What Should I Demand

Once upon a time, a king ruled on Magadh kingdom in India. He often visited various towns and villages and listened to the grievances and concerns of people. Due to this, he was very popular within and even outside his kingdom.

One day, he was going to visit a village. While he was going through a forest, his shirt tore a little bit from bottom. He asked his minister, "Can you please find a tailor who can stitch my shirt?" The minister started finding tailor in nearby village.

Incidentally a tailor was present in village. The minister took him near the king. King asked the tailor, "My shirt is torn, can you stitch it?" The tailor said, "Why not, this is very easy job for me." The tailor took the shirt and within few minutes, completed the task.

King became happy. He asked the tailor, "How much should I pay?" The tailor started thinking, 'What should I demand.. this was just an easy job.' The tailor said, "O king, this was an easy task for me. I do not need anything from you." The king, however, insisted, "I cannot let you go without taking anything. You did your job and it is not fair to leave you without paying anything."

The tailor started thinking, 'The king is adamant, how much can I ask. Lets ask two bucks for it. But he is king. He might feel that I am asking so much for such a petty job. He might even punish me.' After thinking for a while, the tailor said, "O Majesty! I cannot demand anything for this. I just did my duty. You may give me whatever you deem to be appropriate."

Now the ball is in the king's court. The king thought, 'I am a king. I cannot provide him anything small. He did his job with honesty.' After thinking, he said, "I give two villages to you. You would be ruling over two villages and would directly report to me."

The tailor started thinking, 'I was thinking of demanding two bucks but he gave me two villages, which is far more than my imagination.' He confessed about his thoughts to the king. The king smiled and said, "This is something that you should always remember. People in this world do their jobs and then start demanding results that they feel is right from the almighty who is the ruler of this universe. Instead, one should just do his or her duty honestly and leave the result on the almighty. Once we surrender the desire of result to that power, be sure that we will receive the best without any demands."