A SHARE IN THE TREASURE
A great European king was so enraged at the report of Muslim victories that he immediately joined the crusade to drive Islam out of Palestine. This great king took his army and spent many years fighting in a crusade to free Palestine from Islamic domination.
When he left for Palestine, the king clearly instructed all his subjects and tenant farmers to continue serving as if he were still residing in his castle. Some of the people respected the wishes of the king and diligently performed their duties, thus continuing to share their bounty with the king. Many of the people, however, began to lose interest in their work. They grew lazy, and the longer the king was gone the more careless they grew in their attitude toward the king. Eventually they began to ignore the existence of a king and some even went so far as to claim that he had already been killed in battle. These people refused to support the king in his crusade.
When the king eventually did return, he found the castle and town in a state of disrepair, the tenant farms were in deplorable condition and his wife had moved in with his brother. Luckily for the king, he had not returned home alone but at the head of a powerful and battle seasoned army. Every person who had refused to support the king by properly caring for that which had been left in their charge had their property taken away and they were expelled from the kingdom. As for the king’s wife and his brother, they were both sentenced to the gallows.
Once the king had put his affairs in order he immediately held a great banquet. To this banquet the King invited all the tenant farmers, merchants and craftsman who had remained loyal to him.
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