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Once upon a time there was a king, and he was very powerful and great. He was also very good, and so kind to his people that they all loved him very much. To show their gratitude to him for all his kindness and the many favours he was constantly bestowing upon them, and also to show the very great love which they had in their hearts for him, the people resolved to make him a present. Now there was a poor woman who loved the king very, very much, and she wished to contribute something to the present for her dear sovereign; but she was so very poor that she had nothing at all in the world to give but only one little brown farthing. And a rich neighbour came to her, and said, "You can never put that dirty brown farthing among the bright gold pieces offered to the great king. Here are some new silver shillings, they will not look so bad; you can put them in, and it is all the same, for I was going to give them at any rate." But this poor woman replied, "Oh no; when I bring a gift to the good king, it must be my very own. I am very sorry I have nothing better to give; but I will just slip it in quietly, so that the king won't take any notice of it; and if he throws it away afterwards, I don't mind. It is all I have, and I will have the pleasure of giving it to him whom I love so very, very much." So this poor woman went forward with the rest; but she walked very slowly, and hung down head, being sorry her gift was so small; and when she passed the king she never once looked up, but just slipped her little brown farthing into the plate among the rest of the gifts. When she was turning away she felt someone give her a tap on the shoulder, and when she looked round the king was looking down at her, and smiling very graciously. "My good woman," he said, "was it you who put in this costly gift?" And as she looked in his hand she saw something very like her old brown farthing; but just as she was wondering if that could be what the king meant, the farthing began to grow brighter and brighter, till the poor woman could scarcely look at it, for it had changed into a beautiful locket, all shining with gold and diamonds and other precious stones. The poor woman gave a little sigh of disappointment in bet heart, but she looked up straight into the king's face, and said, "Oh no, I only gave one little brown farthing." "Take it into your hand and see," said the king, still smiling. So she took it as he bade her, and then she saw that it was her farthing after all. "Yes," she said, feeling greatly surprised, "that is the very farthing I put in, for I tried hard to clean it up, and could only get it to look a little bright at the edge." So she laid it back again in the king's hand, and as soon as he touched it, there it was shining and sparkling as before. Then the king said, "I thank you very much for this beautiful gift; it is very precious to me." And he took it, and hung it upon the chain that was round his neck, and the poor woman went home quite happy, because the king had been pleased to accept her gift, and loving him a thousand times more than before, if that were possible. Now it is more than eighteen hundred years since that day, and the great and good king has been wearing that poor woman's brown farthing at his chain all the time. And whenever any poor woman wishes to offer him a gift from the great love that is in her heart, and is afraid to bring it because it seems so small, he points to the shining locket, and says, "Why, this was once only a little brown farthing, and it pleased me as much as the rich man's gold; for with me a man is accepted according to what he hath, and not according to what he hath not?"

(C. P. Craig.)

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KJV: And Jesus sat over against the treasury, and beheld how the people cast money into the treasury: and many that were rich cast in much.

WEB: Jesus sat down opposite the treasury, and saw how the multitude cast money into the treasury. Many who were rich cast in much.