The King and the Shepherd’s Wisdom (A Santali-Indian folklore)
A rich and powerful Raja (King) was convinced in his heart that no one in the world was as powerful as he was. But he told no one about it. One day he began to wonder whether others could guess what he was thinking. So he called together all his officers and servants and asked them to tell him what thought was in his heart. Many of them made guesses, but no one could satisfy the raja with his answer. For Then the raja ordered his dewan (minister) to find him someone who could guess his thought, and he gave the dewan exactly a month's time to find this genius. The dewan searched everywhere, but all in vain, and as the month was coming to a close he grew quite desperate. But he had a right man on the appointed day. The dewan said, 'All right, let's see what you can come up with, and gave over the job to his daughter. When the appointed day arrived, his daughter brought home a simpleton, a shepherd in their employ, and asked her father to take him to the raja. The dewan was ...