Once upon a time there lived a great king. His name was King Vijay. He was kind, fun, brave and wise. One day the king felt extremely unwell. He knew he was about to die so he asked his favorite minister to bring gold from the dragon's cave.
"Dear king do not worry, I will bring the gold" The minister replied.
The king was delighted and sent him away. The minister reached his chamber and told his servants about the gold in the cave. He did not mention the dragon though. He thought they would be very frightened; so, he did not tell them.
They set off one by one and soon they did not return. The other servants who were about to go, realized few of the servants who went had died. So, when they did not go, the minister said
"Oh, you fools, goooooo" And he pushed them so hard, they agreed to go.
When they did not return, the minister got worried.
"Oh No! what will I do?" he muttered and covered his face with his hands and started to cry.
Just then one of his servants came in and said "That is it sir. I quit".
The minister was dumbfounded. He said "Fine you fool, I will go"
He stomped out the door to do it himself and fight the dragon. When he reached the dragon's cave, he found that the dragon was not home
"Ha! what luck I have" he thought.
Just then when the minister was about to step in, he heard a piercing roar and at that second it appeared with a human flesh in his mouth. He was humongous and scary. Luckily, he did not breathe fire. At that sight the minister screamed and ran for his life, luckily somehow at that moment he was blessed by the Gods because the dragon stomped back to his cave. The minister ran to the castle. There he saw his servant Jaipur waiting for him.
"So, did you get the gold Sir?" he asked
"Yes" the minister said because he did not want to upset the king. As he was thinking what he would show the king, an idea struck him
"I will paint gold on rocks" he thought.
"Try to keep the king well for few more hours because I kept the gold while I was coming in a treasure box and with all the treasure boxes in my chamber. It will take some time" He ordered his servant.
His servant agreed and went away. The minister said this because not for the treasure boxes but for the perfect round rocks and he needed it painted perfectly and also, he needed some time for it to dry. So, he set to work and soon came up with the perfect gold rocks that looked exactly like gold. Luckily the king was still alive and when the minister came with the gold rocks, he was delighted. After a while he went to buy medicines with the check the doctor gave him and he never told his secret to anyone. When the king finished drinking the medicines, he felt better already.
Soon the king was cured. After a while he said "I am very thirsty my minister, can you bring me water from the water seller"
His minister agreed and off he went to buy water with the gold rocks in in his hands. He did not realize the water would be dangerous for the gold painted rocks. He bought water and just as he was about to go; the water seller tripped over his son's toy and a tiny water from the jug he was carrying splashed onto the gold coins and soon the gold began to fade away. When the water seller found that the gold which was not gold at all but in fact gold painted rocks, he screamed "Ah cheater! you painted this rock gold".
He screamed over and over again soon word traveled fast and lots of people appeared on the royal palace’s doorstep shouting; "The king and his minister are cheaters" over and over again. Soon the king came out and asked one of his ministers what the commotion was all about.
"One of your most favorite minister gave gold painted rocks instead of gold coins to the water seller" the other minister said.
Soon the king being his wise old self said "Who was the last person to go to the dragons cave". His favorite minister said that it was him. The king demanded that he tell the whole story and soon the minister admitted the truth. The king was furious and sent his guards to put the minister in prison.
However, the king realized his mistake and said "The minister did save my life though". And at that second, he freed the minister out from prison and asked him why he lied to him.
"Oh, great king, I love you so much that I did not want to upset you" said the minister
"It is ok for now but in future never lie to me" demanded the king.
"Ok" replied the minister with a great sigh.
The end
