King Matthias and The Honest Shepherd

Once upon a time, King Matthias was entertaining the Burkus king, who happened to be his good friend, in the Hungarian court.

"There is a rumor that you have a lamb with a golden coat," the visitor stated at one point.

"The rumor is true, I do. It is tended by a shepherd who is also quite unusual; he is a completely honest man. He has never lied."

"Is that so? Well, perhaps I can change that. I will make him tell a lie."

"I highly doubt that, my friend," replied King Matthias.

The two quickly made a bet. King Matthias wagered half his kingdom on the honesty of the shepherd, and the burkus king wagered his half that he could make him lie.

The Burkus king dressed as a peasant and went to find the shepherd. However, when the king found the shepherd, the latter greeted knew him as a king at once, and greeted him as such. The king was very surprised. "How did you know that I am a king?" he asked.

"The way you speak gives you away," the shepherd answered.

"Well, since you know that I'm a king, you also know that I have great wealth to spare for what I want. I understand you guard a lamb with a golden coat. I will buy him from you, and you will be a wealthy man for the rest of your life and never have to work anymore."

"I do apologize, sir, but the lamb belongs to King Matthias, not me. He would execute me if I was to sell it. So, I cannot give him away for any amount of gold."

The Burkus king tried to convince the shepherd, offering him large amounts of money, but the shepherd didn't relent. The king finally went away. He was very annoyed, and his daughter noticed it when he returned home. She asked her father if he would not let her try to convince the shepherd in her own way. He agreed, so she took a bottle of the best wine they had and took it to the shepherd.

The shepherd accepted the wine, but refused all her attempts to convince him to sell the lamb. During their conversation, the shepherd drank the wine, and grew comfortable. When the princess offered herself in marriage to the shepherd if he sold her father the lamb, she agreed. She ordered the shepherd to slaughter the lamb and skin it; he did so, and she took the coat to her father.

The next day, the shepherd was devestated. He realized what he had done, and didn't know how he would explain this to King Matthias. He came up with one excuse after another in his mind, lies upon lies, but he realized it would be futile. Finally, he arrived at the throne room of the palace and entered.

"What news have you, friend shepherd?" King Matthias asked.

"I am grieved to report, Your Majesty, that I have made quite an error in my judgment, and I stand ready for your judgment.  I have traded the lamb with the golden fur, the one you put me in special charge of, for a black lamb," the shepherd replied.

King Matthias nodded. "Bring me the black sheep, then," he said.

The shepherd pointed at the Burkus princess, who was sitting next to her father, the visiting king.

"It is so!"  King Matthias laughed and laughed.  "Your honesty has won you half a kingdom. The Burkus king offered half his kingdom in his wager; I give it to you now."

And so the shepherd was rewarded for his honesty by marrying the princess and becoming the ruler of a kindgom of his own.

The Cart and the Carriage - A King Matthias Story

King Matthias may have been the grandest king of all, but he still enjoyed disguising himself as a commoner and wandering from town to town, village to village, hamlet to hamlet, so that he could see with his own eyes and hear with his own ears the condition his country was in, and how people treated one another when they thought the royals were afar. 

Once, during one of his rambles about the countryside, he grew tired of walking.  He was near a main road, so he walked to it and stopped the first cart that was headed his way.  Its horse was straining against his heavy load, but the poor peasant driving it cheerfully invited the tired traveler to hop on; his weight wouldn't make much difference to the horse.  So the king accepted and sat on the cart next to the peasant and chatted with him to pass the time, but he did not reveal to the man that he was indeed the king.

The cart went on quietly for a while, but soon they saw dust up ahead; another vehicle was approaching quickly in the opposite direction.  Since the road was only one lane wide, one of them would have to give way to let the other pass.  They saw that the other carriage must have belonged to a rich man, for it was an ornate carriage pulled by six beautiful horses.  Indeed, it belonged to a proud baron, and as a matter of courtesy the peasant started to give way and move his horse and cart.

As he was already starting to make way, the carriage's driver couldn't resist shouting down haughtily at the peasant.  The cart's driver yelled haughtily down at the peasant. "Get out of our way, you mangy thing!  The baron is an important man and has no time for your kind to keep him waiting!"  And he let loose a string of profanities directed at the peasant.  King Matthias grew angry and quietly instructed the peasant to keep on the road instread of making way. When the poor man protested, he himself took the reins from him and stopped the cart so that he would have no chance of moving off the road. 

Seeing this, the carriage's driver grew furious and started screaming more at them.  Even the baron stood in his seat and ordered his driver to lash the insolent man who would not turn out of the way.  He ordered the man to approach the carriage to get his lashes.  So the king jumped down from the cart, stood in front of the carriage driver.  "Shall I remove my coat so the lash can reach my back better?"  he asked, and without waiting for an answer, he started to unbutton his ragged coat.  Underneath the tattered, dirty cloth was a royal outfit of velvet, with necklaces of gold.  The baron recognized King Matthias immediately. He grew terrified and started shaking like a leaf.

The king remained calm.  "I command you to take two of your horses and give them to the peasant there; four horses are enough to pull your carriage, even if it is a shiny one." The driver quickly did as he was told, but King Matthias instructed the baron to get down from his seat and assist him. When they were finished, he continued.  "Now you can get up, back on your carriage. Hurry, hurry, giddy-up. But I command you to make way for this peasant's cart, because empty carriages need make way to fully loaded ones." And from that day forward, it was the law that carts with heavier burdens were given the right of way, no matter how humble they might be.