A king had three sons whom he loved equally well， and he did not know which of them to appoint as king following his own death.

When the time came for him to die he called them to his bed and said， “Dear children， I have thought of something that I will reveal to you. The one of you is the laziest shall become king after me.”

The oldest one said， “Father， then the kingdom belongs to me， for I am so lazy that whenever I lie down to sleep， and a drop falls into my eyes， I will not even close them so that I can fall asleep.”

The second one said， “Father， the kingdom belongs to me， for I am so lazy that when I am sitting by the fire warming myself， I would rather let my heels burn up than to pull my legs back.”

The third one said， “Father， the kingdom is mine， for I am so lazy that if I were going to be hanged and already had the rope around my neck， and someone put into my hand a sharp knife with which to cut the rope， I would let myself be hanged rather than to lift my hand up to the rope.”

When the father heard this he said， “You have taken it the farthest and shall be king.”

在一個遙遠的地方，有一個國王，他有三個兒子，對每一個兒子他都非常喜愛，他不知道自己死后應該把王位傳給他們三個中的哪一個。所以，當他快要死的時候，就把他們叫到身邊說：“親愛的孩子們，在我死后，你們三個中誰最懶，誰就繼承我的王位。”老大說：“既然這樣，這王位就是我的，因為我是最懶的兒子，當我躺下睡覺時，有任何東西落到我的眼睛里，我也懶得去擦掉，即使不能把眼睛閉上，我仍然會繼續睡覺。”二兒子說：“爸爸，王位應該傳給我，因為我是最懶的兒子。當我坐在火邊取暖的時候，就是火燃到我的腳趾，我也懶得把腿收回來。”第三個兒子說：“爸爸，這王位是我的，因為我是你最懶的兒子，如果我就要被吊起來，繩子已經套在了脖子上，有人把一把鋒利的小刀塞在我手里，要我切斷繩子，我寧愿被吊起來也懶得抬起手把繩子割斷。”父親聽到這里說道：“你是最合適的人選，你應該繼承王位。”