Long, long ago in Persia, there was a Greek King who suffered from a strange illness that seemed incurable. All the physicians in the court and the kingdom had been summoned and each remedy had been tried. But nothing seemed to help the sick King. A new learned physician arrived at the court to cure the King. He hollowed out the handle of a polo club and put his medicine, made of herbs, inside and wrapped it. He took it to the King and told him to play polo every morning. Then, he must return and rest. Surprisingly, the Greek King was cured as the medicine seeped through the handle and his hands into him! When the King rewarded him richly, the jealous vazir spoke ill of the physician, poisoning the King’s mind and turning him against the physician. He said the physician was trying to kill him and take his kingdom.
The Ungrateful King
The angry King, forgetting that the physician had cured him, ordered that the treacherous physician should be beheaded. The poor physician was executed, but before that he was asked to state his last wish. He said, “Sir, place my head on this book, which contains all the magical remedies I make. You must read the book yourself, for only then the remedies will be revealed.” The King agreed and the physician’s head was placed on the book before the King began reading it. He would turn each page, lick his finger and then turn the next page, and the next! The physician had poisoned each page and when the King licked his finger to turn the pages, he swallowed the poison! By the time the King reached the last page, he was dizzy and weak. As he finished reading, he died! The physician had punished the ungrateful King.
