Krilof and His Fables/The Trigamist

A certain sinner, while his wife was still alive, married two other women. As soon as the news of this reached the King, who was a severe king, and disinclined to permi such scandals, he immediately ordered the polygamist to be tried for the offence, and ordained that such a punishment should be discovered for him as would terrify the whole people, so that no one should in future be capable of at­ tempting so great a crime. "But if I see that his punish­ment is a light one," he added, "then I will hang all the judges around the judgment-seat."

This pleasantry is disagreeable to the judges. Fear bathes ​them in a cold sweat. For three whole days they deliberate as to what punishment can be contrived for the culprit. Pun­ishments are plentiful; but experience has proved that none of them will deter people from sinning. However, at last Heaven inspired them. The criminal was brought into court for the announcement of the judicial decision, by which they unanimously decreed—

That he should live with all his three wives at once!

At such a decision the people were lost in astonishment, and expected that the King would hang all the judges. But, before the fifth day arrived, the Trigamist had hanged him­ self. And the sentence produced such alarm that since that time no man has committed trigamy in that country.

[This fable is not altogether original, being founded on a misogynical pleasantry of great antiquity; but it is given as a specimen of Krilof's terse style of story-telling.]