Once there was an emperor in the Far East who
was growing old and knew it was coming time to choose his successor. Instead of
choosing one of his assistants or one of his own children, he decided to do
something different.
He
called all the young people in the kingdom together one day. He said, "It
has come time for me to step down and to choose the next emperor. I have
decided to choose one of you." The kids were shocked! But the emperor
continued. "I am going to give each one of you a seed today. One seed. It is
a very special seed. I want you to go home, plant the seed, water it and come
back here one year from today with what you have grown from this one seed. I
will then judge the plants that you bring to me, and the one I choose will be
the next emperor of the kingdom!"
There
was one boy named Ling who was there that day and he, like the others, received
a seed. He went home and excitedly told his mother the whole story. She helped
him get a pot and some planting soil, and he planted the seed and watered it
carefully. Every day he would water it and watch to see if it had grown.
After
about three weeks, some of the other youths began to talk about their seeds and
the plants that were beginning to grow. Ling kept going home and checking his
seed, but nothing ever grew. Three weeks, four weeks, five weeks went by. Still
nothing.
By
now others were talking about their plants but Ling didn't have a plant, and he
felt like a failure. Six months went by, still nothing in Ling's pot. He just
knew he had killed his seed. Everyone else had trees and tall plants, but he
had nothing. Ling didn't say anything to his friends, however. He just kept
waiting for his seed to grow.
A year finally went by and all the youths of
the kingdom brought their plants to the emperor for inspection. Ling told his
mother that he wasn't going to take an empty pot. But she encouraged him to go,
and to take his pot, and to be honest about what happened. Ling felt sick to
his stomach, but he knew his mother was right. He took his empty pot to the
palace.
When
Ling arrived, he was amazed at the variety of plants grown by all the other
youths. They were beautiful, in all shapes and sizes. Ling put his empty pot on
the floor and many of the other kinds laughed at him. A few felt sorry for him
and just said, "Hey nice try."
When
the emperor arrived, he surveyed the room and greeted the young people. Ling
just tried to hide in the back. "My, what great plants, trees and flowers
you have grown," said the emperor. "Today, one of you will be appointed
the next emperor!"
All
of a sudden, the emperor spotted Ling at the back of the room with his empty
pot. He ordered his guards to bring him to the front. Ling was terrified.
"The emperor knows I'm a failure! Maybe he will have me killed!"
When
Ling got to the front, the Emperor asked his name. "My name is Ling,"
he replied. All the kids were laughing and making fun of him. The emperor asked
everyone to quiet down. He looked at Ling, and then announced to the crowd,
"Behold your new emperor! His name is Ling!" Ling couldn't believe
it. Ling couldn't even grow his seed. How could he be the new emperor?
Then
the emperor said, "One year ago today, I gave everyone here a seed. I told
you to take the seed, plant it, water it, and bring it back to me today. But I
gave you all boiled seeds which would not grow. All of you, except Ling, have
brought me trees and plants and flowers. When you found that the seed would not
grown, you substituted another seed for the one I gave you. Ling was the only
one with the courage and honesty to bring me a pot with my seed in it.
Therefore, he is the one who will be the new emperor!