wisdom; so he set off without telling anyone but his wife, and he took with him a purse of money and three pieces of gold.  After travelling a long time, he one day saw a man ploughing in a field and he went and got some tobacco from him and asked him whether there were any wise men living in that neighbourhood.  “What do you want with wise men?”, asked the ploughman.  The Prince said that he was travelling to get wisdom.  The ploughman said that he would give him instruction if he were paid.  Then the Prince promised to give him one gold piece for each piece of wisdom.  The ploughman agreed and said.  “Listen attentively!  My first maxim is this:  You are the son of a Raja; whenever you go to visit a friend or one of your subjects and they offer you a bedstead, or stool, or mat to sit on, do not sit down at once but move the stool or mat a little to one side; this is one maxim:  give me my gold coin.”  So the Prince paid him.  Then the ploughman said.  “The second maxim is this:  You are the son of a Raja; whenever you go to bathe, do not bathe at the common bathing place, but at a place by yourself; give me my coin,” and the Prince did so.  Then he continued, “My third maxim is this:  You are the son of a Raja; when men come to you for advice or to have a dispute decided, listen to what the majority of those present say and do not follow your own fancy, now pay me;” and the Prince gave him his last gold coin, and said that he had no more.  “Well,” said the ploughman, “your lesson is finished but still I will give you one more piece of advice free and it is this:  You are the son of a Raja; Restrain your anger, if anything you see or hear makes you angry, still do not at once take action; hear the explanation and weigh it well, then if you find cause you can give rein to your anger and if not, let the offender off.”

After this the prince set his face homewards as he had spent all his money; and he began to repent of having spent his gold pieces on advice that seemed worthless.  However on his way he turned into a bazar to buy some food and the shopkeepers on all sides called out “Buy, buy,” so he went to a shop and the shopkeeper invited him to sit on a rug; he was just about to do so when he remembered the maxim of his instructor and pulled the rug to one side; and when he did so he saw that it had been spread over the mouth of a well and that if he had sat on it he would have been killed [1]; so he began to believe in the wisdom of his teacher.  Then he went on his way and on the road he turned aside to a tank to bathe, and remembering the maxim of his teacher he did not bathe at the common place but went to a place apart; then having eaten his lunch he continued his journey, but he had not gone far when he found that he had left his purse behind, so he turned back and found it lying at the place where he had put down his things when he bathed; thereupon he applauded the wisdom of his teacher, for if he had bathed at the common bathing place someone would have seen the purse