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CIRCUMSTANCES AND CHANGE OF HEART
The king advanced towards the mango grove. His minister objected, "Sir, where are you going? You mustn't. It would not be for your good. There is no point in seeking a place you don't have to go to. Come away, Sir, to that yonder grove. There shall we rest under the cool shadow of the trees."
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The king said, "My good minister, you are agitating yourself quite unnecessarily, running to an extreme. Excess of everything is bad. Let's adopt the golden mean. The physician only said, no mango-eating. Well, I'm not going to eat the fruit. Merely standing or sitting under the mango-tree is not forbidden, is it? Then why do you object to my walking towards the mango grove?"
The minister could do no more. It was his office to proffer right advice. But if the king would not listen to him, if he continued adamant, he (the minister) could do nothing. After all, the king was his master. So, the king went ahead and seated himself under a large mango tree, and said, "Come, dear minister, make yourself comfortable. How pleasant it is to sit here! How cool! The shade here is so thick; no other tree affords greater shelter. The leaves of the mango tree are so broad! Could the short-leafed neem tree give out such a deep shade? Never!" After a little while, the king said, "O minister, look at the fruit above. What ripeness! What colour! How very gratifying to the eyes!"
The minister said, "Sir, why look at it at all? Why praise the fruit? You've done away with mango-cating. It is not for you. Come away!"
The king said in a huff, "What an extremist you are grown into! The so-called wise people often spoil all the fun! They bind you hand and foot allow you no liberty whatsoever! Don't I know that mango-eating is forbidden to me? Mustn't I, on that account, even praise the fruit? Can't I even mention the fruit? Mustn't I bestow praise where it is due? Am I to be denied even that much freedom?" Imagine the king lost in contemplation! His mind is sorely divided. The internal dialogue is on, one part of the mind saying, "Woe is me! Such delectable fruit and I can't come to it! How richly gratifying it would have been to eat mangoes to my heart's content! But no, something inside me tells me I mustn't." The king found himself in a dilemma. Just then a fully-ripened mango fell down from the tree plump into his lap. The king picked it up and began to survey it. The minister warned, "Your Majesty! What are you doing?"
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The king retorted, "I haven't partaken of it, have I? I didn't pluck it; it fell down into my lap by chance. You are a witness to that. I have done nothing. The mango came down of itself. Mango-eating is not forbidden to you and yet the mango did not fall into your lap; instead it has come to me. What an irony of fate! What a man cares for, often recedes from him; and the unwanted thing follows him like
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