The Shah's son was incredibly stupid. The Shah thought for a long time about what to teach him, and decided: let him learn fortune telling on the sand. No matter how much the learned predictors refused, they had to submit to the will of the master.
A few years later they brought the Shah’s son to the palace and fell on their faces before the Shah:
- Your son has comprehended all the secrets known to us. We have nothing more to teach him.
The Shah held the jade ring in his hand and asked:
- Answer me, son, what’s in my hand?
The young man drew figures in the sand and, after thinking, answered:
— In your hand you have something round, with a hole in the middle. It is a stone by nature.
The Shah, pleased, said:
- You named all the signs correctly. Name the object itself!
The young man thought and said:
- Millstone!
- How many omens have you established by the power of knowledge! - exclaimed the Shah. “But you don’t have the sense to understand that a millstone cannot fit in your hand!”
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru