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The Handkerchief
One day the king came to his wife. "I want to know my people," he said.
"How can I learn what they think? How can I learn what they want?"
Zakia thought for a minute and then said: "My King, if a man wishes to
know another man well, he must live with him, or meet him often. I think
you must put on the same clothes as our people have and meet them in
the streets of our city."
"I like your advice," the king said, and the next day he was walking along
the streets with two of his ministers. Then dinner time came.
"We shall not go home for dinner," the king said. "Let us go to a cafe
where people eat."
So they went to a small cafe in a little street. But when they came into the
room, the floor slipped away beneath their feet, and they found
themselves under the floor. They began to shout, but nobody came to
help them.
"A nice welcome for the King! Where are we? And why are we here?" said
the king angrily.
Suddenly they heard a laugh, and they saw the ugly face of an old man
above them.
"Ha! Ha! Ha! In three days I shall kill you, and your meat will make a nice
dish for our cafe. Everybody likes our cafe for its very good dishes! Ha,
ha, ha!" With these words the man went away.
"Let us tell him who we are when he comes back," said one of the
ministers.
"Oh, no," said the king. "If he knows that, he will kill us today. Give me
some time to think."
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