“What is the matter?” said the king; “you look more like crying than being pleased with my offer, let us hear what it is?”
“Ah! sir,” said George, “my father is so poor what I earn in summer by tending sheep, and in winter by spinning, is the most that he has to live on. To be sure it is little, but he cannot do without it.”
“You are a good child,” said the king, very kindly. “Your dutiful love for your father is more precious than the finest pearl in my casket. What your father loses by your changing the shepherd’s crook and spinning-wheel, for the book and pen, I will make up with him. Will that do?”
George was almost out of his senses for joy. He kissed the king’s hand, and wet it with tears of gratitude, then darted out to carry the joyful news to his father. Soon, father and son both returned, with their eyes full of tears, for they could only express their thanks by weeping. When George’s education was completed, the king took him into his service, and after the king’s death, he became counsellor to the prince—his successor.
His father’s last days were easy and happy, by the comforts which the integrity of the poor shepherd-boy had procured him.
Michel, the firm friend, and first teacher of the prince’s favourite, was appointed to the place of forester, and fulfilled all his duties well and faithfully.
