Can Tail become a Leg! - Jan
Can Tail become a Leg! - Jan
There was a King who used to love to organize contests and teach his people valuable lessons. His purpose was to cultivate logical reasoning among his people. Once, he called upon all the learned men of his state. He put before them an elephant and asked “If I call the elephant's tail a leg, how many legs will the elephant have?”
All the learned men answered five. The King smiled.
He took them to a cage where there was a hungry lion. He again asked, “I call this animal a cat, go inside and feed this milk to him.” All the learned men were taken aback by the King's strange request. How could they refuse the King? But their lives were in danger. Slowly they gathered courage and said that how could they go inside? It was not a cat but a lion.
Then the King said, “Calling a tail, a leg won't make it a leg, calling a lion a cat won't make it a cat. It is the characteristics that are more important than the name. One must observe carefully and not just go by name.”
The learned men and the people learnt an important lesson that day and felt proud of their wise King.
Moral : It is the quality that is important and not the name.
Questions:
Q1.What did the King put before the learned men?
Q2.How many legs does an elephant have?
Q3.Where did the King take the learned men after showing the elephant?
Q4.What lesson did the wise men learn?
Glossary
Cultivate : Grow
Logical reasoning : Reasonable analysis
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