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The Scholar's Four Questions





Value. Wisdom




Once there was a great scholar. Everybody in the kingdom appreciated him because he was so learned. Unfortunately, in spite of his great learning, he had great pride.


One day, the scholar put on a gold necklace and went to the palace of another king. He said, "Whoever can defeat me in wisdom will get this necklace. I challenge everybody !"

All the scholars in that particular kingdom had heard about the scholar. They were afraid that they would lose. So they did not accept his challenge. The king was very sad that nobody had accepted the challenge.

Finally, the court's Jester said, "I accept your challenge."

The king had almost surrendered to the scholar. Because the king thought 💭🤔
that it would be amusing to see his jester compete. He believed that he was only a joker and would not be able to win the necklace.

The court's Jester said, "I will ask you four questions. If you answer any of my questions correctly, then you will lose, but if all your answers are incorrect, then I will defeat and the king will give you anything you want."

Then the court's Jester
asked his first question: "Where
are you from?"

The scholar said, "I live here."
This was incorrect since he came from another kingdom. So by giving the wrong answer the scholar passed the first test.

The Jester's second
question was : "How long have
you been here?"

"Three years", the scholar said which was also incorrect. Still the court's Jester was unable to trick him.


The third time, the Jester asked, "Our King is good, kind and generous. Do you agree?"

The scholar said, "Your king? What you are saying is totally wrong. Your king is foolish and very unkind." So again the scholar passed the test.
The court's Jester said "It seems that I can't defeat you. How many questions have l asked you so far?"
The scholar said,"You have asked me three questions; you have one more. If I do not answer it correctly, you will lose."

The court's Jester laughed and said, "Look! The scholar has lost. He answered this question correctly."
So the scholar gave his necklace to the court's Jester, and he immediately gave it to the king. The scholar's pride was totally smashed. He said "I will never come to your kingdom to challenge anybody again."

All the scholars were very impressed by the court Jester's cleverness. They knew that they would not be able to defeat the great scholar. The Jester said , " You see , when great scholars are not alert , they lose . If he had been alert , he could save himself. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . "




Moral:
It is unwise to be too sure of one's own wisdom. It is healthy to be reminded that the strongest might loose and the wisest might err.