The Boy and The Man, Offer R [ereader for textbooks .txt] 📗

the first had been. In front of him was a group of people hollering at one another, and by the looks of it were prepared to throw fists in every direction. He looked around and thought how all this would help him duplicate his bag of gold.

'I have no experience, and I know nothing about doing business', he thought to himself, suddenly attacked by the ghastly notion that his plan was faulty. Perhaps there was a better way for him to gain wealth, one that wouldn't require of him to engage in business.

But his resilient mind soon broke away from this uninventive state of anxiety and found that this was the perfect place for him. All he had to do was pit his exceptional reputation against their weak moral fiber and inherent suspicion in each other. With tremendous efficiency the pieces of the puzzle fell in place in his mind and he could see the gold coins piling up. First he walked around, surveying the area in search of one particular kind of person. He managed to blend in well with the simple men around him, and he managed to find the man he was looking for almost at once.

His clothes were among the most tattered in the whole trade area, and his scraggly face the most grimy. Hair grew unevenly on his head and face and his belly was so oversized that it plopped with every step he made. And here was the most important part, which The Boy learned from a short observation of his interaction with the others: he was a family man in great need of a loan, which nobody was willing to supply him with but for an exorbitant interest rate. They obviously didn't trust him to repay his loan and therefore wanted compensation for the risk they would take. But the man cried that he wouldn't be able to pay back such heavy interests and so at the moment kept touring the area empty-handed like a beggar.

'This is the man I need', though our boy. 'He is my first step to wealth.' He took the poor man aside and conversed with him in private.

"I hear you are in desperate need of a loan", he mumbled softly.

"Yes sir, my wife has fallen ill and our meager savings have dwindled to nothing. My boys have only just now found jobs in the woods so we should be back on our feet soon- better, we will be well off, but for the time being-"

"That's fine", The Boy chimed in. "I trust you. Now tell me, do you know who I am?" At this point he leveled his eyes with the man's for the first time and opened his smock so the man could see his sword.

"Why yes! Of course! You are the Lieutenant of the King's Guard. The poor boy turned prince! But what, may I ask, is a man of you rank doing here?" The man exclaimed humbly. His deference to our boy was much greater still than what he expressed in words.

"Shh, that's no concern of yours. I've brought you here to make you a proposal, but first you must vow to keep my identity to yourself", The Boy said with more authority than he'd ever adopted.

"But sir, if it's secrecy you are seeking, there are snakes slithering here in every direction, and they will discover you eventually", the man warned. He was such a simple man that it seemed he was incapable of guile.

"Nevertheless."

"I will do as you wish sir, of course", the simple man said, placing his right hand on his chest in a meaningless sign of commitment.

"Good. Next, why does everyone demand such high interest rates from you?"

"Well, I've never taken a loan before so they don't trust me. And I'm poor and desperate so they think they can exploit me. I'm sorry that you have been exposed to such cruelty, which I'm sure doesn't exist in the higher circles. But I couldn't repay them the price they ask if I sold myself to them as their slave. It's hopeless. Hopeless I say."

The Boy didn't require more than a momentary pause to determine he'd struck gold. 'You will make me rich, poor man', he thought with a final stroke of conviction.

"But don't despair just yet. You see, I used to be a poor boy as you know, but have been delivered from the vicious claws of poverty by God. I've now made it my mission to do whatever is in my humble power to help those who've not shared my good fortune."

The poor man was ecstatic. "You're took kind, sir! Long live the King!"

"How much do you need?" The Boy said, ignoring the man's praise.

"Let's see- we need to keep the house running for at least another week before we're in balance… then we need boots for the boys… let's not forget at least one more doctor's visit-"

"A number; give me a number", The Boy interjected irritably.

"Three gold coins is acceptable. Four is desirable."

The Boy fished out his black bag and whipped out four gold coins. The poor man was astonished by the sight of the contents of the bag and The Boy didn't mind his staring. He felt he had nothing to fear in this man. Then he dropped the coins into the man's outstretched palms.

"One, two, three four. That should be satisfactory for you."

"Dear Lord, hast thou sent me an angel? Thank you, kind sir. This is a gift?"

"It's a gift, indeed. But not a free one."

"Oh? Then please state the terms so I will know what to expect."

"You have two weeks to establish a regular income to upkeep your household. At the end of those two weeks you will repay two gold coins."

"But sir! That's not enough time to-"

"Hush! To cover the rest of your debt, you will pay an additional gold coin in each of the weeks that follow. Six weeks later you will have repaid the full sum of eight gold coins, at which point your debt will be paid off."

