TITLE:Costly gifts
Once there was a king who was very miserly . The virtue generosity was unknown to him . A very crafty man lived in his kingdom . He planned extort some wealth from the miser king in a tricky manner . The man knew the risk behind it but he made up his mind to try his plan out . The plan was very simple .he would please the king first and then in return he would demand something valuable from the king . So he started waiting outside the main gate of the palace with a gift in his hand day after day will one day the opportune moment present itself . On that day he was standing near the main gate with a plumb chicken in his hand when the king stepped out of the gate and found him standing . On seeing the king the man bowed respectfully and said : “ Oh generous king , I gambled in your name and won this chicken . It belongs to you . please accept it .”
“Give it to my poultry keeper , “ said the king the . A few days later the king saw the man standing outside the gate again . This time he had a goat with him . “ I won this goat in your name , my lord , “ he said after saluting the king . “ It belongs to you . Please accept it .” The king was pleased . “ Give it to my goatkeeper , “ I have no money to pay them.”
The king realized that he had made a mistake in accepting the man’s gives on the previous occasions . Now , to save his kingly honour he failed to let himself down of his ordinary subjects and so hecould not refuse to help the man . He paid off the two men and warned the gambler never to play in his name again .
The gambler , a master of pretension , immediately went down on his knees and promised to do as the king suggested. Then he sought the king’s permission to leave . The king allowed him to leave and he left with his two hired men never to be found again.