The warmth of a distant lamp in Reconnaissance

(A Children’s story I came across and related why I come here)

Both the people encountered a pond near his palace in that garden. The king was observing the pond and the water inside the pond. He said “Sometimes the frogs are better than human beings.” The minister politely asked “Your majesty, how do you say that.” The king said “Frogs can sometimes do what human beings cannot do. Frogs can stay inside this freezing pond water for one full night but humans cannot stay inside this freezing pond water for one full night”.

The minister said “Sir it is possible. Humans can also stay inside this freezing water for one full night if you give him enough gold coins as gift.”

The king said ” Even though I give 1000 gold coins as prize amount, I don’t think there will be any person in this country to do this.”

The minister said “If that is the case please announce the prize amount, I will bring a person to do this and get the prize from you.”

The king announced the prize money to the public. There was a poor man in the city who had a serious necessity for money. On seeing the prize money he din’t find any difficulty in standing in the water the whole night. The minister exactly brought that person to this. As agreed the poor man stood the whole night on an new moon night where there will be total darkness. It was very difficult to stand there whole night but he somehow managed to stand there till. Early morning the king visited the pond along with minister and the others who were eager to see this man who is winning the prize money.

Out of curiosity the king asked the poor man how he could stand the whole night in this low temperature. How could he survive such thing. The poor man replied “Your highness, I had complete confidence in my mind that I can survive in this water. At one point I decided that I should either be dead or walk home with the prize money next morning. However I was gazing at the distant light that was burning the whole night in your palace. That helped me survive this task.”

The king on hearing this came to a conclusion that this man has survived only with the help of that distant fire lamp that was burning in his palace. Without that he would have not been able to survive. So this cannot be considered as a victory. He said that this man will not be eligible for prize money and let him go.