Long ago, a clever king decided to test the wisdom of his three ministers. He wanted to choose one among them as his chief minister. He called all three ministers to his chamber and said, “I want all three of you to bring as many young animals as you can from the forest. I want them in the royal zoo.” The first and second ministers brought four to five young ones like an elephant calf, two bear cubs and two tiger cubs. But the third minister returned empty-handed. He said, “Your Highness, these animals are too young to be separated from their mothers. In fact, their mothers would also miss them terribly. I didn’t have the heart to do this.” The king said, “I’m glad that you were so thoughtful about these animals. I was only testing the three of you.” So, he appreciated the third minister’s kind gesture and declared him to be the chief minister of the kingdom.
The King and his Third Minister
