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| A PEASANT A DAY King Otto of Bavaria came to the throne in 1886. His family kept him permanently locked in a room, having denounced him as a raving lunatic unfit to rule his subjects. Otto vehemently denied their accusations but agreed to the arrangement because it afforded him the opportunity to talk privately to his friends who lived in the sideboard. Otto decided that the best way to maintain a level of good health whilst imprisoned was to shoot a peasant every day. This he was able to do with the compliance of two loyal guards. Every morning one guard would dutifully load the king�s gun with blanks while the other would dress up as a peasant and hide in the bushes outside the royal window. When the king appeared with pistol poised, the �peasant� would emerge from the bushes and amiably drop down dead at the sound of the shot. |
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