A Sock for Christmas

[cyberghostface]

This comes from The Vault of Horror #29. In a royal kingdom, the prince is spoiled rotten by his family and is an all-out brat. He pushes the prime minister into the moat and the man tells the king that he should whip his son for discipline.



The king tells the boy's father that his son is to be the prince's royal companion and will have a better life there than he would at home. The father protests but the king has the final say. He promises to let the boy return for Christmas. At the castle, the boy becomes the prince's whipping boy; that is, he is to be punished whenever the prince does something wrong. As you can imagine, the whipping-boy's life is pretty miserable as the prince acts out constantly.



When he returns home to his family, the boy tells them what the prince said about Santa. They promise him that he will receive lots of gifts from Santa, even though they are poor. The father decides to visit the king and ask him to fill the stocking for their son and his response is as expected:



Merry Christmas!