Jury of the innocent minded - Help the king to decide

Once upon a time there was a man and a woman. The man married the woman and he loved and trusted her so much that he promised half of everything he possessed to her. She also agreed and made the same promise to him.

They lived well, the man was working very good and made money, the woman had a good life and could have a servant to help her and sometimes she will also work for money, but not very often. And when she worked, she could have a nanny to look after her children.

There were three children in this family through the years. When two eldest children grew up more, the woman then didn’t want a servant anymore because the one child was a girl and could do the homework. Then she also didn’t need a nanny anymore because the children could look after themselves. When the youngest one was eleven years old, the woman had another baby girl.

Around six years after the youngest child finishes school, the eldest child, a boy, dies. He entrusted everything he owned to his father.

Two years after the death of the eldest child the woman tells the king that she wants to leave her husband.

Then she asks to have the half her husband promised her, and that her husband pays her some money each month so that she can take care of herself.

The king instructed that the man gives half of all his possessions and whatever he still earns in money, he shall pay some of that money to her until she dies or another man marries her.

The husband agrees to this and the king declares it shall happen and that they shall not be husband and wife anymore.

The woman then goes on with her life with all the money and possessions she got, and still had money each month from whatever her former husband earned.

The man also goes on with his life and half of what he possessed and kept paying to his former wife from whatever he earned until he dies twenty years later.

He leaves a last wish that whatever he had at the time he dies, must be given to his eldest daughter and her generation.

The former wife then wanted what he owned when he died, must be given to her in some proportion to make up what the king said she can have each month.

“Now my little ones, what do you think the king must do now?”

(To mention everything the innocent mind elaborates on, qualifying the thought, will probably fill a book. I use only that which is factual for now.)

“The man died and now he cannot give her anything anymore.”

“But the king didn’t say anything what must happen when the man dies.”

“What about her half that she promised?”

“But what about that the king said until she dies or another man marries her? The poor man died and cannot pay anymore.”

“Why did the man not get the half she promised?”

“No. The man wanted his eldest daughter to have his possessions.”

“The woman didn’t say to the king that she also wanted his possessions when he dies.”

“The woman got a lot of things and money from the man and she didn’t give anything to him as she promised.”

“That woman cannot keep promises.”

“One must keep your promises. There was a king that heard it.”

“Why did the man not ask the king the things the woman promised?”

“What did the other child get?”

With this question I had to furnish another true fact and told them that the other child already asked the man for her inheritance some years before he died and some while after she got it, she never contacted him again. This obviously raised more comments and discussions, but since it is irrelevant in this story, I had to tell them that she belongs in another story of which I don’t know much.

Many more comments and questions were on the table, and although irrelevant to this story, it was revealing how curious a child is about many more aspects outside the given facts. This curiosity inspired me to look at the most important questions and to create new stories about the true facts as I collect these.

The main issue a small child has is that the right thing must happen, that everybody must be happy and that you must keep your promises and never lie. In this story, the child’s mind formulated the same ideas as what the ‘king’ decided.

The innocent hearts didn’t like what the women did and one was feeling very sorry for the man (which I had to quickly stop by telling how happy the man was because he was well loved by his eldest daughter and many other people).

It was so simple from the mind of the innocent to see and know.