And this man said: what do you ask of me, Sire? The youth replied: I ask you whence you come, and what is your state.
The man answered: I am from Syria and am a king, and I have acted so that my subjects have driven me out of my kingdom.
Then the youth took all the gold and silver and gave it to him who had been driven out.
The news spread through the palace.
The barons and the knights met in conclave, and at the court nothing else was spoken of but this gift of the gold.
All was related to the father, questions and answers, word for word. The king began to speak to his son, many barons being present, and said: how did you come to distribute the money in this manner? What idea was it that moved you? What reason can you offer us for not giving to him who had enriched himself through his ability, while to him who had lost through his own fault you gave all? The wise young man made answer: Sire, I gave nothing to him who taught me nothing, nor indeed did I make a gift to anyone, for what I gave was a recompense, [[58]]not a present. The merchant taught me nothing, and nothing was due to him. But he who was of my own state, son of a king who wore a king’s crown, and out of his folly did so act that his subjects drove him away, taught me so much that my subjects will not drive me out. Therefore, I made a small recompense to him who taught me so much.
On hearing the judgment of the youth, the father and his barons praised his great wisdom, saying that his youth gave good promise for the years when he should be ripe to deal with matters of state.
Tidings of the happenings were spread far and wide among lords and barons, and the wise men made great disputations about it.
[1] These were: grammar, dialectic, rhetoric, arithmetic, music, geometry, and algebra. [↑]