King and the Locusts

A king made a proclamation that, if any man would tell him a story which should last forever, he would make him his heir and son-in-law; but if anyone undertook to do so and failed, he should lose his head. After many failures, came one, and said: “A certain king seized all the corn of his kingdom, and stored it in a huge granary; but a swarm of locusts came, and a small cranny was descried, through which one locust could contrive to creep. So one locust went in, and carried off one grain of corn; and then another locust went in, and carried off another grain of corn; and then another locust went in,” etc.; and so the man went on, day after day, and week after week, “and so another locust went in, and carried off another grain of corn.” A month pa ed; a year pa ed. In six months more, the king said, “How much longer will the locusts be?” “Oh, your majesty,” said the story-teller, “they have cleared at present only a cubit, and there are many you sand cubits in the granary.” “Man, man!” cried the king; “you will drive me mad. Take my daughter, take my kingdom, take everything I have: only let me hear no more of these intolerable locusts!”— Letters from an Officer in India (edited by the Rev. S. A. Pears).