HOW BIG IS A FOOT?Written and illustrated by

Rolf Muller

Once upon a time, there lived a king and a queen.

They were a happy couple because they had everything in the world.

When the queen’s birthday was near, the king had a problem. He did not know what to give to the Queen.

The king thought very hard.

The king finally had an idea. He wanted to give a bed to the queen because beds were not invented yet at that time.

The king told the carpenter to make a bed for the queen.

How big is the bed?

HOW BIG IS THE

BED?

The king thought and thought.

The king thought very hard.

Suddenly the king had an great idea!

The bed must be big enough to

fit the queen.

The king called the queen. He told her to put on her pyjamas and lie on the floor.

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6 The king took off his shoes and walked carefully around the queen.

The bed is 3 feet wide and 6 feet long.

The bed must be 3 feet wide and 6 feet long

to be big enough to fit the queen.

The carpenter took off his shoes and measured the size of the bed with his little feet.

What a beautiful bed!

The king was so angry that he put the carpenter into jail.

What was the problem?

I can make a bed to fit the

queen if I know the size of the king’s

foot.

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The king took off one shoe and asked someone to make an exact marble copy of the king’s foot.

The carpenter took the marble copy of the king’s foot.

With it, he measured 3 feet wide and 6 feet long and built a bed to fit the queen.

I love my new bed.

The queen fell asleep on the bed immediately.

The king was very happy and rewarded the carpenter with money.

From then on, anyone who wanted to measure anything used a copy of the king’s foot. Everyone would know exactly how big it was.