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82. AN ANTIDOTE
A king of a certain city was entirely surrounded by the armies of his enemies and he could see no way out. He became very desperate and thought of an equally desperate solution. He had an idea that all the drinking water that flowed towards the enemy should be poisoned. So he ordered his people to collect whatever poison they could get. Every one brought the poison in some considerable quantity but the physician in the town brought him a very small quantity and the king felt very much displeased with him. But the physician assured him that it was of a very potent quality though small in quantity. The king asked whether he could demonstrate the effectiveness of the poison.
The physician said he could easily do that provided the king brought him an old elephant. When the elephant was brought in the physician plucked a single hair from his tail and injected a very small quantity of poison through the pore that the hair had left. As the poison began to spread inside the body the elephant felt benumbed and became immobile. The physician told the king that any one who got that poison inserted into him would respond in the same way. The king kept on looking at the elephant who was not dead, and felt terribly worried. He asked the physician if he had any antidote that would relieve the elephant of the misery. The physician in a similar way used the antidote on the elephant and the elephant was revived.
The king got over his displeasure with the physician.
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