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English_Children_Stories_Poems, page : 38
what could he do, there was no other path for him to take.
The woodcutter approached the sultan's tent with caution, when, to his
surprise he recognized the man who had helped him was none other than
Sultan Idris. As the woodcutter drew nearer, Sultan Idris called to him asking,
"My poor friend, what do you do for a living?" The woodcutter thought to
himself, "This is strange," but replied politely, "I think you already know,
honestly, don't you recognize me? I am the woodcutter. I gather thorny
firewood every day and sell it but now my poor old donkey is weak and dying
from hunger. If you would like to help me, please give me some bread."
The sultan took pity on the old man and asked, "How much do you ask for
your load of firewood?" The woodcutter told the sultan that rather than selling
him the firewood, he would give it to him. When the sultan declined to accept
the offer, the woodcutter said, "As you do not wish to take the load as a gift
and I do not want to sell it, then give me a purse of gold."
The soldiers gasped at the woodcutter's request and said, "Watch what you
are saying old man. Your firewood is not worth even a handful of barley – it is
The woodcutter approached the sultan's tent with caution, when, to his
surprise he recognized the man who had helped him was none other than
Sultan Idris. As the woodcutter drew nearer, Sultan Idris called to him asking,
"My poor friend, what do you do for a living?" The woodcutter thought to
himself, "This is strange," but replied politely, "I think you already know,
honestly, don't you recognize me? I am the woodcutter. I gather thorny
firewood every day and sell it but now my poor old donkey is weak and dying
from hunger. If you would like to help me, please give me some bread."
The sultan took pity on the old man and asked, "How much do you ask for
your load of firewood?" The woodcutter told the sultan that rather than selling
him the firewood, he would give it to him. When the sultan declined to accept
the offer, the woodcutter said, "As you do not wish to take the load as a gift
and I do not want to sell it, then give me a purse of gold."
The soldiers gasped at the woodcutter's request and said, "Watch what you
are saying old man. Your firewood is not worth even a handful of barley – it is