The King and the Clever Man

A Folktale from Thailand

In a certain village, there lived an old man known for his remarkable cleverness. His wit was so well-regarded that even the king had heard of him. However, the king was proud of his own intelligence and disliked the notion of one of his subjects being celebrated as the cleverest person in the kingdom.

One day, the king donned some soiled clothes and rode to the village on an elephant. The old man’s hut was perched on a mound of earth beside the river, and he was sitting on the veranda when the disguised king approached him.

“Whose elephant is this?” the old man inquired. “The king’s!” replied the disguised king. “You must be quite clever to use the king’s elephant!” the old man commented. The king then challenged, “I hear you are the cleverest man in the kingdom. I wonder if you can prove it!”

“What kind of proof will satisfy you?” asked the old man. The king replied, “Can you make me jump into the river?” The old man gazed thoughtfully at the water and said, “No, I cannot do that. If I could, I would indeed be clever. But the truly clever one would be the man able to make you climb out of the river!”

“Is climbing out so difficult?” the king, who was a good swimmer, questioned. He then jumped into the river and swam to the bank without any trouble. “I climbed out easily!” he exclaimed. “You did—just as easily as I made you jump into the river!” replied the old man. The king fell silent, riding back to his palace, shivering but silently praising the old man’s cleverness.