The Best Field

A king who had no heir once called twenty of his ablest and most trusted ministers and said to them, “I have allotted to each one of you 500 square yards of land. Here is a bag of seeds for each of you. Till your land and sow the seeds. Who so ever has the best crop after four months, shall get a special prize from me.”

All the Ministers worked hard on the pieces of land allotted to them. They tilled, sowed, watered, hoed and looked after the crops. Most of the fields were lush green and looked healthy and prosperous. Some were less impressive, but one was totally barren.

At the end of four months, the king came to inspect the fields. He was full of praise for the well looked after crops. When he reached, the barren field, he asked, “Whose is this?” Armaan came forward and said, “Oh King, I too have worked hard on this field but, nothing has grown. I am very sorry.”

The king took him by the hand and said, “Listen, one and all, Armaan is the only honest one amongst you all. The seeds that I gave to you were artificial. They were made of potter’s clay. All of you used new seeds when you realized that no crop was growing; all except Armaan, who had the courage to face the consequences of truth. I proclaim that Armaan shall be my new Prime minister.