His name was Fleming, and he was a poor Scottish farmer. One day, while trying to make a living for his family, he heard a cry for help coming from a nearby bog. He dropped his tools and ran to the bog. There, mired to his waist in black muck, was a terrified boy, screaming and struggling to free himself. Farmer Fleming saved the lad from what could have been a slow and terrifying death.

The next day, a fancy carriage pulled up to the Scotsman's sparse surroundings. An elegantly dressed nobleman stepped out and introduced himself as the father of the boy Farmer Fleming had saved.

"I want to repay you," said the nobleman. "You saved my son's life."

"No, I can't accept payment for what I did," the Scottish farmer replied, waving off the offer. At that moment, the farmer's own son came to the door of the family hovel.

"Is that your son?" the nobleman asked.

"Yes," the farmer replied proudly.

"I'll make you a deal," said the nobleman. "Let me take him and give him a good education. If the lad is anything like his father, he'll grow to a man of whom you can be proud."

In time, Farmer Fleming's son graduated from St. Mary's Hospital Medical School in London, and went on to become known throughout the world as the noted Sir Alexander Fleming, the discoverer of Penicillin -- very definitely a man of whom a father could be proud.

Years afterward, the nobleman's son was stricken with pneumonia. What saved him? Penicillin.

Who was the nobleman? Why it was Lord Randolph Churchill and his son, the boy in the bog, was Sir Winston Churchill.

Someone once said: What goes around comes around.

DISCLAIMER: This story is not true. This piece of fiction is an excellent example of an internet legend; a story which has just enough truth to make it believable. If you are interested in the facts, you can check out the debunking of the legend at http://www.winstonchurchill.org/ffleming.htm. The debunking page is part of the The Winston Churchill Home Page site maintained by The Churchill Center, Washington, DC (1-888-WSC-1874). If you are interested in Sir Alexander Fleming, WGBH at PBS Online has a brief biography of Sir Alexander Fleming that can be found at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aso/databank/entries/bmflem.html. Remember, not everything you receive in an e-mail message or read on the Internet is fact; sometimes a good story is just that, a good story.