"
"I am ready to answer them, O king!" said the shepherd.
"Indeed, indeed!" said the king, and he laughed to himself. "Well,
then, answer my first question: How long shall I live? Come, you must
tell me to the very day."
"You shall live," said the shepherd, "until the day that you die, and
not one day longer. And you shall die when you take your last breath,
and not one moment before."
The king laughed.
"You are witty, I see," he said. "But we will let that pass, and say
that your answer is right. And now tell me how soon I may ride round
the world."
[Illustration: "You shall live until the day that you die."]
"You must rise with the sun," said the shepherd, "and you must ride
with the sun until it rises again the next morning. As soon as you do
that, you will find that you have ridden round the world in
twenty-four hours."
The king laughed again. "Indeed," he said, "I did not think that it
could be done so soon. You are not only witty, but you are wise, and
we will let this answer pass. And now comes my third and last
question: What do I think?"
"That is an easy question," said the shepherd. "You think that I am
the Abbot of Can-ter-bur-y. But, to tell you the truth, I am only his
poor shepherd, and I have come to beg your pardon for him and for me.
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