The Three Dolls

Once upon a time there was a king who was very intelligent and wise. His name and fame spread to all kingdoms in the country and several people skilled in different arts flocked to his court seeking rewards and recognition. A few of them came to exhibit their own learning and to test the king wisdom.

One day an artist came to the durbar of the king. He had brought three beautiful dolls made by him. All the dolls looked exactly alike . He placed them in front of the king and asked, "O King please examine these dolls well and tell us which of them is the best, worst and which one is between. "The king took the dolls in hhis hand and carefully examined them. They were the same in height, length and width. There seemed to be no difference. He found that one of the had a holes in both the ears. The king inserted a small stick in one of the ears and moved the doll. The stick came out of the other ear.

In the next doll, the king found a hole in one of the ears and a hole in the mouth. When the stick was inserted in hole of the ear, it came out of the mouth. The third doll had a hole in one ear only and nowhere else. When the stick was inserted in the hole of the ear it went in and remained there.

the king thought deeply for some time and then said, "Sir you are a clever artist. These thre dolls represent three types of friends, every ma needs a true friend. Here the first doll represents the worst doll, if you pour out your thoughts to such a person, he preteds to listen, but does not. It goes from one ear to another ear. The second doll listens to your thoughts but may be very dangerous because he can tell secrets to others. The third doll is the best because he listens to your secrets and keeps the secret to himself and will never divulge it to others. "

The artist was happy and praised his wisdom.