"Kind sir, you will strain our income to the point of another bankruptcy. Remit, please! My family will crush under the weight of such a hefty debt. Extend the time, perhaps, and allow us a month-"

"My terms are non-negotiable. You will find no better proposal if you scour the entire kingdom. Accept it now or return my coins to me. In fact, I'm sensing that my bag is becoming too light of weight for my liking", The Boy insisted without an ounce of leniency.

The poor man was bleak and pensive, but he agreed.

"Very well. And one last thing: remember who your loaner is. A day's delay in payment and you will have the entire King's Guard at your door."

The man, now shrunken to the size of a frightened dog, nodded obsequiously and left.

'Perfect. I've turned a high risk loan to a low risk loan, and still charged a high interest rate for it. The poor man wouldn't dare violate our terms. He'd sooner sell his house than be a day late on his payment', The Boy thought joyfully.

This was to become the young entrepreneur's business model. He'd find people with questionable credit ability, especially family men with much to lose. He would offer them loans at a high interest rate but still lower than what the others offered which they couldn't accept. And since there wasn't a man in the kingdom who would risk dishonoring the Lieutenant of the King's Guard and having him as an enemy, there was no risk of default. Everyone paid on time, and within several weeks each gold coin with which our boy had set out in his bag became two.

At the end of the first day his bag of gold coins was empty. He had great prospects for future wealth, but without gold coins he couldn't keep loaning and therefore would have no way of further advancing his aim. And as is known to anyone who has seen a man holding a gold coin in his hands or a woman wearing a gold necklace on her neck, people are never weaker than when they are possessed by greed for wealth. And this weakness being equally dominant in those who have yet to have ever tasted wealth, be they committed housewives or courageous soldiers, our boy was driven by it to do more without waiting. He needed another bag of gold coins, and he knew exactly where to acquire one.

On the second day at the trade area he sought not the poor loanees but the well-to-do loaners. He found one with piercing eyes and a hooked nose so large that he seemed to use it to sniff out the fake gold coins unscrupulous poor men tried to repay him with. His friendliness was so affected that any regular nose could get whiff of it from a distance. He was quite coarse really, and was quick to snap at any man that didn't please him. And yet judging by the number of people gathered around him one might think that he was a true benevolent soul. This man was so successful in giving out loans, in fact, that he wore a suit and had assistants to help him spread his business. The Boy went directly to this distinguished man, presented himself, and demanded the best terms for a loan that anyone has ever received. The loaner hardly had time to process The Boy's request before the latter, inspired by the man's own impudence, threatened to turn to another loaner if his demands weren't met at once. Thus he made off with another bagful of gold coins, acquired at exceedingly favorable terms. By the end of the day his bag was empty again, and he had a debt equal to a bagful and a half of gold coins, to be paid within the next four weeks. In the same amount of time he would be repaid three bagfuls, and after an additional four weeks he would collect three more. He was already a creditor of many, an while he'd kept no record of them, there resided no doubt in his mind that none of them would risk incurring his disfavor.

This simple and effective method of operation was repeated whenever there was enough time for him to escape his duties to the Guard, to the prince and to Aphrodite.

'Wealth is on its way to me', he thought with great delight whenever he saw a woman with luxurious dress or thought of the great abundance of the palace, none of which belonged to him.

Chapter 10

 

Sometimes something that has been hidden from sight and blocked from the memory can come to life unexpectedly and have a profound impact on the course of events. To us this may be merely a distant, abstract truth, but to the people of the kingdom it became a bitter reality.

It began several days after The Boy's first visit to the trade area. He was returning from training with the Guard when he recoiled at a terrible sight that was far more painful than having fallen off his horse during a simulated skirmish with a new recruit. Aphrodite was sitting in the palace's anteroom, curled in a ball on the marble floor and crying with the indomitable grief of a child. Having already checked his horse at the royal stables, The Boy was now on foot and so accelerated to a hurried trot. He was about to start climbing the stairway that set apart the entrance of the palace from the ground that belonged to ordinary men, when he caught sight of the prince from the corner of his eye.

"Brother!" The prince called out in a sharp cry that was alarming to The Boy but unnoticeable to the weeping beauty. The prince was crouching under the lavish hedge that ran on either side of the wide stairway and blocked him from Aphrodite's view. He, too, was in a very glum state that didn't allay our boy's concern.

"You're here! What's happened? Has some catastrophe