wisdom; so he set off without telling anyone but his
wife, and he took with him a purse of money and three
pieces of gold. After travelling a long time,
he one day saw a man ploughing in a field and he went
and got some tobacco from him and asked him whether
there were any wise men living in that neighbourhood.
“What do you want with wise men?”, asked
the ploughman. The Prince said that he was travelling
to get wisdom. The ploughman said that he would
give him instruction if he were paid. Then the
Prince promised to give him one gold piece for each
piece of wisdom. The ploughman agreed and said.
“Listen attentively! My first maxim is
this: You are the son of a Raja; whenever you
go to visit a friend or one of your subjects and they
offer you a bedstead, or stool, or mat to sit on, do
not sit down at once but move the stool or mat a little
to one side; this is one maxim: give me my gold
coin.” So the Prince paid him. Then
the ploughman said. “The second maxim is
this: You are the son of a Raja; whenever you
go to bathe, do not bathe at the common bathing place,
but at a place by yourself; give me my coin,”
and the Prince did so. Then he continued, “My
third maxim is this: You are the son of a Raja;
when men come to you for advice or to have a dispute
decided, listen to what the majority of those present
say and do not follow your own fancy, now pay me;”
and the Prince gave him his last gold coin, and said
that he had no more. “Well,” said
the ploughman, “your lesson is finished but
still I will give you one more piece of advice free
and it is this: You are the son of a Raja; Restrain
your anger, if anything you see or hear makes you
angry, still do not at once take action; hear the
explanation and weigh it well, then if you find cause
you can give rein to your anger and if not, let the
offender off.”
After this the prince set his face homewards as he
had spent all his money; and he began to repent of
having spent his gold pieces on advice that seemed
worthless. However on his way he turned into
a bazar to buy some food and the shopkeepers on all
sides called out “Buy, buy,” so he went
to a shop and the shopkeeper invited him to sit on
a rug; he was just about to do so when he remembered
the maxim of his instructor and pulled the rug to
one side; and when he did so he saw that it had been
spread over the mouth of a well and that if he had
sat on it he would have been killed [1]; so he began
to believe in the wisdom of his teacher. Then
he went on his way and on the road he turned aside
to a tank to bathe, and remembering the maxim of his
teacher he did not bathe at the common place but went
to a place apart; then having eaten his lunch he continued
his journey, but he had not gone far when he found
that he had left his purse behind, so he turned back
and found it lying at the place where he had put down
his things when he bathed; thereupon he applauded the
wisdom of his teacher, for if he had bathed at the
common bathing place someone would have seen the purse