The Two Beans

    I knew a Turk. I've forgotten his name. He had two sons, which is very surprising, because the Turks usually have 7 children or 11, sometimes also 21 or even more. This one, however, had only two and those were twins.
    One of the two (the older or the younger, I do not know: in twins there is always a "younger one" - and he is the one who finally saw the light of the world) was called Treuherz, the other was called Schlaukopf. Now I am mistaken, and perhaps it was the elderly, who was known as the Schlaukopf, and the other Treuherz. But, after all, this is of no importance since the elder had been born only seven minutes before his brother. And so it is you, dear reader, probably also unimportant.
    When they were 7 years old, their father gave a bean to each of them and said, "My dear children, I have fed you up to now, dressed, taught, and housed. But now I have just enough of it. Now nourish yourselves, clothe yourselves, seek your home, and learn for yourself. "He kissed each of them seven times on the forehead, and showed them the door.
    Schlauköpfchen went to one side, Treuherz on another. But perhaps I am wrong, it was perhaps Treuherz who went to one side, and Schlaukopf to the another. This does not change the story at all. And if I lose only one word at all, it is only to show you, dear reader, how immensely conscientious I am.
    Schlauköpfchen walked with his bean in hand until the evening.
    In the evening, when his bean was beginning to get annoying, he threw it over a wall.
    As he was hungry, he stole a chicken from a poultry farm, wrung its neck, and devoured it raw.
    The next day he stole something different.
    The next day he stole again another thing, again somewhere else - and so on every day - and since he was clever, he never let himself get caught.
    So he stole away for seven years and became a very talented thief. He knew how to pull wallets and watches without the people noticing. He never took handkerchiefs, for he valued them too little.
    At twenty-one years, that is, twice seven years after his father had put him on the street, he married the daughter of a rich Smyrna merchant. He erected a trading house and now stole on a large scale, without ever getting caught. He had 7 children, whom he educated very nobly, and died at the age of 77 years, valued, revered, loved by everyone.
    The following inscription was placed on his grave: "Effendi, a noble man, is resting here." Effendi is Turkish: "Herr." - -

Now, dear reader, let us also tell you the history of our Treuherz.
    Treuherz walked with his bean in his hand until evening.
    In the evening, when he was a very clever and very cautious boy, he wiped his lips seven times with his tongue, and said to himself,
    "If I eat this bean, my hunger will not be satisfied. I will use them. "
    "It is a very beautiful bean. If I plant it well, it will flourish and I will be able to reap very many beans - at least 28, I believe. "
    "I will not eat these 28 beans - 28 beans could not feed me a whole year. I will put them back next spring. They will give me twenty-eight times twenty-eight beans.
    "When I use these 784 beans, I'll be in the third year
    21 982 harvested beans. "
    "And if I continue so, I will have 614,656 in the fourth year; In the fifth year 17,210,368; In the sixth 481, 890.304; In the seventh, I will have 13,592,928.5l2 beans. "
    He threw his little red fez into the air, exclaiming, "Thirteen billion, five hundred and ninety-two million, nine hundred and twenty-eight thousand, five hundred and twelve beans!"
    You will have noticed, dear reader, that Treuherz was an extraordinarily talented little fellow. One must really have a very well-ordered brain, "to bring about such complicated calculations in the head at the age of seven".
    Treuherz, however, was not only an excellent child, but also of an almost scrupulous righteousness, and he never had the thought of stealing. Besides, he was very proud and never could have stretched out his hand and asked for alms.
    He set his bean in a pretty place, beside a brook, planted a little stick in the ground to recognize the place, irrigated the ground, drawing water from the brook with his hands, and settled down on the ground -. , , ., And died of hunger after seven days. - - - - - - - - -
    Poor little Treuherz! If he had been a rascal, a deceiver, a robber, a thief, a bandit, a criminal, a rogue, a crook, he wouldn't have been alone in the place where he was seven years and seven days. He had wouldn't have planted his bean to die-well-nourished, suffering without want, and would have died in prosperity at the age of 77 years.
And the morality of this story? It seems that the thieves nowadays are generally more comfortable on earth, whereas the righteous people perish miserably.
    But still I loathe the villain 's head and if I had known the good little Treuherz, I would certainly have loved him with all my heart.

The Two Beans. A childhood story.