The pirate and the king

There was once a pirate who used to rob, torture and kill people who were voyaging on the sea. Everybody was very afraid of him. Many complaints went to the king about him, but nobody could catch him. Finally the king said, “I am going to go and capture him myself.” So he went to sea with many bodyguards and sailors and finally caught the pirate.

The king told the pirate, “You are such a useless fellow. You have tortured so many people for so many years. Now you should be hanged.”

The pirate said, “I am going to be hanged? Before I am hanged, you should be hanged.”

Everybody was shocked. The pirate continued, “I have killed a few people here and there. But you are a far greater rogue than I am. You are not satisfied with ruling your own country. You go and conquer other countries and kill thousands of people. You do infinitely worse things than I do.”

The king said nothing. Then he gave the pirate a large sum of money and said, “For God’s sake, give up this pilferage. If money is what you need, here is money. But if what you want is to torture and kill people, then I can’t be of any help. If I hear any more complaints, I will arrest you and definitely have you killed.”

The pirate said, “Remember, you are doing the same thing.”

Again the king remained silent. Then he said, “Come with me. I want you to work at the palace. Since you are physically so strong, you can be my bodyguard.”