"You mean that I should hire an assassin to kill me, so that my son should be the government?" "No," replied Gud, "I mean that you should have a different form of government." "I never heard of a different form of government!" declared the king, throwing his cigar on the rug in his excitement. "Then I will explain it to you. What you need is a democracy. Your people want it for they have an innate sense of it already. They believe in the majority rule. Because the majority of them are thieves they want stealing legalized. In fact, to make law against stealing is, under the circumstances, very demoralizing, for it breeds contempt for law." "By my crown!" exclaimed the king, slapping his knee. "You are right. If you will just show me how, we will make this democracy." So Gud showed the king how to write a declaration of independence and frame a democratic constitution, and then they staged abdication and the king placed his crown in the historical museum. When the king had done that, Gud said: "Now have a bill passed making stealing legal so that the law will agree with the habits and customs of the majority." When the king had done that also Gud said: "You are more popular than ever, so start a secret society to be called 'The Ancient Order of Honest Thieves.' Write the constitution and by-laws yourself and make every citizen of your democracy eligible to membership, providing he can show proof that he has stolen something; but make it a first principle of honor that a thief shall not steal from a fellow thief." The king was delighted, and straightway did all which Gud demanded. The society was so popular that not only the thieves joined, but the honest men became thieves and joined also. Everything went well until all the citizens of the democracy but one had become members of the "Ancient Order of Honest Thieves." Everything that this man had possessed had been stolen, and he was naked and hungry, so finally he decided to join the society. There being no one else left to steal from, the last honest man stole the jeweled slippers that the king had given unto Gud. At this Gud became so angry that he declared himself emperor, and hanged the king on a rainy day. Chapter XXIII When Gud came upon the stupid girl she was sitting under an apple tree and weeping bitterly. "Why do you weep?" asked Gud. "I weep," replied the girl, "because I am in disgrace." "Oh, I see, you are a fallen woman. Why don't you commit suicide?" "But I am too young to die," moaned the girl, "and besides I haven't fallen yet. I am weeping because they tell me I am immodest." "But why do they say you are immodest?" asked Gud, as he picked up a green apple and tasted it to see if it were ripe.