005 – The new royal appraiser
In those days, there was a royal appraiser. He worked for the king of Varanasi. He expert on estimating value of elephants and horses.
However, the king was so stingy. He thought “If this appraiser still does his work, the royal asset will be exhausted. I’ll look for another man to do this job instead.” and then he looked around the palace court and found a villager. The king ordered his courtier to called the villager.
When the villager arrived, the king asked “Will you be my royal appraiser ?”
That man replied “Yes, sir.”
Then, the king appointed that man as a new royal appraiser.
From that day, the new royal appraiser appraised things haphazardly. But because of his position, his word is a final price.
One day, a merchant brought five hundred horses to the palace. The new royal appraiser estimated all horses at one liter of rice. Then he gave a merchant one liter of rice and brought all horses to the royal stable.
The merchant didn’t know what to do. He went to the old royal appraiser and asked what he should do. The old royal appriaser told the merchant to bribe the new royal appraiser to estimate the value of one liter of rice as agreed.
After that, the merchant, the old royal appraiser, along with the new royal appraiser, went to the throne hall. The king and many courtiers are already there.
The merchant asked the king “My majesty, I heard that five hundreds horses worth at one liter of rice. But how much one liter of rice worth ?”
The king said to the new royal appraiser “My appraiser, how much five hundreds horses worth ?”
The new royal appraiser replied “They worth one liter of rice, sir.”
The king continued asking “Okay, all horses worth one liter of rice, so how much one liter of rice worth ?”
The new royal appraiser replied “It worth Varanasi, sir.”
The old royal appraiser said “How much one liter of rice worth ? How much Varanasi worth ? One liter of rice is equal to five hundreds horses ?”
Courtiers laughed and said “We thought that Varanasi is priceless. We just know that Varanasi, with the throne and a big beautiful palace worth only one liter of rice. You are the most suitable appraiser for our king.”
With shame, the king fired the new royal appraiser and gave the old royal appraiser his position back.
The old royal appraiser finally reincarnated as the Buddha. The new royal appraiser finally reincarnated as a stupid monk who made chaos between monks.