topics: |  fiction | russia

Too Dear

Story summary:
set in the "toy-kingdom" of Monaco, where there has been a murder.  The
criminal is sentence to death by having his head cut off.  But there is no
guillotine nor executioner.  France says it would cost 16K francs to send
theirs, Italy 12K.  This would amount to a tax of 2F per person - so the
King commutes the sentence to life imprisonment.  But there is no prison, so
a lockup with a guard is setup.  Yet the annual bill comes to 600F.  So then
the King decides to let the villain go.  But he says - now my name is spoilt
by your sentence, what can I do.  So he is given a pension for annuity of
600F.