Rewards for Everybody

There was once a king who was always looking for opportunities to reward people for their remarks, no matter how silly they were. One day, he took a stroll in the royal garden with his entourage and the company of his ministers. Suddenly, a strange bird flew down and perched itself on the branch of a tree in front of the king.

“Does anyone know its name?” queried the king. Everybody looked at each other, but nobody had an answer. Pleased with the attention, the king took off one of his bangles and gave it to an attendant. “Keep it!”

The king then approached the bird and asked it to spell out its name. The bird did not respond, not even with a cry. “Probably it can’t understand our language, your majesty,” another attendant offered as an explanation.

“You’re very right!” exclaimed the king, and smilingly handed a bangle he had on the other hand to the attendant. One of the ministers, however, was not very pleased with the way the king was distributing rewards. “We don’t know what bird it is, and it doesn’t understand what we’re saying. That’s why I shooed it away, your majesty,” the minister said apologetically.

“What you say is very true; you did the right thing,” the king replied. He took off his pearl necklace and offered it to the minister, smiling warmly.

Thus, in a whirlwind of rewards, the day became a lesson about communication and understanding, even in the most unexpected situations.