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!
By Unknown