The guard's rewards story
There was once a king in Tibet who
liked to eat fish. One year, there was a very bad drought. The rivers became
dry and fish became scarcer and scarcer.
The king felt very hungry as he did not
like to eat any other kind of food. He called his ministers to see him.
Not long afterward, a man brought to
the palace some salted fish which he had obtained from India.
He was stopped at the palace gate by
the guard.
“Where are you going? Stop! What are
you carrying?
“I…..I…. I’ve brought some fish for the
king.”
“Fish! Where did you get it?”
“I brought it back from a recent visit
to India.”
“All right. Leave it with me. I shall
pass it on to his majesty.” The guard thought. “I’ll get a big reward from the
king for this.”
“No” said the man. “I want to give it
to the king myself.”
The guard tried to persuade him to
leave the fish with him but the man refused.
“you’ll have to agree to give half the
reward you get from the king.” He said. “Otherwise. I shan’t let you in.”
“yes. I agree. By the way sir,” asked
the man. “what is your name?”
“Everyone calls me the ‘one-eyed Ox’,”
answered the guard.
The king was very pleased to have some
fish again.
“What would you like as a reward?” he
asked the man.
“I would like to be caned a thousand
times, your majesty,” the man answered.
“that’s very strange reward,” the king
said. “Are you sure that is what you want?”
“Yes, your majesty.”
The king thought to himself, “He must
be a fool! Why does he want to be caned?”
So he sent for his servants to cane the
man. “Beat him lightly,” he ordered. “Don’t hurt him. He brought me some fish.”
When he had been caned five hundred
times. The man stood up and said, “Enough. I don’t want any more.”
Everyone was very surprised. “who
should be given the rest, then?” they asked. The man told the king what had
happened. “Please give the guard the rest. This is what I’ve arrange with him.”
The king was very angry and ordered
One-eyed Ox to be brought in.
By this time, One-eyed Ox was dreaming
of what he was going to do with his half of the reward. He thought at least it
would be money or other precious things. When he saw how angry the king looked,
he was frightened.
“Cane his as hard as you can,” the king
ordered his servants. “This is half of the reward.”
One-eyed Ox could hardly walk after
being caned. However, he had to thank the king for giving him half the reward.
“Thank you, Your Majesty,” he said. “You are really too kind. This is too big a
reward for me.”
He never tried to obtain a reward again
from anyone who came to see the king
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