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A barbarous king had ten wild ferocious dogs that he used to torture and kill any of his ministers that deliberately or even accidentally misguided him.
One day, one of his ministers expressed an opinion which the king did not like at all. Instantly, he ordered his guards to throw the minister into the pit with the dogs.
The minister tried desperately to save himself. “Your Highness,” he said, “I have served you loyally for ten years. How can you choose to do this for just one small unimportant opinion?”
The king did not bat an eyelid.
Again the minister pleaded, “Please, your Highness, I beg of you. Let me live for just ten more days before you throw me to the dogs.”
In the end the king agreed.
Later on that day, the minister went to the keeper of the dogs and told him he wanted to serve the dogs for the next ten days. The keeper was somewhat bemused, but he agreed, and the minister started feeding the dogs, caring for them, washing them, and providing all sorts of comfort for them.
When the 10 days were up, the king, true to his word, once again ordered his guards to throw the minister to the dogs as had previously sentenced.
The guards did as they were told, but when the minister was thrown into the pit, everyone was amazed at what they saw. Instead of attacking the condemned minister and ripping him to shreds, the dogs ran up to him, wagging their tails and licking his hands and feet.
The king was baffled at what he saw. “What has happened to my ferocious dogs!?” he yelled.
The minister looked up from the bottom of the pit and said, “I served the dogs for just ten days and they haven’t forgotten my service. I served you, your Highness, for ten years and you forgot everything at the very first mistake!”
Epilogue
The importance of the moment was not lost on the king who immediately replaced the dogs with crocodiles!
