In the colorful land of India, where people ride on elephants, there was a man called raja. It was assumed that all rajas were wise and fair. He owned some land on which people cultivated rice.
One day, he declared “Most of the rice must be given to me to be stored in the royal storehouse in case of hunger.” The raja wanted to show that he was a wise man caring for people. So every year people were giving most of their rice to raja.
One day, he declared “Most of the rice must be given to me to be stored in the royal storehouse in case of hunger.” The raja wanted to show that he was a wise man caring for people. So every year people were giving most of their rice to raja.
However, one year the rice grew badly and people didn’t have any rice to eat. They sure counted on raja to help them as it was promised.
Unfortunately, the raja turned to be selfish and decided to keep all the rice. Since he didn’t know how long the famine would last, he couldn’t risk going hungry. So he had to keep all the rice for himself. “Your highness” the ministers begged the raja “People are hungry and you promised to protect them.”
“No” shouted the raja “It doesn’t matter what I promised. I am more important than my people. I cannot go hungry.”
Unfortunately, the raja turned to be selfish and decided to keep all the rice. Since he didn’t know how long the famine would last, he couldn’t risk going hungry. So he had to keep all the rice for himself. “Your highness” the ministers begged the raja “People are hungry and you promised to protect them.”
“No” shouted the raja “It doesn’t matter what I promised. I am more important than my people. I cannot go hungry.”
As people were growing more and more hungry, this didn’t stop the raja from a feast for himself. On the day of the feast, a basket of rice was taken from the storage. The basket had a small whole letting some rice on the ground.
A village girl noticed it and quickly spread her skirt collecting the fallen rice. She brought it to the raja as it was his. In return the raja decided to reward the girl for her good deed and asked her “What would you like to receive?”
“One grain of rice” answered the girl.
The surprised raja said “I am a raja and I can reward you more than one grain.”
“As you wish” replied the girl “You may give me twice as much tomorrow and twice as much the following day and so on for the whole month. The girl turned out to be much smarter than the raja. As the result of her calculations, she was getting more and more rice with every day. Toward the end of the month, the raja’s storage was getting empty. This was a great lesson for the raja, who learned to be wise and fair, as a raja should be.
A village girl noticed it and quickly spread her skirt collecting the fallen rice. She brought it to the raja as it was his. In return the raja decided to reward the girl for her good deed and asked her “What would you like to receive?”
“One grain of rice” answered the girl.
The surprised raja said “I am a raja and I can reward you more than one grain.”
“As you wish” replied the girl “You may give me twice as much tomorrow and twice as much the following day and so on for the whole month. The girl turned out to be much smarter than the raja. As the result of her calculations, she was getting more and more rice with every day. Toward the end of the month, the raja’s storage was getting empty. This was a great lesson for the raja, who learned to be wise and fair, as a raja should be.
Source: One Grain of Rice: A Mathematical Folktale
by Demi
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