TWILIGHT LAND

“ Really and truly ?” said the king.

“Yes,” said Babo; “really and truly.”

_“Wumph!” said the king. ‘I should like to have
advice that is worth as much as that. Now, how much
will you sell your advice to me for?”

“How much will you give ?” said Babo.

“Well,” said the king, “let me have it for a day on
trial, and at the end of that time I will pay you what it is
worth.”

“Very well,” said Babo, “that is a bargain;” and
so he lent the king his piece of advice for one day on
trial.

Now the chief councillor and some others had laid a
plot against the king’s life, and that morning it had been
settled that when the barber shaved him he was to cut
his throat with a razor. So after the barber had lathered
his face he began to whet the razor, and to whet the
razor.

Just at that moment the king remembered Babo’s piece
of advice. “ ‘Think well!’ said he; “ ‘think well! before
you do what you are about to do, think well!’”

When the barber heard the words that the king said,
he thought that all had been discovered. Down he fell
upon his knees, and confessed everything.

That is how Babo’s advice saved the king’s life—you
can guess whether the king thought it was worth much or
little. When Babo came the next morning the king gave
him ten chests full of money, and that made the simpleton
richer than anybody in all that land.

He built himself a fine. house, and by-and-by married
the daughter of the new councillor that. came after the

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