Once upon a time there lived a wise man by the name of Toyo. He never lied. All the people in the land, even the ones who lived twenty days away, knew about him.
The king heard about Toyo and ordered his subjects to bring him to the palace. He looked at the wise man and asked:
" Toyo, is it true, that you have never lied?"
" It's true."
"And you will never lie in your life?"
" I'm sure in that."
"Okay, tell the truth, but be careful! The lie is cunning and it gets on your tongue easily."
Several days passed and the king called Toyo once again. There was a big crowd: the king was about to go hunting. The king held his horse by the mane, his left foot was already on the stirrup. He ordered Toyo:
"Go to my summer palace and tell the queen I will be with her for lunch. Tell her to prepare a big feast. You will have lunch with me then."
Toyo bowed down and went to the queen. Then the king laughed and said:
"We won't go hunting and now Toyo will lie to the queen. Tomorrow we will laugh on his behalf."
But the wise Toyo went to the palace and said:
"Maybe you should prepare a big feast for lunch tomorrow, and maybe you shouldn't. Maybe the king will come by noon, and maybe he won't."
"Tell me will he come, or won't he?" - asked the queen.
"I don't know weather he put his right foot on the stirrup, or he put his left foot on the ground after I left."
Everybody waited for the king. He came the next day and said to the queen:
"The wise Toyo, who never lies, lied to you yesterday."
But the queen told him about the words of Toyo. And the king realized, that the wise man never lies, and says only that, which he saw with his own eyes.
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The cunning tortoise
Once upon a time in a far away land ruled by animals and referred to as Animal Kingdom, there was scarcity of water. All the animals came together to decide on what to do. Mr Lion🦁 was their king and he was well respected by all the animals. The animals decided to dig a very deep well so that they could get water from the earth.
The king decided that it would not be the work of only the servants and slaves but of the whole Animal Kingdom. It was agreed by all that the digging of the well would be in the evenings after the day's farm work.
Mr Parrot the town crier, was appointed to announce to the whole Animal Kingdom the day the work would commence.
When the appointed day came, Mr Parrot informed all the animals. Everyone gathered at the village square where the well was to be dug but Mr Tortoise was missing. All the animals except Mr Tortoise worked tirelessly till it was dark.
After the day's work, two animals,Mr Rat and Mr Cat🐈, were sent to Mr Tortoise's house to find out if he was really sick, as he has said. Mr Rat secretly climbed into Mr Tortoise's roof because he suspected foul play while Mr Cat🐈 went into his house to see him. When Mr Tortoise saw Mr Cat🐈, he pretended to be sick. Mr cat sympathized with him and left. When Mr Tortoise felt he had gone far away from the house, he started laughing and said, 'This is a kingdom of fools.' He did not know that Mr Rat was hiding in the roof of his house. When Mr Rat heard this, he quietly got down from the roof and went and reported his findings to the king.
Mr Lion called a meeting of the animal kingdom excluding Mr Tortoise. There they decided to send another delegate to investigate Mr Cat's report. It was agreed by all that if Mr Tortoise was fooling them, he would be denied the opportunity to drink water from the well and would finally be killed since it is a law in the Animal Kingdom that anyone who stole or lied would be killed.
Mr Wall Gecko was chosen this time to go and confirm Mr Rat's findings. He sneaked into Mr Tortoise's house and found the he was half and hearty. He reported his findings to the king. The animals decided that Mr Dog🐕 should keep watch over the well so as to prevent Mr Tortoise from drawing water from it.
The third day, after the well was dug, Mr Tortoise, thirsty and hungry, walked secretly in the night to the well to draw water. He did not know that Mr Dog was there. Mr Dog🐕 saw him and started barking and howling. Mr Tortoise pleaded with him to allow him to draw water in return for some farm produce. Mr Dog🐕 refused and instead took him to the king. He was detained and later killed to serve as a lesson to other animals.
***************************Happy New month friends. Let's learn to be hardworking this month. May God help us.
*************************** I was prompted to write this after reading an article @doziekash_
This is a writingprompt @JonicaBradley
Toyo indeed is a wise man, and for all this tortoise stories they don't seem to learn their lessons😂