Long, long ago, in a village there lived a potter by the name of Yudhisthira. He was in a habit of drinking liquor. One day, he stumbled on a broken pot in a drunken state and fell down. The sharp edge of the broken pot pierced his forehead and he started bleeding profusely. He didn’t care much for his wound. The wound got worse. Even after it had healed, it had left a big scar on his forehead.

After sometime, there was a famine in the country. The potter lost his business. He, then, left for some other part of the country. There he, somehow, got himself employed in the king’s service.

Once, the king noticed the big scar on the forehead of the potter, he thought to himself that the potter must be a brave man. The scar was most probably the result of his face to face fight with some soldier of the enemy.

So, the king decided to place the potter amongst his chosen army generals. As the war was impending, the king decided to bestow honour on generals to encourage them.

Later the king decided to make the potter the chief of the army. So he asked the potter, “General, what’s your name? How did you get this scar on your forehead? What was the name of the battle you fought in?”

“Your Majesty,” replied the potter, “I’m a potter by profession. Once I fell down on a broken pot in a drunken state and got wounded. This scar is the result of that wound.”

Hearing this, the king was very much dejected. He ordered his soldiers to throw the potter out of the army.

The potter begged for king’s forgiveness. He requested the king to keep him in royal service, so that he could prove his worth in the army, but the king refused and sternly ordered his expulsion from the army and the kingdom.

❖ If you speak the truth, sometimes it may go against you.

❖ Continue being what you are else you pay for it.