I am really not as bad as you think . Why , had I chosen , I could have robbed the royal treasury , have bribed your judges to let me off , and built a white marble palace with what was left . But though I know how to steal I do n't do it . You yourself asked me my trade . If you kill me you will break your royal word . ' ` Very well , ' said the king , ' I will not kill you . I pardon you . But from this hour you shall be shut up in a dark dungeon . Here , guards ! away with him to the prison . But you six Simons follow me and be assured of my royal favour . ' So the six Simons followed the king . The seventh Simon was seized by the guards , who put him in chains and threw him in prison with only bread and water for food . Next day the king gave the first Simon carpenters , masons , smiths and labourers , with great stores of iron , mortar , and the like , and Simon began to build . And he built his great white pillar far , far up into the clouds , as high as the nearest stars ; but the other stars were higher still . Then the second Simon climbed up the pillar and saw and heard all that was going on through the whole world . When he came down he had all sorts of wonderful things to tell . How one king was marching in battle against another , and which was likely to be the victor . How , in another place , great rejoicings were going on , while in a third people were dying of famine . In fact there was not the smallest event going on over the earth that was hidden from him .
Next the third XXXXX began .
Simon Simons battle earth event labourers left rejoicings smiths third