Honesty


Once when Frederick II, an 18th-century king of Prussia, went on an inspection tour of a Berlin prison, he was greeted with the cries of prisoners, who fell on their knees and protested their unjust imprisonment.

While listening to these pleas of innocence, Frederick’s eye was caught by a solitary figure in the corner, a prisoner seemingly unconcerned with all the commotion.

"Why are you here?" Frederick asked him.
"Armed robbery, Your Majesty."

"Were you guilty?" the king asked.

"Oh yes, indeed, Your Majesty. I entirely deserve my punishment."

At that Frederick summoned the jailer. "Release this guilty man at once," he said. "I will not have him kept in this prison where he will corrupt all the fine innocent people who occupy it."

(By Lloyd Steffen in the Christian Century   April 29th 1987)



(I have not been able to check the veracity of this story about Frederick II ) jmp
Location: Berlin, Germany

Comments

  1. Anonymous31 July 2012 at 01:09

    Oh yes it's true, for you see I was that guilty man!!

    ReplyDelete

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