“However, the two had their own plans. When the king summoned them to express his appreciation of their prudent act, aimed at the good, and to notify them of their new offices before all the ministers, they were on the road again and could not be found at the court anymore.
As soon as they had heard the truth about the origin of their friend they went straightaway into the kingdom of the prince to the ministers.

“However, it was not so easy to be admitted to the presence of the noble sirs for there was quite a crowd.
Everybody complained about the lack of money or about the general increase in prices. And all too often the two ex-servicemen even heard the bad word ”debts'.

“The noble ministers had opened a vast number of offices where the people were competently consoled and put off, cheered up or even encouraged.
The ministers, however, had entrenched themselves in the most remote offices of their ministries which had grown into gigantic proportions.

“Earlier, at the time of the king, there were no such institutions at all with all these offices; and there was no poverty either with all the related problems.
Today however, everything was different. The lost war had claimed its share, and during their sessions the ministers almost exclusively were thinking about how to open new sources of income to keep their ministries working at least on their very most basic level.

“The people indeed had no idea what a multitude of demands even one single ministry had to meet and which problems it had to solve daily, and even hourly.

“Money was lacking here, money was lacking there - the two former soldiers noticed quickly.
And since they were not easily admitted they innocently made it known in their environment - just wherever they were standing - that they had sources of income so far unknown, and that they knew of gigantic treasures that were accessible only to this kingdom.
Immediately they were asked for discretion and were led at once to the assembled ministers.

“Noble Sirs,” the two soldiers began their explanations, ”the wealth and the power of this realm are since long times well known far beyond the boundaries of this country!”
The ministers looked around embarrassed.

“However, that should not mean that someone rich should not become any richer; who should forbid him that?”
And the ministers breathed a sigh of relief.

“We have come because the king's son has sent us, the prince that went so many years ago to make his fortune.”

“And the ministers began to listen; they jumped up from their chairs and began to discuss wildly - as if they just had a finance meeting.

“Quiet!” cried the finance minister all the time, and ”Quiet!” replied the minister of commerce as if the two were fighting for the chairmanship of the meeting - which they usually did not since the treasury was empty and no income was expected; otherwise they would not have gone so far as to swindle the savings out of the people by a more and more complicated system of loans and bonds, by mortgaging the citizenis own land, as if the land did not belong to the people anyway.