Article January 11, 1900 Issue

Who Seeks, Finds

Judith Ray

St. Nicholas

Once upon a time there was a wise queen who reigned over a country so beautiful that she ought to have been perfectly happy. And she would have been happy but for one thing: the lords and ladies of her court were always quarreling. All through the long bright days they would come to the queen with ill-natured complaints of one another. In order to remedy this state of things she called a secret council of the wisest men of the kingdom.

When they assembled before her, she told them her trouble. Then, one after another, they spoke; some advised severe punishments, and others suggested that the discontented courtiers should be sent away, and new lords and ladies appointed in their places.

At last the eldest was called. He was bent nearly double with age. He walked with a staff, and his white beard almost swept the ground. He said, "Oh, queen, live forever! Thy lords and ladies are like naughty children. They quarrel through envy, and because they try to find one another's blemishes. If thou, oh queen, canst teach them, by some parable, how ignoble such feelings are, they will be ashamed, and repent and be freed of their fault."

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