Quotes

Quote 4 of 13

A king, visiting a prision, began to interview the inmates.
Prisoner after prisoner insisted that he was innocent, that he had
been gramed, that a terrible injustice had been done.

The kind asked the last prisoner, "And are you, too, as innocent as
a lamb?"

"No, Your Majesty.  I'm a thief.  I was caught, fairly tried,
sentenced."

"You admit you're a thief?" asked the king in surprise.

"Yes, Your Majesty."

The king said, "Throw this crook out of here!"

The thief was promptly ejected.

The other prisoners raised a fearful clamor.  "Your Majesty, how can
you do such a thing?  How can you free a confessed criminal while
we---"

"I was afraid," the king smiled, "that that wicked scoundrel would
corrupt all you innocent souls."

_The Joys of Yiddish_, p. 75

Tags: quotquot innocentsouls scoundrel prision clamor majesty inmates thief injustice lamb prisoners surprise