The Persian Legend of the King

The Persian Legend of the King:

A certain king needed a faithful servant and had to choose between two candidates for the office. He took both at fixed wages and told them to fill a basket with water from a nearby well, saying that he would come in the evening to inspect their work.

After dumping one or two buckets of water into the basket, one of the men said, ‘What is the good of doing this useless work? As soon as we pour the water in, it runs out the sides.’

The other answered, ‘But we have our wages, haven’t we? The use is the master’s business, not ours. He is a wise King, and must have his own purpose that we do not understand.’

‘I’m not going to do such fool’s work,’ replied the complainer. Throwing down his bucket, he went away.

The other man continued until he had drained the well. Looking down into it, he saw something shining at the bottom – it was a diamond ring.

‘Now I see the use of pouring water into the basket!’ he exclaimed. ‘If the bucket had brought up the ring before the well was dry, it would have been filtered out in the basket. The King was looking for his diamond. Our work was not useless.’

The King found his most faithful servant!