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In life, things are not always as they seem.

The English King Richard the Lionheart was a tall, strong man. He was very proud of his strength and loved to show people how strong he was. One day, as he was riding his horse through the countryside, his horse lost a shoe. Fortunately, he was not far from a village, and soon a blacksmith was found.

"Give me a good shoe," said Richard to the man. The shoe was given to him. Richard took it in his hands and broke it in two. "This shoe is not very good," he said, "give me a better one." The blacksmith said nothing. He was given another shoe, but Richard broke that one too. The blacksmith gave him a third shoe. This time, Richard was satisfied and ordered the blacksmith to shoe his horse.

After the work was done, Richard offered the man a coin. The blacksmith took the coin between his fingers and broke it in two. Now it was Richard's turn to be surprised. He took a larger coin from his pocket and handed it to the blacksmith. The man broke it, saying, "This coin is not very good, give me a better one." Richard smiled and gave him a whack on the head with a stick.

That's a lesson to be learned.