PAYMENT FOR SILENCE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXX, Issue 21414, 11 February 1933, Page 3 (Supplement)

PAYMENT FOR SILENCE

HALF-A-CROWN'S WORTH By the ruins of Czorsztyn Castle, in South Poland, lives an old ■ guide who makes his living by showing ' people round and telling them stories of ghosts, white ladies, robbers, and so on. Like many other guides, he is extremely proud of his knowledge and thoroughly enjoys an opportunity of showing it off. But the other day, says a correspondent of the Children's Newspaper, he had a disappointing visitor. A young man from Warsaw asked to be shown the castle. " But," he added, " I will give you five zloty if you do not say a word all the time." " A lunatic," thought the guide, but five zloty, over half-a-crown, was worth considering. He seldom got so good a tip. So up they went to the castle, the guide doing bis best not to break into explanations. '., : When they reached the place which was the inner court of the castle seven hundred years ago the young man sat down on a stone and ijiused. Nothing broke the silence, and the guide began to feel utieasy. "An old castle is a terrible place when it's silent," he explained, in relating the story afterwards. " That is why I usually talk all the time I am there." But this time he held his tongue and thought of the five zloty. At last the young man rose and signed to the guide that he was ready to go back; then, as they left the castle, he slipped the five zloty into the old man's hand. - " What an idiot," thought the guide. " He could have learned so much from me. Fancy paying five zloty for an hour of silence. '