A Short Story of Two Friends
Michael and Gabriel were two friends, who came to their King’s court in order to settle a dispute. According to them, they had a problem with a bet they’d played a day back. Michael was complaining that Gabriel agreed to pay him a sum of five hundred gold coins, if he lost the bet. Now after Gabriel had lost it, he now says that he will give only five gold coins instead of five hundred.
When asked for an explanation, Gabriel said – “My Lord! When Michael said that he will give three hundred gold coins, if he loses the bet, I said, I will give five. I never said five hundred!”
The king got much pleased with Gabriel’s cleverness. He gave Michael five hundred gold coins on the behalf of Gabriel, and offered Gabriel a job in his court.
Now, comes the next day, and the two friends appeared in the court again, for the settlement of another dispute. This time when King asked them what happened, Gabriel told him, that last day, when they were returning back home from the court Michael found some gold coins lying on the road. Since Michael had found the coins first, he ought to be the rightful owner of all the coins. But, instead of possessing the whole wealth, he was compelling Gabriel too, to share the coins.
This time king got impressed with Michael. After all, how many people are there, who would share their fortune with their friends? So, he offered a job to Michael too.
“By the way, what was the bet yesterday?”, asked the king.
They both confessed: Gabriel had said that he will find a job not only for himself, but for Michael as well!