The Talkative King

The Bodhisatta was once born in a city and grew up to be the King’s advisor. The King was extremely talkative. The advisor often wondered how he could politely tell the King to keep quiet.
One day, a tortoise lay dead on the ground as the King and his entourage walked around. The King stopped wondering how the tortoise reached there and died. This gave the advisor a chance he had been waiting for.
“Sir,” he said, “This tortoise lived in a Himalayan lake. He made friends with two geese who came there to live. He would talk endlessly and tell them all kinds of stories. When the time came for the geese to return to their lake on Chitrakoot, they asked the tortoise to come along with them.
“I’d love to! But how can I come? I can’t fly!” he said sadly.

“We’ll take you,” said the geese, “but on one condition. You must keep your mouth shut now and during the journey.”
The two geese would hold a stick in their beaks and the tortoise was to hold on to it with his mouth firmly. They would lift off and carry him like that all the way to Chitrakoot. The tortoise promised to keep quiet.
The geese took off one morning, with the tortoise hanging on the stick they held. “Wow! I’m flying! What fun!” thought the tortoise. As they neared the city, some children saw the geese with the tortoise. They pointed to the strange spectacle in great excitement, and yelled, “Look! Look! Two geese carrying a tortoise!”
The tortoise had been feeling very proud and happy, but the children’s surprise irritated him. Forgetting where he was, he yelled back, “What’s it to you if I fly, you idiots?” And down fell the foolish tortoise with a crash! All because he couldn’t keep his mouth shut.
That is what you are feeling now, Sir,” concluded the advisor.

The King looked at his advisor. “Are you trying to give me some advice? Are you speaking about me?” he asked.
“Well, Sir, whether it is a tortoise or poor man or a King, it is always wiser to talk very little.” The King smiled and understood the advice. “Thank you, my friend. I will keep that in mind for the future.” After that day, none heard the King talking endlessly. He had become a quieter and wiser man.

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