The foolish servants
There were two close friends who were very fond of each other. They were very nice to each other and gave one another immense joy. One day one friend told the other, “I really want to give you innocent joy by bringing my servant to you. I am sure you have never seen such an idiot in your entire life.”The friend said, “Stop, stop! I have a servant who has to be infinitely worse than yours in stupidity.”
So they said, “Then let us have a competition. Let us bring both our servants and see which is more stupid. Let us invite our friends and relatives to observe their stupidity.”
They found a place to meet and invited all their friends and relatives. When the contest began, one friend said to his servant, “Look, I badly need a diamond ring. Do you think you can buy me one?”
“Of course,” said the servant, “if you give me money.”
The master gave him one paisa. One hundred paisas equal one rupee and nine rupees equal approximately one dollar. But the servant took the money without saying anything and left for the market.
Then the other master said to his servant, “Can you please go to my garden and see if I am there or not?”
The servant said, “Certainly, I will go there right away.”
Everybody laughed and laughed. Now it happened that the two servants met on the way to perform their respective tasks. They were very good friends and one of them said, “What can we do with our masters? They are such idiots. Because of my master, I also have to become a fool. I have such respect for my master that I carry out his orders, even if they are stupid. Today is Sunday. On Sunday he has asked me to bring back a diamond ring for him. He has given me money, but today is Sunday. How can I buy a diamond on Sunday when the stores are closed?”
The other servant said, “Look at my master! He does not know whom to ask when he wants to know if he is in the garden. Should he not ask the gardener? The gardener should find out if the master is in the garden or not. Why is he asking me? Now I have to go there to see if he is there or not.”
So both of them had made their own discoveries. They said, “They always make fun of us. They say we are fools. Now many, many people are waiting for us to return with the answers. They are waiting to see if one of us can buy the ring and the other can find out if the master is in the garden. But let us today make fools of our masters. Let us go back there in front of many people and expose our masters as fools.”
So the servants returned with folded hands. One of them said to his master, “You always laugh at me. But today you are acting like a fool.”
The master said, “Why? Did I not give you money to buy the diamond ring?”
“Yes,” the servant said. “You gave me the money. That is no problem. But don’t you know that today is Sunday? Today the stores are closed.”
Everybody laughed and laughed. Then the other servant said with folded hands, “I am so sorry. Every day you laugh at me. But today you have asked me to go into your garden to see if you are there. I wish to say that the right person to ask would be the gardener who works in the garden, and not me. The gardener will be able to see if you are there better than I can.”
All the friends and relatives laughed and laughed. Then they took a vote and the servant who asked about the gardener won.
