human
No-that-bad
gpt
They might be worse, and we've had many a poet of great reputation in Scotland who would not be ashamed to father them. But I'm thinking you paint the existence of a beggar in brighter colours than the life itself warrants.
human
No, no, Flemming, protested the king earnestly.
gpt
I'm convinced that only the beggar knows what true contentment is. You see he begins at the very bottom of the ladder and every step he takes must be a step upward. Now imagine a man at the top, like myself; any move I make in the way of changing my condition must be downward. A beggar is the real king, and a king is but a beggar, for he holds his position by the favour of others. You see, Flemming, anything a beggar gets is so much to the good; and, as he has nothing to lose, not even his head--for who would send a beggar to the block--he must needs be therefore the most contented man on the face of the footstool.
human
Oh, that's maybe true enough, replied Flemming, set in his own notion notwithstanding it was the king who opposed him;
gpt
You go to extremes, Flemming. An envious man is unhappy wherever you place him; but I'm speaking of ordinary persons like ourselves, with charity and good-will toward all their fellow-kind. That man, I say, is happier as a beggar than as a king.
human
Well, in so far as concerns myself, your majesty, I'd like to be sure of a roof over my head when the rain's coming down, and of that a beggar never can be. A king or a cobbler has a place to lay his head, at any rate.
gpt
Aye, admitted the king,
human
I give your rhyming the very highest praise, and say that Gavin Douglas himself might have been proud had he put those lines together.