One day, a king summoned his three ministers and gave each of them an empty sack.
He said, “Go to the forest and fill these sacks with fruits. Let’s see who can return the fastest with a full sack!”
The first minister thought, “Since this is the king’s order, I should pick only the best fruits.”
So, he carefully collected the sweetest and freshest fruits and filled his sack.
The second minister thought, “The king won’t check all the fruits anyway.”
So, he put a pile of rotten fruits at the bottom and covered them with a few good ones on top.
The third minister thought, “The king doesn’t have time to open the sacks — he’ll just see if it’s full!”
So, he filled his sack with dry leaves, grass, and twigs.
All three ministers returned to the court with their sacks full.
The king looked at the sacks, saw they were all filled, and seemed pleased — but he didn’t open them.
The second and third ministers secretly laughed at their own cleverness.
Then the king stood up and announced,
“These three ministers will each be locked in separate prison cells for seven days — with their sacks — and they will receive no food during that time.”
The king’s order was carried out.
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The first minister survived easily, eating the good fruits from his sack.
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The second minister ate the few good fruits he had for two days, then tried to survive on the rotten ones — soon he fell ill with severe stomach pain.
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The third minister had nothing edible in his sack, so he died of hunger in prison.
Moral:
The results of our good deeds and bad deeds always return to us —
good brings good, and bad brings suffering.
