1.A new gold guinea and a new copper penny fresh from the Mint lay side by side on the counter of a bank one day.Said the proud gold piece to the penny,"Get out of my way;you are only made of brown copper,but I am made of shining gold.
2."Nobody will care much for you;but I shall go out into the world,and everybody will want me.I shall pass into the hands of lords and ladies;I shall do great deeds;and at last,perhaps,the gold of which I am made will be used to form the crown of an emperor."3.Just then an old miser came into the bank,and the gold piece was paid out to him.The penny looked up and said to the gold piece,"Good-bye;may you always be happy."
4.Before the guinea could reply,the miser had thrust it into an old bag and hidden it away in his pocket.Hecarried it home and put it into his money-chest in the cellar.But he was afraid that his money would not be safe there,so he buried it in the earth.Soon afterwards he died,and no one knew where his money was hidden;so the gold piece was lost,and has never been seen again to this day.
5.After the miser left the bank,the man who had charge of it saw a poor boy helping an old woman who had fallen down on the street.He went to the door and gave the boy the new penny.The boy carried it home,and told his little sister why it had been given to him.She was so pleased with its new,bright look,that he gave it to her.
6.The little girl ran into the garden to show the penny to her mother.Just then an old lame beggar came limping along the road,and asked for help.The little girl gave him the penny,and told him where it had come from,and why it had been given to her brother.
7.The beggar went on until he came to a baker's shop.He was just going to buy some bread,with the penny,when an old man came up with a pilgrim's staff in his hand.The pilgrim was selling pictures of the city of Jerusalem,in order to get money to ransom his brother,who had been taken prisoner by the Turk sat Jerusalem.
8.The poor beggar was moved by the story of the pilgrim;he gave him the new penny,and told him its story as he had heard it from the little girl.The baker saw this kind act of the lame beggar,and as a reward he gave him more bread than he could have bought for the penny.
9.When the pilgrim came to Jerusalem,he went at once to the Turkish governor and offered him all the money he had gathered for his brother's free dom.The governor,however,wanted more money,and would not let the brother go.
10.The pilgrim said,"This is all that I have except one copper penny;"and then he told the story of the penny.The governor asked to see the penny that had done so many good actions."I will keep it,"he said,"and wear it next my heart,and perhaps a blessing will go with it."Then he gave the pilgrim all his money back again,and let his brother go free.
11.Soon after this the Turkish governor was in battle.
An arrow struck him on the breast,but it glanced off without hurting him.It had struck against the penny,and thus his life was saved.
12.When the war was over,the governor went to his master,the emperor,and as they talked together he told how his life had been saved by a penny.He showed him the penny,and told its story.As the emperor gazed at it,he exclaimed again and again,"It is wonderful!it is wonderful!"
13.The governor,seeing his delight,gave him the penny,and the emperor fastened it with a golden chain to the hilt of his sword.One day soon after this,the emperor was about to drink a cup of wine,when the empress asked to see the hilt of his sword.As he heldit up,the penny dropped into the cup of wine.
14.When he took it out,he saw that the copper had changed to a green colour.Some one had mixed poison with the wine;but the change in the colour of the penny warned the emperor,and his life was saved.
15.Then the emperor had the penny put in his crown,surrounded by diamonds and jewels of great value.To him the penny seemed the brightest gem of all,for when he looked at it,it reminded him of all the good deeds it had done.And so,you see,it was not the golden guinea but the copper penny which was set at last in a royal crown.