The Value of Truthfulness
Once there was an emperor who loved flowers and gardens indeed all the people of the empire were avid gardeners, especially one little boy called Ping. Ping loved to tend his garden and everything he planted grew to be exceptionally beautiful.
One day the emperor thought to himself that he was getting old and had no heirs and he should choose someone to succeed him. So he sent out a message far and wide that he had some flower seeds to give all the children and that the child who grew the most beautiful flower would be the next emperor when he grew up. All the children collected their seed and set about planting it, fertilising it and watering it. Ping was sure that his flower would blossom beautifully and was very excited. He planted his seed and waited for it to sprout. But it didn’t sprout. He changed pots, new soil, fertiliser, it still wouldn’t grow. No matter how hard he tried this seed would not sprout and when it came time to return to the emperor and bring the flowers Ping was very tempted to just bring another flower that he had grown. He saw all the other children passing by with towering big beautifully blooming flowers of exquisite fragrance and colour and he looked at his miserable little empty pot and decided that this was the best he could have done and took it to the emperor.
All the children assembled in the courtyard with their flowers and Ping with his empty pot and the emperor inspected them all and when he had finished he announced the winner……it was Ping! The boy with the empty pot. Everyone gasped.
“Ping will make the best emperor,” he said, “because he is humble and honest. All the seeds had been boiled and so not one should have sprouted!”
