Frugality, Honesty, and Sobriety Lead to Heaven

There was once a King’s son who went out into the world, and had great success, but full of thought. He looked at the sky, which was so beautifully pure and blue, and said, “How well must all be with one there in heaven,” and he thought, “How can I get to heaven?”

Now a man walked by, and answered, “Being frugal will get you into heaven. I have wondered the world, took no money, and though I am hungry; in this way thou wilt reach heaven.”

So the King’s son took off his magnificent coat, and wore in its place a cheap garment, and traveled the wide world for one year, and took nothing but a little food. When the year was over, the King’s son prayed to the Lord to take him into heaven. But he thought, standing there, that he should like to return to his palace to see some of his servants.

So he returned to his father’s palace, and said to one his servants, who was named Ted the Red Servant: “Ted, I have found that being frugal leads me to heaven. But now I have thought, How would Ted the Red Servant get into heaven?”

Ted said, “I am only the servant of a King’s son. To lead a servant to heaven, he must not trouble himself but rather do what comes into his head and pleases him, just as his master does.”

So he decided, for one year, to live as Ted the Red Servant lived. And during this time, the King’s son happened to see a princess, and everything about this princess was of gold, but she was talking with a young man with an apron. But the King’s son said what came into his head, thinking it would please him, “My love for you is great,” as he passed the two of them, and the golden princess fell violently in love with him.

Once more, a woman holding two pales appeared for the young man with the apron, and the King’s son need say no more, but the golden princess promised to the King’s son that she would be faithful to him forevermore.

So he continued to, as Ted the Red Servant would say, “do what comes into his head and pleases him,” and by the end of the year he prayed to the Lord to take him into his heaven.

Now, a man running man holding a lantern passed by, and the King’s son couldn’t help but be reminded of the hungry man who suggested that frugality would lead him to heaven. So the King’s son ran with the young man as long as he could, and he discovered that the runner had learned to rid himself of all worldly addiction, while he lights the palaces.

So for one year, again, he lived as the young man did; he ran with nothing but a lantern, and ran from palace to to palace, through the woods, learning to manage his earthly desires of food, water, lust, sleep, and even sickness.

This continued until the King’s son died, and he would live year by year as the mothers did, as his neighboring Kings would, next the old and dying, and also as the priest.

When he was buried, a rose grew on one side of his grave, and a lily on the other, and with him was a paper in which was written his history.

Below is the golden book of tales. I have decided that it would be a good idea to try to enter it in some contests rather than self-publish in such a hurry, it would be good exposure and it would boost interest in it.

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The Golden Book of Tales

(Cover Image)