THE EMPEROR AND THE SEED
An emperor in the Far East was growing old and knew it was
time to choose his successor. Instead of choosing one of his assistants or his
children, he decided something different. He called young people in the kingdom
together one day. He said, "It is time for me to step down and choose the
next emperor. I have decided to choose one of you."
The kids were shocked! But the emperor continued. "I am
going to give each one of you a seed today. One very special seed. I want you
to plant the seed, water it and come back here one year from today with what
you have grown from this one seed. I will then judge the plants that you bring,
and the one I choose will be the next emperor!"
One boy named Ling was there that day and he, like the
others, received a seed. He went home and excitedly told his mother the story.
She helped him get a pot and planting soil, and he planted the seed and watered
it carefully. Every day he would water it and watch to see if it had grown.
After about three weeks, some of the other youths began to talk about their
seeds and the plants that were beginning to grow.
Ling kept checking his seed, but nothing ever grew. Three
weeks, 4 weeks, 5 weeks went by. Still nothing. By now, others were talking
about their plants but Ling didn't have a plant, and he felt like a failure.
Six months went by-still nothing in Ling's pot. He just knew he had killed his
seed.
Everyone else had trees and tall plants, but he had nothing.
Ling didn't say anything to his friends, however. He just kept waiting for his
seed to grow.
A year finally went by and all the youths of the kingdom
brought their plants to the emperor for inspection. Ling told his mother that
he wasn't going to take an empty pot. But honest about what happened, Ling felt
sick to his stomach, but he knew his mother was right. He took his empty pot to
the palace. When Ling arrived, he was amazed at the variety of plants grown by
the other youths. They were beautiful-in all shapes and sizes. Ling put his
empty pot on the floor and many of the other kinds laughed at him. A few felt
sorry for him and just said, "Hey nice try."
When the emperor arrived, he surveyed the room and greeted
the young people. Ling just tried to hide in the back. "My, what great
plants, trees and flowers you have grown," said the emperor. "Today,
one of you will be appointed the next emperor!" All of a sudden, the
emperor spotted Ling at the back of the room with his empty pot. He ordered his
guards to bring him to the front. Ling was terrified. "The emperor knows
I'm a failure! Maybe he will have me killed!"
When Ling got to the front, the Emperor asked his name.
"My name is Ling," he replied. All the kids were laughing and making
fun of him. The emperor asked everyone to quiet down. He looked at Ling, and
then announced to the crowd, "Behold your new emperor! His name is
Ling!" Ling couldn't believe it. Ling couldn't even grow his seed. How
could he be the new emperor? Then the emperor said, "One year ago today, I
gave everyone here a seed. I told you to take the seed, plant it, water it, and
bring it back to me today. But I gave you all boiled seeds which would not
grow. All of you, except Ling, have brought me trees and plants and flowers.
When you found that the seed would not grow, you substituted another seed for
the one I gave you. Ling was the only one with the courage and honesty to bring
me a pot with my seed in it. Therefore, he is the one who will be the new
emperor!"
The Prophet taught, "Truthfulness leads to
righteousness, and righteousness leads to Paradise. And a man keeps on telling
the truth until he becomes a truthful person. Falsehood leads to Al-Fajur (i.e.
wickedness, evil-doing), and Al-Fajur (wickedness) leads to the (Hell) Fire,
and a man may keep on telling lies till he is written before Allah, a liar."
[Sahih al-Bukhari, Vol. 8:116]
