Every week the king would gather all his subjects in the palace and show them how he could read other people's thoughts. One week while the king was busy showing everybody how wonderful he was he noticed an old man at the back of his palace. This old man was wearing tattered clothes and at first the King was very insulted.

"How dare somebody enter my palace dressed like that?"

The King became curious:

"What does this old man want and why is he in my palace?" thought the King.

He told the guards to bring the old man to him immediately.

The old man came forward and the King asked him:

"What are you doing here and why did you come to see me?"

The old man said:

"I too have a gift, I too can read other people's thoughts but unlike yourself I do not flaunt it. The gift is not mine, it is from God and I am not as proud as you."

The King was very insulted. All his subjects had heard this, and he decided to put the old man to the test, "How dare he insult me in front of my subjects?", he thought .
The King said, "Wait here, old man, we will see who really has a gift".

And the King went behind a curtain and came back with his fist tightly clenched closed and said to the old man : "What is it that I have in my hand?"

The old man placed his hand in the King's hand and looked into his eyes and said: "Well you are holding a stone."

"Why," the King said, "it's a stone. What kind of stone do I have?"

The old man said:

"Why a very precious one."

"What sort of precious stone, old man?"

"It's a diamond, a tiny tiny diamond."

The King was very angry. The old man was right. In his hand, the King held a tiny diamond. He opened his hand and showed all.

The King decided that this was no good. He had to prove to all that he was indeed the one with the gift and he alone was the one allowed to show off this gift. He went behind a curtain and this time put his hand into a bowl of sugar and removed a single grain and said to the old man : "Old man, now tell me what is it that I have in my hand ?"

The old man very quietly closed his eyes and said: " Why, you have a grain."

"A grain. What sort of grain do I have in my hand?"

"Why, a grain of sugar."

The King was now very, very angry. There was a humming in the crowds as everybody realized that finally the king had met his match. Somebody who perhaps was greater than he was.

The King knew that he had to do something quickly in order to show all that he indeed was the cleverest, the cleverest of them all. He went behind the screen and this time decided to trick the old man, he would put a butterfly in his hand and he would ask the old man if the butterfly was alive or dead. If the old man was to say that the butterfly was alive he would crumple his fingers and crunch the butterfly and open his fists to show that the butterfly was dead. If however the old man was to say that the butterfly was dead he would open his hand and let the butterfly fly away. With his new plan, the King came out very happily. There was no way that the old man could win this contest and the King would save face and again, in front of all his subjects, be the wisest and the cleverest of them all.
The old man came forward and put his hand again on the King's fist and said: "Why, in your hand, you have a butterfly, king."

The King said: " Yes, old man, a butterfly. But tell me please, is the butterfly alive or dead?"

Knowing the King's plan, the old man looked very,very deeply into the King's eyes and said: "King, it is in your hands. It is up to you to decide what will be, whether the butterfly should live or die. It is always in our hands, we are the ones who decide."

Mom and Dad, if you want to discuss this story with your kids, there are guide questions in the Educator's Guide.