The Lazy King's Lesson

THE LAZY KING’S LESSON
By: Aanya Sharma

Once upon a time, there was a king who ruled a big kingdom in India. He was very fat and lazy. He always used to sit and do nothing, just eat and sleep. He slept till late in the day and snored the loudest. He had a wife and a little princess. His wife was the queen of the kingdom. She was always worried about her lazy husband.

One day, the queen needed some bread, fruits and vegetables to cook and eat. The little princess wanted candy. The queen thought if she would ask the king to get the things himself, he would get some exercise. So, the queen asked the king to buy the things she needed from the market. The king rubbed his eyes and said, ‘Just ten more minutes dear!’, and went back to sleep. The queen went to wake him up again, but the king continued to sleep. Finally, the queen got really angry and shouted at the king to wake him up. The king woke up and said, ‘Fine! I’ll go and get the things you need, if that makes you happy. But you have to promise me that you will let me sleep for the rest of the year.’

The king went to the market and saw a furniture shop. There was a big cosy and comfy bed, he went in there and slept for the day, forgetting why he had come to the market. Nobody woke him up because he was the king. A messenger came to the palace in the evening and told the queen what had happened. That day when little princess couldn’t get her candy, she was cross with her king daddy and decided to teach him a lesson. She asked the queen if she would come to the furniture shop in the market with her. The queen agreed readily. So they went to the furniture shop together in a carriage. All people in the kingdom followed the carriage to find out where the queen and her little daughter were going.

They reached the market. And then, they saw daddy king sleeping in the furniture shop and snoring. They went to wake him up, but in vain. The princess whispered something into her mother’s ear. The queen smiled and ordered the legs of the bed to be cut. As the first leg came off, the king fell off the bed and hurt his back. ‘Ouch!’, he said angrily, demanding to know who dared to disturb him. The little princess was laughing at her father. Soon, he found everyone else laughing at him too. He felt ashamed that everyone in the kingdom had discovered his laziness, and he was never lazy again.