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"title": "The Worthy One",
"author": "J.J.A. Goevernour",
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"summary": "\"The Worthy One\" is a short fable that turns a contest of knowledge into a test of character. When a poorly-ruling king dies and leaves four quarreling princes behind, the royal advisors devise a challenge: list your father's crimes, and whoever knows the most shall wear the crown. Three princes eagerly compete to outdo each other in condemnation — but the fourth refuses to speak ill of the dead, no matter the cost. What unfolds reveals that wisdom and worthiness have very little to do with what a person knows.",
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"A King who had ruled his country very poorly died and left behind four sons who quarreled over the crown after his death.",
"Then the King’s advisors and the wise old men of the people came together and said, “Neither the first, nor the second, nor the third, nor the fourth will become King. Only the Worthy One will be King.”",
"And they spoke to the princes, “List the crimes of your father! Whoever knows and confesses the most, and avoids them themselves, is the Worthy One and must become King.”",
"Then the first prince began and listed one hundred sins and injustices of his father. No one knew as much as he did, he thought, and he would surely get the crown now.",
"However, the second prince listed two hundred crimes and said the worst things about his father; he too thought he was now sure to get the throne.",
"But when it was the third prince’s turn, he told of three hundred scandals about his father and now believed he would certainly become King.",
"The fourth, on the other hand, said, “It grieves me to hear my brothers speak so shamelessly and without scruple about my father. Even if I could name three thousand injustices, my heart would regret them, but my lips would keep them silent, because the deceased King was my father.”",
"Then the King’s advisors and the wise men of the people stood up and embraced him, shouting with joy, “You are the Worthy One, you must be our King.”",
"J.J.A. Goevernour was a 19th-century Dutch-Caribbean author and poet, best known for his moral fables and verse rooted in the literary traditions of the Netherlands. \"The Worthy One\" reflects his characteristic approach of embedding ethical dilemmas within deceptively simple narratives, where the true lesson only reveals itself at the final turn."
],
"body_text": "A King who had ruled his country very poorly died and left behind four sons who quarreled over the crown after his death.\n\nThen the King’s advisors and the wise old men of the people came together and said, “Neither the first, nor the second, nor the third, nor the fourth will become King. Only the Worthy One will be King.”\n\nAnd they spoke to the princes, “List the crimes of your father! Whoever knows and confesses the most, and avoids them themselves, is the Worthy One and must become King.”\n\nThen the first prince began and listed one hundred sins and injustices of his father. No one knew as much as he did, he thought, and he would surely get the crown now.\n\nHowever, the second prince listed two hundred crimes and said the worst things about his father; he too thought he was now sure to get the throne.\n\nBut when it was the third prince’s turn, he told of three hundred scandals about his father and now believed he would certainly become King.\n\nThe fourth, on the other hand, said, “It grieves me to hear my brothers speak so shamelessly and without scruple about my father. Even if I could name three thousand injustices, my heart would regret them, but my lips would keep them silent, because the deceased King was my father.”\n\nThen the King’s advisors and the wise men of the people stood up and embraced him, shouting with joy, “You are the Worthy One, you must be our King.”\n\nJ.J.A. Goevernour was a 19th-century Dutch-Caribbean author and poet, best known for his moral fables and verse rooted in the literary traditions of the Netherlands. \"The Worthy One\" reflects his characteristic approach of embedding ethical dilemmas within deceptively simple narratives, where the true lesson only reveals itself at the final turn.",
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