Published on: October 6, 2021
There lived a King who needed to discover what his subjects thought of him. He left the royal residence masking himself as a poor man.
He met an old shoemaker in transit and asked him, “Who do you think has the easiest life in this kingdom?”
“Obviously, it is the ruler” the shoemaker answered.
Hearing this, the King had an idea. He served the old shoemaker a great deal of wine. At the point when the shoemaker was totally flushed, the King took him to the royal residence and made him wear a delightful illustrious robe. The King at this point requested all his ministers and subjects to accept the shoemaker as the King for some time.
When the shoemaker woke up, he ended up on the position of authority. He believed that he had really turned into the King by some enchantment. He was charmed by the riches and extravagances of the castle and thought it was all his to appreciate.
Now, wasn’t this a bad decision? Letting an inexperienced man handle the kingdom? Wouldn’t he refuse to get off the throne?
However, soon he understood that he had to deal with all the important matters of the state and manage them proficiently. He needed to hear numerous reports and make decisions to run the country. The shoemaker had no clue about how to deal with this and was confounded. He couldn’t appreciate the food of the royal residence. He started getting thinner and looked exhausted gradually.
The King saw this was significantly more than what the poor shoemaker could deal with and felt sorry for him. He got the shoemaker drunk again and got him back to where he was.
A few days after that, the King camouflaged himself as a poor man again and went to meet the shoemaker. The shoemaker yelled in severity, “Recently you gave me such a great amount to drink that I imagined that I had become the King. I had a very hard time trying to deal with the issues of the state and take such a large number of choices. I needed to discuss something with some or the other minister constantly. A King’s life isn’t all that simple.”
Although it wasn’t a smart decision leaving the kingdom in a cobbler’s hands, it did bring about a feeling of realisation and appreciation in the shoemaker. Often times, we find ourselves comparing our lives and designations and other parameters with others. However, everyone has their own struggles. We are all special in our own way. Instead of comparing ourselves, we could look into our own lives and strive to improve ourselves and do better bit by bit, day after day. Comparison leads to malice but betterment leads to more opportunities and growth. The grass will always be greener on the other side but it’s our own side that we can choose to focus on.
