The Frugal Prince and the Extravagant Court

Prince Arjun lived in a palace where every meal was extravagant — forty dishes for a single lunch. Yet Arjun ate only rice and dal. "Why are you so frugal?" his ministers laughed.

Arjun smiled. "A prudent ruler thinks of tomorrow. The rains have been weak; a famine may come." The court called his life austere and boring.

That winter the harvest failed. The grain Arjun had saved fed the whole kingdom. The people called him the most benevolent king they had ever known.