Once upon a time there lived in an Indian kingdom-state an old monarch who spent his whole life deciding for himself one purely Eastern question: what is the essence of power? And he finally decided to find the strongest man in his domain in order to find out from him what the essence of strength was. As a reward for this hero, the Indian king appointed a horse from his stables, and at the request of the winner of the announced competition: if he wants a white one, he will receive a white horse; if he wants a black one, he will receive a black horse as a gift. To solve this difficult problem associated with the eternal problem of choice, he gathered the wisest people of his kingdom and sent them with an inspection to cities and towns.
The monarch’s task indeed turned out to be unusually difficult - the sages wore out more than one pair of sandals, but never found the strongest man. They organized competitions, gave the contenders for victory many tasks, but the effect was zero: none of the subjects of the Indian king could unconditionally claim the right to be called the most powerful person in the Indian kingdom.
The wise men had already completely despaired of finding a person to whom they could, with a clear conscience, hand over the choice of one of the best horses of the royal stable... These “experts” had cats scratching their souls - not to blow off their heads! And suddenly, passing through some small Indian village, they noticed a giant man. He was lying on a huge trestle bed in the middle of the large garden that surrounded his house. “What enormous power is hidden in this man!” - the sages exclaimed and decided to subject him to three tests.
“Can you break a horseshoe with one hand?” – the sages asked the giant man. He didn’t answer them, but simply took and broke the horseshoe with his hand. “Can you uproot a tree?” – the sages asked him again. He didn’t answer them, but simply grabbed a ten-meter tree with both hands and pulled it out of the ground in one fell swoop. “Truly you are strong, man! But can you block the river? – the sages asked for the third time. The giant man did not answer them, but approached the river, lifted a huge stone lying on the bank into the air and threw it into the stream, and the river stood up. “Thank the gods! - the sages exclaimed. – Truly you are the strongest person on earth! Choose any of the royal horses: if you want, take a black one, if you want, take a white one!”
And just as the giant man raised his hand above his head to scratch the back of his head before announcing his decision, suddenly a small, frail woman in a dark outfit appeared on the threshold of his house. “Hubby, I’m warning you: if you choose white, you’ll be in trouble! I can’t vouch for myself!”
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru