"Your gardeners do not understand their business: but
what can you expect of men whose fathers were cobblers
and carpenters? How should they have learned to cultivate
your garden?"

"You are quite right," cried the King.

"Therefore," continued the old man, "you should send
for a gardener whose father and grandfather have been
gardeners before him, and very soon your garden will be
full of green grass and gay flowers, and you will enjoy its
delicious fruit."

So the King sent messengers to every town, village, and
hamlet in his dominions, to look for a gardener whose
forefathers had been gardeners also, and after forty days
one was found.

"Come with us and be gardener to the King," they said
to him.

"How can I go to the King," said the gardener, "a poor
wretch like me?"

"That is of no consequence," they answered. "Here are
new clothes for you and your family."

"But I owe money to several people."

"We will pay your debts," they said.