Page 12 - Viva Real English 4 : Ebook

‘Well, boy, what have you got?’ asked one of the robbers, as he pulled Otanes down

from his horse.

‘Forty pieces of gold,’ answered the lad.

The robber laughed. He had never heard of a boy with so much money as that.

‘That is a good story,’ he said. ‘Where do you carry your gold?’

‘It is in my hat, underneath the lining,’ answered Otanes.

‘Oh, well! You can’t make me believe that,’ said the robber; and he hurried away to
rob one of the rich merchants.

Soon another came up and said, ‘My boy, do you happen to have any gold about
you?’

‘Yes! Forty pieces, in my hat,’ said Otanes.

‘You are a brave lad to be joking with robbers,’ said the man; and he also hurried
on to a more promising field.

At length the chief of the band called to
Otanes and said, ‘Young fellow, have you
anything worth taking?’

Otanes answered, ‘I have already told two of
your men that I have forty pieces of gold in
my hat. But they wouldn’t believe me.’

‘Take off your hat,’ said the chief.

The boy obeyed. The chief tore out the lining

and found the gold hidden beneath it.

‘Why did you tell us where to find it?’ he
asked. ‘No one would have thought that a
child like you had gold about him.’

‘If I had answered your questions differently,
I should have told a lie,’ said Otanes; ‘and
none but cowards tell lies.’

promising : showing signs of success lining : a layer of material that covers

the inside of something
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