Thing a Week 48: Fibonacci’s Quest (n=7)

Fibonacci stood over his agonizing mother, deeply sick from a terrible flu. “I’ll get the money we need for your medicine, mother,” he promised. “It’ll be a lot, but I can do it. I have a plan.

Rather than asking for such a large sum upfront, he devises a devious plan. With great pain in his heart, he steals one dollar from his mother’s purse. It was all she had: she was saving for her favorite soda, something her illness had more of a chance to take away from her than he. With dollar in hand and plan in mind, Fibonacci predicts it will take 5 kings to agree to his plan.He gave his mom a great hug and set off on an adventure towards the closest king.

As he arrived in the 1st city, he set his sights towards the king’s grand palace. “Please help me,” he begged the king, telling tales of his mother and her illness. “You’re the third king I’ve seen,” he lied, “the last two kings I saw were very helpful, “but I bet you’re richer than both of them combined! My mother could be well in no time with your help, your highness.”

“Oh, I can’t have them outdoing me!”, the king protested. “How much did they give?”

“They offered me $1.00 and $1.00,” Fibonacci lied. “Together, that means $2.00 towards her medicine. Almost nothing!”

“Ah, yes,” the king stuttered, saving face. “I am richer than them combined! I’ll send you on your way with $2.00 more.”

“Thank you, your highness,” Fibonacci yelled. “You don’t know how much that helps!” After collecting from the king, Fibonacci returned to his horse and set sights for the next king, worried sick about his mother.

As he arrived in the 2nd city, he set his sights towards the king’s grand palace. “Please help me,” he begged the king, telling tales of his mother and her illness. “You’re the third king I’ve seen,” he lied, “the last two kings I saw were very helpful, “but I bet you’re richer than both of them combined! My mother could be well in no time with your help, your highness.”

“Oh, I can’t have them outdoing me!”, the king protested. “How much did they give?”

“They offered me $1.00 and $2.00,” Fibonacci lied. “Together, that means $3.00 towards her medicine. Look here!”

“Ah, yes,” the king stuttered, saving face. “I am richer than them combined! I’ll send you on your way with $3.00 more.”

“Thank you, your highness,” Fibonacci yelled. “You don’t know how much that helps!” After collecting from the king, Fibonacci returned to his horse and set sights for the next king, worried sick about his mother.

As he arrived in the 3rd city, he set his sights towards the king’s grand palace. “Please help me,” he begged the king, telling tales of his mother and her illness. “You’re the third king I’ve seen,” he said, “the last two kings I saw were very helpful, “but I bet you’re richer than both of them combined! My mother could be well in no time with your help, your highness.”

“Oh, I can’t have them outdoing me!”, the king protested. “How much did they give?”

“They offered me $2.00 and $3.00,” Fibonacci lied. “Together, that means $5.00 towards her medicine. Look here!”

“Ah, yes,” the king stuttered, saving face. “I am richer than them combined! I’ll send you on your way with $5.00 more.”

“Thank you, your highness,” Fibonacci yelled. “You don’t know how much that helps!” After collecting from the king, Fibonacci returned to his horse and set sights for the next king, worried sick about his mother.

As he arrived in the 4th city, he set his sights towards the king’s grand palace. “Please help me,” he begged the king, telling tales of his mother and her illness. “You’re the third king I’ve seen,” he said, “the last two kings I saw were very helpful, “but I bet you’re richer than both of them combined! My mother could be well in no time with your help, your highness.”

“Oh, I can’t have them outdoing me!”, the king protested. “How much did they give?”

“They offered me $3.00 and $5.00,” Fibonacci lied. “Together, that means $8.00 towards her medicine. Look here!”

“Ah, yes,” the king stuttered, saving face. “I am richer than them combined! I’ll send you on your way with $8.00 more.”

“Thank you, your highness,” Fibonacci yelled. “You don’t know how much that helps!” After collecting from the king, Fibonacci returned to his horse and set sights for the next king, worried sick about his mother.

As he arrived in the 5th city, he set his sights towards the king’s grand palace. “Please help me,” he begged the king, telling tales of his mother and her illness. “You’re the third king I’ve seen,” he said, “the last two kings I saw were very helpful, “but I bet you’re richer than both of them combined! My mother could be well in no time with your help, your highness.”

“Oh, I can’t have them outdoing me!”, the king protested. “How much did they give?”

“They offered me $5.00 and $8.00,” Fibonacci lied. “Together, that means $13.00 towards her medicine. Look here!”

“Ah, yes,” the king stuttered, saving face. “I am richer than them combined! I’ll send you on your way with $13.00 more.”

“Thank you, your highness,” Fibonacci yelled. “You don’t know how much that helps!” After collecting from the king, Fibonacci returned to his horse and set sights for the next king, worried sick about his mother.

Fibonacci enthusiastically thanked the king again as he recounted the bag of money he had just filled. “This should be enough,” he said, encouragingly. He looked pensively in the direction toward home. “Godspeed,” the king said, and Fibonacci was off.

He rode tirelessly through the night to find his mother still in the bed that he’d left her in 5 kings ago.

“Mother, I’m here!” Fibonacci cried out, brandishing medicine, newly purchased. “It’s going to be okay!”
A faint whisper scratched back from the shadows: “Fibonacci? Is that you, Fibonacci?”

“Yes, mother! And look here, I have the medicine you needed! Here, take some. You’ll make it through this.”

The old woman took her medicine, and immediately began feeling better. The initial effect may have been mostly placebo, but hope cares not. Fibonacci’s mother made a full recovery.

Did you like this story? It was generated by a program! Source code is happily available at https://github.com/drusepth/fibonacci-quest/blob/master/fib.rb.