Once upon a time, there was a very just king who ruled in the far-away mountain kingdom of Tibet known for his judgement and wisdom.
In the kingdom, there were two good and hard-working men who, however, were very poor. Each had an old mother whom he looked after with great care.
One day, one of the poor men had some oil to sell. He put it in a large jar and was carrying it along the steep mountain to sell.
By midday he was very tired. So, he sat down under a tree and rested. He put the jar down carefully beside a boulder so that it might be safe while he rested.
After some time, he saw his neighbour coming down the path. He was leading his donkey who was carrying two large loads of wood on his back. The path was steep and the donkey stumbled along under the heavy load. The donkey brushed against the jar of oil. The jar broke and the oil was spilt.
The man shouted at his neighbour for having broken the jar and spilling the oil. “This was all I had to buy food for my mother!” he yelled.
The neighbour shouted back that it was the donkey who was responsible. They shouted and quarrelled but could reach no solution. Finally, they decided to go to the king to seek justice. The king listened to both of them carefully. He found they were both hard-working fellows and took good care of their mothers. Having heard them he ordered the donkey to be chained and put into prison. The rock was rolled up to the palace from the mountain and tied with chains to the palace gates. The king would pronounce judgement the next day.
The next day, everyone in the kingdom gathered at the palace to hear the judgement in the strange case of the donkey and the rock. When a huge crowd gathered, the king asked the doors of the palace to be closed. Then he pronounced his judgement.
“There is no law to judge or punish a donkey or a rock in our kingdom,” declared the king, “How did all of you imagine that something so absurd would happen here? For your foolishness and your curiosity, I charge each one of you to pay a fine of one coin.”
The people were very shame-faced, but had no option but to pay the fine. The money was collected and given to the poor man who had lost the oil. Both the neighbours thanked the wise king.
