacy of thrift, but not in his greed. One day he called upon the blind breadmaker.

"Kind sir," the new king said, "I brought you here to confess and make recompense for my father's sin toward you . . ." He told the man how his father would steal an extra loaf from him after paying for only one, and how after this his father would feign charity by dropping the extra coin. The breadmaker's face sunk as he listened, and by the time the confession was finished, he had broken into deep sobs.

Just as the ruler was ready to make a move to comfort his subject, the blind man quietly answered, "If I had known my king was in such great need, I'd have given him both loaves for free." Upon hearing this the king approached the man, put his hands on his shoulders, and pressed his cheek to the poor breadmaker's. For several minutes, the two men wept together.

"Have no worries, my good man," the king whispered. "Today, you have shown my family more generosity than we could ever repay."