The Dull Prince
The king had gone into the forest with all his four sons to hunt birds and beasts for sport. The king was a great shot. Arrows flew from his bow like strings of lightning and they hardly missed their marks. The eldest prince was equal to his father in marksmanship. If the king killed two tigers and one boar, he killed two boars and one tiger. The second prince and the third were not lagging far behind. With great enthusiasm, they brought down bird after bird from trees and felled deer after deer. But it was quite different for the fourth prince. He was most reluctant to shoot. If he shot at all, he missed the mark. His face showed no glow of enthusiasm. At the day's end, the king relaxed beside a waterfall and took stock of his son's achievements. He was proud of his eldest son, quite happy with the next two sons, but thoroughly disappointed with the fourth one. "I ought to feel ashamed of him," he murmured to himself. The evening was approaching. The king bade the members of his party to proceed to the palace, carrying the preys with them. Only a few bodyguards and his sons remained with him. He proposed to spend some time with the great sage who lived in the forest. The king held him in very high esteem.
From time to time he met the sage, either to seek his blessings to tide over some crisis or just to pay respect to him. A little after the sunset the king and his party reached the sage's dwelling which was made up of a cave and a few huts. They prostrated themselves to the sage and the sage's disciples entertained them to delicious fruits and milk. After that, as was the practice, all left the king alone with the sage. "What is the matter, my dear king, why do you look pensive?" the sage asked. "You have guessed my mood correctly, O blessed soul!" replied the king. "I am worried on account of my youngest son. He is so dull! I wonder what I am going to do with a good for nothing boy like him." "What makes you think that he is dull and good for nothing?" queried the sage. "Not one, but numerous reasons are there to think so, O sage," replied the king. "For example, each one of my other three sons bagged so many beasts and birds while hunting in the forest today, but he failed to bag any." "I see," said the sage. He then called the youngest prince and asked him how is it that he could not kill a single creature.