The True Friends

                Once upon a time there were four friends whom people always saw together playing cards.  One of them was very rich; his name Roger, Peter was a saddler and he had his own workshop, John was a simple employee at the post office, and Michael was a painter, but he was often out of work. The four were very close to each other despite their different social level. They understood each other very well, especially because they were a good team, playing cards.

                One day Peter the saddler fell ill. His friend Michael who was out of work at that time and John the postal employee went to visit him.  To their great surprise, they discovered that their friend, whom they thought to be wealthier than them, was deprived of any furniture and his wife did not have money to buy him medicine, or even ingredients for a soup. She explained to the two friends that since few months he didn’t have money to buy supplies for his workshop.

                The state of his health was miserable and he urgently needed some money.  The two friends talked it over, trying to find a solution how they could be helpful to their poor friend, as up to that day he had always been very helpful to them.

                Peter who himself was out of work said:

                “We should pay our friend Roger a visit, he is certainly able to provide some help, even as a loan, in the meantime, while our friend could get better and resume his honorable trade.

                The two friends went toward the house of their rich friend Roger, who was a widower and had a sixteen year old daughter.  Arrived at their rich friend’s house, they went up the few steps and when they reached the exterior platform, they heard their rich friend scolding his only daughter:

                “How dare you light the stove with two matches? You want to ruin me?  Do you know how much the two matches cost? “

                When John heard these rude words that Roger, for whom he had a lot of consideration, was saying to his daughter, he said to his friend:

                “Oh my God!  If he is screaming at his daughter over two matches, that means that he is broke! Let‘s go home, he certainly cannot help with money for our ailing friend.” As he started to go down the stairs, his friend Michael said:

                “Stop!   We should nevertheless knock at the door and if he turns us down that means he is not a good friend.  But if he has no money anymore, as we understand, then we have to find a solution for him too.”

                His friend listened to Michael without saying a word, and then he replied:

                “I think you are right, you never know, let us continue.” The two friends knocked at the door, their rich friend opened the door and when he saw them, he was surprised to see them, at first, then he welcomed them graciously, and said:

                “Come in, my friends what brings you here? I hope there is nothing wrong?“  Michael  was stunned  by the warm welcome Roger gave them, and said:

                “Yes my dear Roger, this is the reason why we are here, our friend Peter is dying!”

                “What are you saying, our good friend? Oh my God, tell me what I can do for him to help him heal, if it is still possible?” When Michael heard these words he said to Roger:

                “We were standing outside the door when we heard you scolding your daughter over two matches! We were ready to go back without seeing you, as we thought that you are stingy. At this word the rich man responded:

                “What gave you the idea to go back without seeing me?”  John retorted:

                “Actually we came here to ask you for help for our dear friend Peter!”  Roger with emotion:

                “You were absolutely right to come here, that is the least you could do to save our good friend and we should do anything to save him.” At these words John seized the occasion and told him:

                “Oh our friend, we knew that we could count on you” Roger, deeply distressed by the bad news, said to his friends:

                “How much do you need, to save him?” Michael spontaneously answered:

                “Oh, not too much!  Maybe five thousands dollars, maybe a little more will do.” Roger went to another room and came back with ten thousand dollars in cash. He handed them the money willingly and said:

                “Are you sure you don’t need more?

                “My friend, I need to ask you a question.”

                “Go ahead” said Roger. Michael continued:

                “We do not understand one thing.  We heard you scream at your daughter over two miserable matches, while you gave us ten thousand dollars without hesitating for a moment.”  The rich man smiled and said:

                “Now I understand, but I was about to teach my daughter. When she will be married, to a rich man, of course, should their situation change for one reason or another and they would become both poor, she must know how to save and be able to light the stove with one match.” Our three friends had a good laugh and then the two left the third and happily returned to their sick friend with baskets full of food and the needed medicines. They gave the rest of the money to Peter’s wife.

                Their dedication and Roger’s generous gift gave Peter courage and he swiftly recovered from his illness and returned to his job.  A few weeks later, the four friends got together again around the table and returned to their favorite card game.  They all remembered the past like a bad dream, since this experience strengthened their friendship.