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Once upon a time there was a rich, 

powerful, and intelligent King. But what was 

most noticeable about him was his 

arrogance. Such was his pride that he felt 

no one was a worthy rival with whom to 

share his favourite pastime, chess.

 So the King sent a message across the 

land, stating that he would give a tenth of 

his fortune to whoever could prove to be 

worthy of playing against him. In return, if 

the King considered that person to be 

unworthy, he would have their head 

chopped off.

Many risked their lives to challenge the 

proud King. Rich or poor, stupid or 

intelligent, the King always found them 

to be unworthy; they weren't good 

players, they couldn't match his 

command of the game. 

Years later, a poor beggar came to the 

palace, intending to play against the 

King. People had tried to dissuade the 

beggar, trying to save him from a 

certain death. But it was no good, and 

he came before the King, who, seeing 

the beggar's ragged appearance, 

couldn't believe that it had even 

crossed the man's mind that he could 

be a worthy rival.

-"What makes you think you deserve to 

play against someone like myself, slave?"

said the King, irritated, and calling for the 

executioner.

-"That I forgive you for what you're about 

to do. Would you be capable of that?"

the beggar calmly answered.

The King was stunned. He would never 

have expected anything like that. But 

the more he thought about it, the more 

the man's words made sense. If he 

were condemned to death the beggar 

would be right, and would have shown 

himself to be the better man due to his 

capacity to forgive. And if the beggar 

was not executed, he would come away 

with both his life and a reputation for 

being a worthy adversary...

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