The king's clever new recruit

A young man went to one of the king’s ministers and begged, “Please, please give me a job at the king’s palace!”

The minister said, “I will give you a job tomorrow, on one condition.”

“What is that condition?” the young man asked, a little nervously.

The minister explained, “A few months ago I gave a job to a young man like you, and now that fellow has become the king’s confidant. He has gone so high in the court that he does not care for me at all. He is so ungrateful! Now, I want you to become dearer to the king than this fellow is, so that you can get rid of him. If you can get rid of him, I will be very, very happy. That is my condition!”

“I am sure I will easily be able to get rid of him,” said the young man. “I am quite clever. I will definitely find a way to make him lose the king’s favour.”

So the minister fulfilled his promise and gave the young man a job at the palace where he would attract the attention of the king. The young man immediately began looking for an opportunity to discredit the minister’s previous protégé who no longer cared for him.

One day the king was engaged in a serious battle. Somehow it happened that the young man, the new recruit, saved the king’s life. The king was so pleased with him that he said, “Today you have done me the greatest service: you have saved me from death. Please tell me what you want. I will give you anything you want.”

“I can ask for anything?” said the young man.

“Anything at all,” said the king.

The young man immediately declared, “I would like to marry the minister’s daughter. She is so beautiful! I would like to have her hand in marriage.”

“That is so easy!” said the king. At that very moment he ordered the minister to give his daughter in marriage to this young man.

Afterwards, when the minister and the young man were together in private, the minister said, “I am so puzzled. You could have asked for anything. You could have asked to marry the king’s own daughter. Then you would have become a member of the king’s family. Why did you ask to marry my daughter?”

The young man smiled at the old minister and said, “I want to marry your daughter because I know that if I marry her, you will not be able to bring in someone else to throw me out of the king’s inner circle! Otherwise, now that I have become so close to the king and the king is so fond of me, you may be tempted to appoint somebody else to get rid of me. You gave me my job on the condition that I get rid of another of the king’s favourites. So far I have been unable to fulfil my promise because this fellow has such high standing in the court. He is the king’s confidant, and he does a very good job. Indeed, I do not think I will be able to get rid of him. Seeing that I did not keep my word, you may try to introduce someone new to bring about my disgrace. That is the thing I want to avoid. Only by marrying your daughter will I escape your punishment!”