A CHIEF MINISTER HUNT

Long ago, there was a king who ruled the kingdom with great wisdom. He made sure each person got a good education as a result, the people of the kingdom too were clever and wise. The king of one neighbourig kingdoms once decided he would appoint one of these intelligent people as his chief minister.

So he set a test to see who was the wisest. He sent his messengers to the neighbour king's court with a strange message, 'I want a person who can bring me fresh vegetables grown in the soil of your kingdom. He should also bring with hime a pot full of intelligence.' Now, to get to the neighbouring kingdom, it was a good 2 months chariot ride. So even if someone started off with fresh vegetables they would be rotten by the time they reached there.

Even if the king was perplexed. One yound man from his court, however, knew the solution. He asked the king to give him a cart full of soil, manure and lot's of vegetables seeds and saplings. He sowed these in the soil and set off with the cart tied to the rear of his chariot. He also planted a pumpkinplant, and when the vegetable appeared, tied a pot over it, so when the pumpking grew, it would fill the entire pot.

By the time he reached his destination, he had a good crop of vegetables grown in the soil of his kingdom and freshly plucked. The pumpkin too had grown and now filled the entire pot. He took a big basket of the vegetables and the pumpkin n the pot and appeared before the kig.

The king was delighted to see the vegetables but puzzled by the pot. What did it mean? 'I have got intelligence in this pot,' said the young man. 'Now you have to see how you can extract it without breaking the pot.'

The king was pleased. This was a very clever answer to his strange message. But he wanted to test the man some more. So he set before him three wooden dolls, all identical. He said, 'These three are identical, but one is better than the other. Which one that would be?'

The young man asked for a piece of wire. Then he inserted it through the ears of one doll. The wire appeared from the other ear. Next he inserted it through the ears of the second doll, The wire came out of the doll's mouth. But when he inserted the wire from the ear of the third doll, ot remained stuck inside. He held up the last doll and said, 'This is the best, In a court, if you told a secret to the first doll it would not understand the importace and would take out from one ear what it heard from the other. The second one will heear you but immedeately talk about it to others. The third one will keep the secret safe in it's head.'

The king was even more pleased now. But he wanted to set a final test. 'Here are three rings, with green,red and blue stones respectively. Let us assume they are magical stones. The red ring will give the person wearing it good ideas. The green ring will help the person carry out the idea in any circumstance. In a court, who should wear which ring?'

The man thought and said, 'The king should wear the red ring, as he needs to get good ideas. The chief minister should wear the green one, as he needs to carry out the ideas in difficult times.' The king now knew he had before him a brilliant young man. He was made the chief minister and served the king for many years.