Story: The Measure of Rice
Story Source: More Jataka Tales by Ellen C. Babbitt
 |
| Source |
I really enjoyed the message of this story. Which is to value stuff fairly and consistently.
Plot Summary:
Once upon a time, there was a king who had a person with the title of Valuer. The Valuer was tasked to assigning a value to all sorts of things. He would tell you how much horses and elephants were worth, and how much jewelry and rare items were also worth.
The Valuer always valued items fairly and honestly. However, the king thought that he could profit if the Valuer valued the king's stuff the most. So deciding that he wanted to get a new Valuer he assigned a commoner to the job.
The commoner having no idea how much the things were worth valued the horses brought to court to be worth a measure of rice. The horse-dealer was really angry because his horses were worth a measure of rice. However, other people told him that the Valuer had no idea what he was doing and that he could manipulate him. So the horse-dealer asked the Valuer to value what a measure of rice is worth.
The Valuer said that a measure of rice was worth the entire city. The people laughed at the king, who in his pursuit for personal gain, made the beautiful city worth a measure of rice.
Comments
Post a Comment