An Intelligent Princess
The king of Dronachalam had a daughter called Madhuri, who was not only intelligent but also inquisitive about everything.
She always had an urge to learn more and more, so her father appointed one great scholar as Madhuri’s educator.
The princess proved herself a worthy student as time passed. One day the king’s general died, and he wanted to hire a new general for his kingdom.
The king’s officials made an announcement in the kingdom that the king was hiring for the king’s general job.
Apparently, hundreds of people came for the job and participated. In the end, only three men were left out of hundreds of people, and their names were Srinath, Vamshinath, and Kiran.
Finally, three were left and wanted only one person to hire. Hence, he decided to select one person by conducting fencing with each other. First, it’s the turn of Srinath and Vamshinath. Both of them fought each other very hard, but in the end, Srinath defeated Vamshinath.
Next, Srinath had to face Kiran. This time Kiran won the battle. So everyone knows the winner is Kiran, and the king said, “so the winner is Kirr…”
“Father, please listen to me,” the princess interrupted the king, and then she whispered something to the king. The assembly was so curious about what was happening there.
Then the king said, “okay, Kiran defeated Srinath, but we don’t know whether Kiran can beat Vamshinath or not, so I want to see a battle between Kiran and Vamshinath this time. Let’s start!”
Surprisingly, Vamshinath won the battle this time. The king was completely dumbfounded with the result. Hence, he adjourned the assembly for the next day.
The king thought about it the whole night, and finally, he decided what to do next.
The next morning, all three men showed up in front of the king. The first battle was between Kiran and Vamshinath. Vamshinath convincingly won the battle.
After some leisure time, the battle started between Vamshinath and Srinath. After a long-fought battle, Srinath won it. Next, the battle was between Kiran and Srinath. This time the battle was fought very hard. No one was giving up and it looked like it was going towards a tie. Finally, Kiran won the battle.
Again, there was no conclusive evidence to declare a winner. Again, the king adjourned the judgment to buy some time for declaring the result. That day, the whole night he discussed with his daughter about how he should declare the winner. It was a very long night for both of them. Both the king and the princess were determined to declare a strong personality for the king’s general job.
Finally, both came to an agreement.
The king said, “I am going to declare a legitimate winner tomorrow.”
The princess said, “Then, I am going to give a surprise, father.”
The next morning, as usual, the assembly started, but only Srinath and Vamshinath showed up in front of the king.
“Where is Kiran?” the king questioned.
Both said, “he is down with a fever, sire.”
The king said, “since an unhealthy person is not eligible for the King’s general job, I am eliminating Kiran from the contest. Hence, the winner is decided between Srinath and Vamshinath, and the winner is Srinath.”
The king said, “Srinath is the winner because he won the battle every time he fought the battle against Vamshinath.”
Meanwhile, king spies arrived in the assembly with a man and the spies told everyone in the chamber that this man was bad-mouthing the king in the kingdom.
The king asked him why he was bad-mouthing him in the kingdom. He said, “the gatekeepers at the assembly were asking for the bribe, your majesty.”
“But why do you want to come to the assembly, young man?” the king asked.
The young man said, “because I am one of the contenders, sire.”
Kiran revealed his disguise and presented himself in front of the king.
“So, here is the winner of the contest — Kiran,” the princess said.
The king was shocked and said, “what?”
“Yes, father. I was the one who compelled the gatekeepers to ask for the bribe from these three gentlemen, and only Kiran raised his voice against it. It suggests that he is not only intelligent, courageous, and brave but also an honest man,” said the princess.
The princess further added, “I said something about the surprise, right? And, this is my surprise, father.”
The king was startled by his daughter’s reasoning skills and also felt proud of his daughter.
According to the daughter’s judgment, the king announced Kiran as the king’s general, and Kiran served as the king’s general since then.
The End!
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