A Cruel King

Level: English for Junior High School
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A Cruel King

Once upon a time there was a cruel king. Everyone was afraid of him. The people were very poor, because the king took all their money. One day the king's soldiers brought a poor man to the palace. The man didn't have any money and so he couldn't pay his taxes. "If you don't pay immediately, I'll kill you," said the king. "I can't pay," said the poor man, "because I haven't got any money." "Then you must die!" said the king. "GO"

The man fell to the floor." "Please let me go, Your Majesty," he said. "If you don't kill me, I'll teach your horse to talk." The king had a wonderful white horse, and he was very proud of it. He smiled. "All right, he said, you can have one year. If you teach the horse to talk, I'll give you gold and silver. But if you don't, I'll kill you. "GO"

Two soldiers took the man to the horse's stable. "You're stupid," said one of the two soldiers. "You can't teach a horse to talk. It's impossible. At the end of the year, the king will kill you." "Ah," said the man, "I'm not stupid. Before the end of the year four things might happen. The king might die. I might die. The horse might die ... or ... the horse might talk!"

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