The Art of Hospitality In one city there lived an old man, famous for his wisdom, of venerable age, but very poor. One day the king heard about the wisdom of this old man and told him that he wanted to visit him in his house and listen to his words.
- What are we going to treat the king to? - his wife was worried. “We have almost nothing at home!”
“You will bring what you have and do as I tell you,” answered the elder.
When the king arrived, the old man's wife brought a watermelon. The owner took the watermelon in his hand, felt it with his fingers and said to his wife:
- There is a better watermelon than this. Go and get it. The wife took away the watermelon, then returned, and in her hands
she had watermelon again. The elder felt this one too and told her to take this one away and bring another one. The wife did not answer and immediately did as he said. This time my husband was pleased. He cut the watermelon and served the king a treat.
After the conversation with the elder, the king returned to his palace cheerful and pleased with the hospitality shown by the elder. He didn’t even know that the old man had only one watermelon in his house...
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru