A very mean king went to a nearby village. He wanted some more slaves to serve him at his royal palace. He decided that if any family in the village had more than five children, he would take them. A cobbler and his wife had ten children. When the king came to take them, the cobbler and his wife begged and begged. Finally, the king said, “I see that you have ten pairs of shoes in a box. If you can give each of your children a pair and still leave one pair out of ten in the box, you can keep your children.” The cobbler and his wife began to smile at each other. How did they keep all of their children?
The cobbler and his wife gave each of his nine children a pair of shoes. That left one pair in the box. They then gave this tenth child the box with the shoes in it.
