Irony

I cannot believe my daughter is about to wed this man. It was he who stole my treasure all along! I would've cut off any other man's head and hung his corpse on the palace wall for all to see! But no, he earned my respect and so I spared him. In fact, I gave him my daughter's hand in marriage as a reward. To think of how much he has disrespected me makes my blood boil! But alas, this is what must be done, and as king it is my responsibility to set aside my own emotions and do what's best for the city. To tell this story I have to start at the beginning.

You see, I caught Surero and his brother stealing treasure from my chamber. I don't know how they did it. I even put guards at the entrances and none of them saw or heard a thing. And those robbers were so arrogant, returning to my chamber and stealing more and more treasure. Surero and his brother thought they were so clever. They would've gotten away with stealing my treasure if they weren't so greedy. But no, I laid down a trap and captured his brother, hanging him in the air upside down. This put Surero in a tough situation. It was impossible to get his brother out of the trap without alerting the guards, and if I discovered his brother's identity, I could've killed his entire family. So Surero cut off the head of his brother to disguise his identity!

The next day, when I found his brother's headless body hanging from the trap, I proudly hung his corpse on the palace wall to rot in front of the whole city. I wanted to reveal the rest of that robber's family and kill them all! Surero knew he had to stay hidden but could not stand the sight of his brother's corpse rotting on the wall, and so he devised a plan to remove his brother's corpse.

Surero's plan was a clever one. The cleverest plan I have ever known. He put wine on the backs of donkeys, walked them next to the guards who were protecting his brother's corpse, and tricked my dumb and gullible guards into drinking the wine and getting drunk. Once they all fell sound asleep, Surero carefully and quietly removed his brother's corpse from the wall. It was a noble and brave thing that he did, but I grew even more determined to catch him.

This time, I tried to capture him with his heart. I sent my beautiful and intelligent daughter, Raia, to capture Surero. She devised a wonderful plan to talk to the men of the city one by one and told them she would consider becoming their bride if they told her the most wicked and artful things they have ever done. When Raia finally talked to Surero, he was completely honest and told her about stealing the king's treasure and cutting off his brother's head, revealing his identity to her. Surero could have easily lied to preserve his identity but he didn't. He was perhaps the most honest man, and at the same time, the biggest fool in all the city. But a criminal must be punished, and once Surero revealed his identity, Raia had no choice but to command my guards to capture him.

But once again he slipped through my grasp! This made me so furious! But at the same time, I was drawn to Surero's nobility, cunning, and honesty. First he showed his nobility when he risked his life just to remove his brother's corpse from the palace wall. Then he showed his cunning by robbing my treasure multiple times, devising a plan to retrieve his brother's corpse, and escaping my grasp not once, but twice! Finally, even though he was a thief, he showed his honesty by literally telling Raia the most wicked and artful things he ever did, knowing that would reveal his identity. It was in that moment I realized I need him by my side to help me rule the city, and so I offered to pardon his life and give him an unknown reward. Surero then turned himself in, and after getting to know him, I was so amazed by his character and he and Raia got along so well that I offered him Raia's hand in marriage.

And let it be known how a thief wed my daughter.

Author's Note:

The origin of this story comes from The Tale of King Rhampsinitus. This tale is about two brothers who got caught stealing treasure from the chamber of the city's king. They were able to steal the king's treasure because their father helped build the treasure room and he intentionally left one of the boulders of the room loose, creating a backdoor entrance to the room. Once he passed, his sons plotted to steal the king's treasure. One of the brothers got caught in a trap and the other brother had to cut his head off in order to preserve his identity. He then removes his brother's corpse from the palace wall and tells the truth about what he had done to the princess. The king, recognizing the honesty, courage, cunning, and bravery of this man decides to forgive him and let him marry his daughter. I thought it would be interesting to hear why the king did what he did and the emotions he must've been going through to forgive and reward a thief for his egregious actions. The story is told from the viewpoint of the king when he is writing in his journal on the day of his daughter's wedding.

Bibliography: The Tale of King Rhampsinitus by Donald MacKenzie

Image: The King's Treasure Room. Source