*Once upon a time, there was a prince who always fought with his wife because she didn’t understand him. And every time like that he always said because of her father’s teachings. They had three sons who got married and each lived in different towns. One day, the prince was very mad when he fought with his wife. He wanted to divorce her and send her back to her father’s house. However he was afraid of the judgement from the sons and the people. Therefore, he gave a riddle to his wife to ask her father. If the both couldn’t give the good answer, both of their heads would be chopped. The question was “What is the lightest thing of all? And what is the heaviest thing of all?”Her father’s answer was “That’s simple! The lightest thing of all is cotton and the heaviest thing of all is lead”. Consecutively, she asked her three sons. The first and second sons agreed that was a good answer. But the youngest son answered differently:”The lightest of all are the bountiful and the heaviest of all are the destitute” And told his mother to hide that he helped her to answer. She chose the answer from the youngest son to solve the riddle from the prince. The prince knew this was not from her father. He tricked her to reveal that the youngest son helped her. The prince asked the youngest son one more question. If he didn’t give the good answer, all of them, the grandfather, the mother and the son would be decapitated. He asked “If you are the judge in charge of the treasury and a bountiful man comes to you with a destitute one, how will you judge between them?. The youngest son replied”I will take from the bountiful and give to the destitute.” The prince asked” What if two destitute men come to you?” The son replied” I will take money from the treasury and give to both of them.”And the prince continued asking” What if two bountiful men come?” the son answered ”I don’t think two bountiful men will need the treasury!” The prince was very happy for the wise son and immediately relinquished his throne and appointed the youngest son the prince of the country and forgave his wife and his father in law.*
*Author: Tuyet Huynh*
*Contact: tuyethuynh11112021@gmail.com*