Once upon a time, in a large and dominating kingdom with a good king, there lived a thief and a peasant. The thief had a distinctive yellow band on his head and he had committed multiple crimes, with a big bounty on him by the king. The king offered ten thousand gold bars to whoever caught the thief, but no one had caught him yet. The peasant, on the other hand, was a poor man who was in desperate need of food to feed his wife and singular child.
He had stockpiled silver coins from cleaning the town in an attempt to buy a loaf of barley bread from the market to feed his family, but he had not yet met the money requirements to make his purchase. The silver coins were located in a safe and hidden place in his house.
Then, one peaceful night, under the cover of darkness, the thief quietly snuck into the peasant’s house. The man was unaware of this, as he was sleeping, as well as his wife and child. The thief searched every nook and cranny of the house before coming upon the secret stash of silver coins.
“You have hid your coins well. But I have found them!” the thief said. The thief stole everything from the stockpile and snuck out of the house and ran away successfully with the poor man’s money. However, the peasant had woken up and looked out his window. He saw a glimpse of the thief, and he had an identical yellow strap attached to his head. The peasant didn’t think much of it and went back to sleep.
When the peasant woke up the next morning, he checked the secret stash of silver coins, only to discover they had been stolen. The wife had realized this too, and they were both in shock.
“My! Our savings have been stolen! What shall we eat now that we have no more coins?” the wife cried in agony. The peasant was worried that his family would starve, and he quickly devised a plan to meet the king.
“We shall find the culprit who stole our money and get our silver back. I will ask the king himself!” the peasant said.
So, later that day, the peasant went to the castle where the king had been sitting on his throne, ruling over the town.
The guards had brought the peasant in the castle doors. Once they were in, they let the peasant go and the guards stepped aside for the man to utter his struggle to the king. The peasant kneeled down in front of the king.
“Poor man, I ask you, what is your need?” the king said in his deep and demanding voice.
“Your majesty, just last night a thief had stolen all my silver coins I had been saving to feed my family. I woke up to a noise, and saw a glimpse of the thief. He had a yellow band strapped around his head. And now I have no money to feed my family!” the peasant had beckoned.
The king took a moment to decide on what to do about the situation. An identical yellow band strapped onto a thief’s head. Then the king realized.
“The robber of this poor and loyal man is indeed the yellow banded robber! We shall search for him immediately around the peasant’s house.” the king bellowed. The guards nodded, and left the castle in search of the thief. They immediately went straight to the peasant’s house to investigate.
The peasant was extremely grateful that even a high king would treat him, a low, poor man in such a kind manner.
“Thank you, your majesty! I cannot thank you enough for ensuring I can feed my wife and child.” the peasant said in great joy. The king smiled, and he let the peasant go back to his normal day.
Later at night, the guards had spotted the thief and brought him into the castle. The king was furious about the thief. The thief was speechless, sweating, and anxious as to what the king would do to him. The thief was silenced. Then the king had finally spoken.
“You have stolen from a poor innocent man who was trying to feed his starving family. Do you not have a heart, or show kindness for people in need of money? You shall reconsider your decisions in your fifty year sentence in the dungeon.” the king demanded.
“Your majesty, no! It was not me. I swear! The poor man is lying!” the thief pleaded. But it was too late. The guards dragged him into the dungeon for his unforgivable deed, and the thief was locked in his cell. They took all the money he had stolen and returned it to the townspeople, as well as the peasant’s silver coins.
A couple days later, the peasant was at his house, relaxing, when a knock on the door caught his attention. He opened the door, and it was the king himself. The peasant immediately kneeled down.
“Since you have shown us where the thief was and helped return all of the lost money to everyone in the kingdom, we will justly keep our promise, and give you ten thousand gold bars.” the king said. The peasant was astonished and in disbelief.
“Your majesty…are you serious?” the peasant gasped.
“Absolutely. The guards will bring the gold in now.” the king said, smiling. Two guards brought in heavy leather bags of gold bars, and put them in the peasant’s stash. The peasant started crying.
“I cannot thank you enough. You are truly the best king in the world!” the peasant said. The king said goodbye, and left the house.
Later that night, the peasant surprised the wife and child with the two bags of money. The wife was in joy, and the child was leaping up and down in excitement.
“Can we now get the bread you promised us?” the child asked.
“No. I shall buy us a huge feast. We will eat as much as we want. You will be starving no more!” the peasant yelled in happiness.
The End
This story has no intentional meaning or moral. I just decided to write a short story about this idea I had in mind. Thank you for reading!