They pushed on, and in two or three days a city, surrounded by a high wall, was in full view before them. “This,” said the Rajah, “is sure to be the place, for it has an air of solidity about it. See! there are gates to go in and out of it!”
Before, however, venturing into the city, the travellers sat down to rest on a little mound of grass just outside the walls. They got into conversation together, and observed a shepherd, or “Ajuree,” who was grazing his goats and sheep very close to where they had sat down. The Rajah said to his minister, or Vizier, “I should like to put to you four questions, just to sharpen our wits a bit.”
The narrator of the tale then turned, and said to his hearers, “You know that the shepherd is of all classes the most stupid and ignorant; he takes his goats and sheep each morning into the jungles, tends and feeds and guards them, and before night-fall he returns with them to the city; so he hears no information, and has no means of picking up knowledge of any kind.”
The Rajah then, within hearing of the Shepherd, of whom he took no apparent concern, propounded his questions as follows to the minister:
“My first question is: Of all lights, which, say you, is the best light?” “Well,” replied the minister, “that is not difficult to answer, for there is no light equal to that of the sun which is indeed the centre of all light.” “Now for my second question,” said the Rajah. “Of all waters, which is the best water?” “That again is of simple solution, for what water can be compared to that from the Ganges? for in life we Hindus worship it, and at death, when put into our mouths, it insures to us mercy at the last.” “Very good: now I come to my third question. Of all sleep, which is the best sleep?” to which the minister replied, “What sleep can be more refreshing than to recline on a soft couch after a fatiguing day?” “Now,” said the Rajah, “for my fourth and last question. Of all flowers, which is the best flower?” “This,” replied the minister, “requires little thought, for the “Gul,” or rose, has been the favourite flower from all ages; it is beautiful to look at, and has the sweetest of all perfumes.”
After the Rajah had finished his interrogations he overheard the Shepherd laughing aloud, and he thought he caught the word “fool,” so he turned to him and asked, “What was that you said?” To which the Shepherd replied, “I was talking to my goats, and not to you.” “But you did say something referring to us; what was it?”
“Well,” returned the Shepherd, “I do not mind telling you that I heard the questions you put to that man, whoever he is, and the silly replies he gave you. You asked him which was the best light, and he said the Sun. No, sir; the best light is that of your eyes, for what use is the Sun to you if you are blind? Again, you asked him which was the best water, and he replied, that from the Ganges, the beloved Ganges; but he should have said, the little store of water in a dry and thirsty land when the far-off Ganges would be of no avail. Then you asked him of the best sleep, and how foolish his reply! He should have said, the sleep of health, which will come to refresh you on whatever you may recline; and as to the last question, of the flower, he praised the “Gul” as the best of all, whereas he should have said, the flower of the cotton plant, for the rose fades and leaves no useful trace behind, but with the cotton plant we have both a beautiful and fragrant flower, and when that falls off, there succeeds a pod which supplies a substance from which we weave our cloth, to provide us and our descendants after us with necessary garments.”
As soon as the Shepherd had concluded this little speech the Rajah turned and thanked him; and then looking at his minister he said quietly, “What think you of that for an ignorant shepherd caught hap-hazzard near the place? And if he can make such fools of us both, who knows what may happen to us when we enter the city? What think you? Have we not had evidence enough of the wisdom of this people? So my advice is that we retrace our steps to our own country, and try and educate and improve our people, even as they have done.” To this the Vizier at once consented, and they journeyed homewards, wiser men than when they set out upon their expedition.