The seventh prince
Long long ago there lived a king who had seven sons. The king ruled the kingdom wisely and well. All the subjects of his kingdom were happy and content. But the king was worried. His sons were all growing but they were not worthy to be crowned as they were too naive and innocent. The King decided that he would have to patiently teach them ways of the world and make them worthy princes.
So one day he called all the princes and gave them a task. He asked each of the princes to go fishing. They were not to return till they had caught a fish. So the seven princes went to the river to try and catch some fish. Luckily by after-noon all the princes were able to catch nice big fish. They happily returned to the palace with their catch and proudly showed them to the king. The king then told them to put their fish out in the sun to dry.
The princes then went to the terrace of the palace and each of the princes selected a spot to place his fish to dry. The next day the king asked the princes to bring their fish and show him how they had dried. The princes all bought their fishes and showed them to the king. All had been dried except the fish of the seventh prince. The King asked the seventh prince to tell him the reason why his fish had not dried.
So the seventh prince asked his fish, ”Fish, Fish why did you not dry?”. The fish replied, “The washer-woman dried her clothes in such a manner that they blocked the sunlight. So how could I dry?”, asked the fish. So the seventh prince asked the washer-woman why she had to dry the clothes in such a manner that his fish could not get sunlight to dry. The washer-woman replied that the other clothes-line could not bear the weight of the clothes. The carpenter had used poor quality wood to bear the hooks of the same. So she had to select the particular clothes-line. The seventh prince then asked the carpenter why he had used poor quality wood for the clothes-line. The carpenter replied that the wood-cutter had not supplied him with good quality wood required for the same. So he had used wood that was of poor quality that lacked the strength to hold the weight of the clothes. The seventh prince next went to the wood-cutter and asked him why he had supplied poor quality wood to the carpenter. The wood-cutter replied that his wife had not packed his lunch and so he had no energy to fell great trees. So he had supplied poor quality wood to the carpenter.
The seventh prince then met the wood-cutter’s wife and asked her why she had failed to pack lunch for her husband. She replied that her baby was crying continuously and so she could not pack lunch for her husband. The seventh prince then asked the baby why it had cried continuously that day. The baby held up its finger and said that an ant had bit it. So it had cried continuously that day. The seventh prince then asked the ant why it had bit the baby. ” If one puts his finger in my ant-hill won’t I bite?” asked the ant.
The seventh prince then returned to the palace to narrate to his father – the king the sequence of events that let his fish to dry.
