When they reached the king’s palace, Po Khai told to two princes to put down the giant basket at the gate, ordered the king’s servant to look after it and they all went to see the king. When the king saw the three princes, he said…
“I will not trouble myself with your boring stories again”.
“We do not come to tell you the stories.Our friend, Po Khai likes to tell you something..." replied, the princes.
Now, the king looked at Po Khai and asked…
“What do you have to say to me? If you tell me the story that I have heard of, you will have to be my servant forever”.
The three princes nudged each other and whisperingly spoke…
“We have served Po Khai very severely, and now he managed to slip through our hand to become the king’s servant. What a wise guy?”
Then, Po Khai started saying…
“This is what my grandmother bid me to tell you”.
“How old is your grandmother” asked, the king.
“Over eighty years.” answered, Po Khai.
“My father is 100 years. OK, continue your story?” said, the king.
Then Po Khai continued…
“It was a time when your father’s great grandfather ruled this kingdom. He received a letter from a very powerful neighboring king which said,
- "If you want to avoid war you must offer me precious stones, gems, jewels and gold weighing thousand of tons. Unless this demand was met in due time, I will come and destroy your kingdom”.
So, your father’s great grandfather was very troubled and dismayed. He could afford only half of it. So my grandfather’s great grandfather told the king not to worry. He would help him out with the other half. The king was very relieved and told my grandfather’s great grandfather that he would repay the debt later and asked whether signing a treaty was necessary. But my grandfather’s great grandfather replied him that he didn’t need it because he had abundant resources to live richly with his posterity for many years. He said that this event must be relayed to posterity after posterity and forbade them to ask for repayment from the king’s posterity. But now, in my generation, we faced with misfortune one after another and we became very poor. My grandmother told me to come to you and seek your kindness so that we could live like human again. She also added that if you do not repay it your country will not be peaceful and prospered.”
The king took pity and asked how much he should pay his debt. Then Po Khai said to the king…
“Come, I will show you how much your ancestors owed my ancestors.”
He showed the king the giant basket and said, "My grandmother told me that her great grandfather had given this giant basketful of treasure to save your father’s great grandfather from destruction so that the kingdom is still in your power”.
It will cost the whole country’s resources to repay this huge debt if the king admitted that he had heard the story. But if he denied and said that he had never heard this story he would have to give Po Khai his daughter and make him heir. The king was caught by his own wit. The king was unable to decide the case for his own favor. Whatever the king decides will be in the advantage for Po Khai. The three princes were the honorable witnesses Po Khai brought to this test.
Finally, the king had to admit that he had never heard this story before. So Po Khai became heir to the throne and married the beautiful princess. He bid his grandmother to come and stay with him in the palace. They all live there happily forever.Back to content | Back to main page